The amendment to the Employment Act introduced, as of 1 October 2025, significant tightening in the area of illegal employment, in particular through the introduction of a new offence known as undeclared work.
In cases where a person working in the territory of the Czech Republic falls into one of the following categories:
- a citizen of the European Union or their family member
- a family member of a Czech citizen who is not an EU citizen
- a foreign national with permanent residence
- a foreign national whose work in the country does not exceed one continuous week or 30 days in a calendar year, provided that they are, for example, a performing artist, researcher, etc.
- a foreign national who is systematically preparing for a future profession in the Czech Republic or has obtained secondary or higher education here; and other foreign nationals pursuant to the Employment Act
the employer is obliged to notify the regional branch of the Labour Office of the commencement of employment or the start of work of such a person. This notification must be submitted to the regional branch in whose district the work is to be performed, and (newly) prior to the commencement of the work or before the agreed start date.
If the employer fails to fulfil this notification obligation, they commit an offence of enabling undeclared work. This may result in a fine of up to CZK 3,000,000. However, administrative offence proceedings may be avoided if the notification obligation is fulfilled additionally within 5 days from the commencement of employment or start of work. This is only possible until the labour inspectorate initiates an inspection aimed at detecting undeclared work at the employer. Similarly, the termination of employment of such persons must also be reported.
Employers should pay increased attention from 1 July 2026, when the obligation to pre-register employees before they start work within the system of unified monthly employer reporting comes into effect. This will extend the obligation to submit at least partial reports on all employees before the commencement of work, while completion of the report will be possible no later than 8 days after the start of employment. A breach of this obligation will also be considered an offence of enabling undeclared work.
These measures primarily target foreign nationals, for whom the reporting obligation is a key tool in combating illegal employment.
