Employee

What it means

An employee is an individual who performs dependent work for an employer under its instructions, in its name and for pay, under an employment contract or an agreement on work outside employment. Dependent work is carried out in a relationship of subordination.

Employees are protected by the Labour Code, which guarantees, for example, the minimum wage, limits on working time, the right to annual leave, protection against dismissal without a statutory ground and safe working conditions. Employees also participate in social and health insurance.

A person can generally become an employee from the age of 15, after completing compulsory schooling. The relationship can take various forms: a permanent or fixed-term employment relationship, full-time or part-time, or agreements on work outside employment.

How it works in practice

When hiring, the employer must conclude a written contract, register the employee with the Social Insurance Agency and a health insurer, inform them of working conditions and provide induction safety training. The details are recorded in personnel and payroll files.

For short-term or occasional work, agreements are often used, such as a work performance agreement. Even under such agreements the person is an employee with basic protection, although some rights, such as annual leave, do not apply in full.

Employees cost the company not only their gross pay but also employer contributions, any benefits and training and equipment costs. Planning should be based on the total cost of employment, not just the wage stated in the contract.

What to watch out for

If someone performs work with the features of dependent work but is formally engaged as a self-employed contractor, it may be disguised employment. Such disguising of employment is illegal, and the company faces fines and back payment of contributions and tax.

Employees' rights cannot be reduced by contract below the level guaranteed by law. Provisions of an employment contract that disadvantage the employee contrary to the Labour Code are invalid, and in a dispute the law prevails over the contract.