Constitutional Court: the reduction of judges’ salaries in 2025 is unconstitutional. The state must pay them back

The Constitutional Court declared unconstitutional the law that limited the salary increase for judges for 2025. It was not the first such intervention – the legislators repeated the same mechanism for calculating salaries, which the court had previously annulled. The judges’ salary base was supposed to increase by 6.95%, but instead there was only a marginal increase of 0.6%. Judges were the only group in the public sphere to face an income freeze, while others – such as teachers or members of the security forces – saw their salaries rise. According to the Constitutional Court, no exceptional circumstances had been presented to justify such a move. Moreover, the state failed to credibly demonstrate how the savings of around CZK 620 million would contribute to the recovery of public finances.

There was also a problem with the procedure for adopting the law itself. The Constitutional Court reproached the government for not having sufficiently dealt with the opinion of the judiciary and not giving the legislators the opportunity to get acquainted with it before voting. Although some meetings were held, their outcomes were not reflected in any way in the legislative process. Thus, judges had no room to influence the interference with their material security, which the Constitutional Court considers to be a key element of the independence of the judiciary. As a result, the verdict not only abolishes the salary adjustment for 2025, but also entitles judges to retroactive payment of salary differentials and related compensation.