Exclusion from the Labour Office

What is the purpose of registering with the Job Centre

The Job Centre is most often used by people who find themselves unemployed and want help finding a new job, but also want to receive financial support during their unemployment. Once you have registered, the Job Centre will start looking for a new job that matches your qualifications, experience and health. It will also take into account your ability to commute to work.

This work should be at least 80 per cent of your normal working hours. Only if it is not possible to find a job for you after a year can the authority offer you part-time work. At the same time, the job centre should offer employment with an open-ended or even fixed-term contract, which must last at least three months.

As regards entitlement to unemployment benefit, this is not automatic. You must have paid pension contributions for 12 months in the past two years. The amount of the benefit is based on your average earnings in your last job. You will receive 65% for the first two months, 50% for the next two months, and 45% for the remainder.

When can you be excluded from the labour office

You must meet certain obligations to be eligible for benefits. Therefore, there is a possibility that if you do not comply with your obligations, you will be struck off the unemployment register and thus lose your entitlement to unemployment benefits. Your disqualification may occur in the following cases:

Failure to comply with the notification obligation

First of all, as a jobseeker, you are obliged to provide the Job Centre with all the necessary information. This includes information about your health limitations and other information needed to find suitable employment. In addition, you must notify the Job Centre of any changes within 8 days of their occurrence (e.g. disability, etc.)

Failure to comply with the temporary incapacity scheme

A temporary incapacity to work can occur in the event of illness, injury, treatment or examination in a health care facility. If this happens, you are obliged to report your temporary incapacity to the employment office within three days and to provide a certificate of temporary incapacity issued by a doctor within eight days.

You may be struck off in this case if you do not report your temporary incapacity in time and provide the certificate. Similarly, you may be struck off if you do not comply with the temporary incapacity scheme . This obliges you to stay at the place of residence except for authorised outings.

Working on unemployment benefit

You cannot work while receiving unemployment benefits. However, you can work if you are registered with the Job Centre but are not receiving benefits. However, there are rules and restrictions. You can only work in so-called non-colluding employment. Non-colluding employment is employment where you do not earn more than half the minimum wage. This is set at CZK 9,450 for 2024. This is the gross wage.

Theperformance of non-colliding employment must be reported to the employment office no later than the day of commencement. If you earn more than CZK 9,450 in a non-colluding job, you will be removed from the register of applicants. You will also be excluded if you are found to be working illegally.

Failure to attend a scheduled appointment

If you have an appointment at the employment office and you do not turn up for it, you will be removed from the register of jobseekers. This is because the Job Centre sees this as a failure to cooperate. The exception is if you have serious reasons for not turning up. These serious reasons are regulated by the Employment Act and we will look at them in more detail in the next chapter.

Failure to cooperate

A candidate may also be excluded if he or she fails to provide cooperation in the preparation of the individual action plan, its update or evaluation, or fails to comply with its conditions. Similarly, he/she may be excluded if he/she refuses to undergo a medical or psychological examination.

Refusal or obstruction of work or retraining

You will also be excluded if the employment office finds you suitable work that you do not accept. The same applies if you deliberately obstruct your chances of getting a new job, for example by trying to make the worst possible impression at interview and by listing fictitious reasons why you should not be hired. The same applies if you have already arranged for retraining. If you decide not to take the retraining course, do not complete it or fail the final exam, you will be struck off the register. In both cases there is an exception, again only in the form of serious reasons.

Other reasons

Other reasons for being removed from the register of jobseekers naturally include finding a job or removing oneself from the employment office. But in addition, this also includes facts preventing the keeping of the register of jobseekers. These include serving a prison sentence, detention in custody, detention in custody, withdrawal of consent to the processing of personal data, or receiving maternity allowance in the period before and 6 weeks after childbirth.

Serious reasons

As promised, we deliver and bring you serious reasons for failure to attend a scheduled appointment at the Jobcentre, refusal of employment, failure to complete retraining and similar cases. These serious reasons may include:

1. Necessary personal care of a child under the age of 4.
2. Necessary personal care for an individual who is dependent on the assistance of another individual in the second degree of dependence or higher. However, this only applies if the jobseeker lives permanently with the jobseeker and jointly pays the living costs, or if the jobseeker is a close relative for the purposes of pension insurance.
3. The child’s attendance at pre-school (kindergarten) or primary school.
4. Your spouse’s or registered partner’s place of work or nature of employment.
5. Immediate termination of employment by the employee. This is only possible in two cases: either if you cannot continue to do your job without endangering your health or the health of other employees and your employer has not allowed you to do other work. However, for this you need to get a medical certificate or a decision from the competent administrative authority first. Or if you have not been paid your wages or wage compensation or part of it within 15 days of the due date.
6. Health reasons that prevent the applicant from performing the job or other duties set by the employment authority. However, this only applies if you have a medical certificate.
7. Other serious personal reasons relating to, for example, religion, ethics or morals.

What to do after you have been excluded from the labour office

The first thing to mention is that the removal does not occur at the moment the Jobcentre finds that you have not fulfilled your obligations. In fact, the expulsion occurs retroactively to the date on which you actually failed to meet your obligations. From that date, you will no longer receive benefits and must start paying insurance. Similarly, if you claim benefits for material hardship, such as housing benefit, you will not be eligible.

You can appeal against being struck off the Jobcentre’s register within 15 days of receiving the striking off decision. The appeal must state why you disagree with the decision to remove you. If the appeal is rejected, you still have the option of taking an administrative action to court within two months of receiving the appeal decision. In addition, you can also complain to the Ombudsman or ask the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs to initiate a review procedure.

If you do not want to appeal, you can reapply to be included in the register of jobseekers. However, this can be done after 3 or 6 months at the earliest, depending on the reason for your removal.