Occupational Health Examination for Employees in 2026

Not sure whether you should send your employees for an initial, periodic, or special medical examination? Take advantage of our customized legal consultation service—we’ll assess your situation and recommend the next steps.

What Are Occupational Health Services?

This rather convoluted term is used in legislation to refer to health services related to the assessment of employees’ health. In the past , you may have come across the term “occupational preventive care.” This care primarily includes workplace medical examinations of employees, but also assessments of how work activities and the work environment affect health, counseling focused on occupational health and safety and protection against workplace injuries, and first aid training.

According to the Labor Code, every employer is required to ensure the safety and health of their employees at work; therefore, they must provide these occupational health services. In particular, an employer must not allow an employee to perform prohibited work or work whose physical demands do not correspond to the employee’s abilities and medical fitness. This is where the importance of occupational health examinations comes into play. Simply put, these examinations ensure that every employee performs work for which they are medically fit.

What are the types of occupational health examinations?

We distinguish between the following types of examinations:

An employee must always be referred for a medical examination by the employer with a corresponding request, which should specify, in particular, the job position in question, the risk factors involved, the type of examination required, and the reason for the examination. You are usually required to bring an extract from your medical records to the examination, as stipulated by the decree on medical records.

When Should an Initial Medical Examination Be Conducted?

Pre-employment medical examinations are no longer mandatory for all employees. The employer must arrange one for employees working in categories 2, 2 (high-risk), 3, or 4. For standard jobs in Category 1 without specific risks, the pre-employment medical examination is voluntary, but either the employer or the job applicant may request it.

You must have your prospective employee undergo a pre-employment medical examination before the employment relationship begins. The examination should be conducted before the employee actually starts working for you, ideally before the employment contract is signed. It is during this examination that it is determined whether the candidate is medically fit for the job. A pre-employment medical examination is also mandatory in the event of a change in job position if the associated risks differ.

When it comes to employees working under a contract (a contract for work or a contract for the performance of work), the situation is somewhat more complicated. By law, the examination is mandatory only for high-risk jobs—that is, jobs classified in risk categories 2, 3, or 4. For jobs in the low-risk category 2, it is generally not mandatory.

Who pays for the pre-employment medical exam?

The job applicant is usually required to pay for the pre-employment medical exam. If you subsequently enter into an employment relationship with the applicant , you are required to reimburse them for the costs. However, you can also agree with the job applicant that you will always reimburse them for the costs, even if they are not hired. For job applicants seeking night work, the employer always covers the costs of the pre-employment medical exam. The employer may include the cost of the exam in their business expenses.

How often should periodic medical examinations be conducted?

The answer to this question depends on the employee’s age and, most importantly, on the risk category to which the job is assigned. For jobs in Category 1, a periodic medical examination is conducted only if the employer or employee requests it in writing. In such cases, the interval is once every 6 years; for employees who have reached the age of 50, it is once every 4 years. For jobs in Category 2, periodic medical examinations are also conducted only upon written request by the employer or the employee; in this case, the interval is once every 4 years, and once every 2 years for employees who have reached the age of 50. For jobs in Category 2 (high-risk) and Category 3, periodic medical examinations are conducted once every 2 years; for Category 4, once a year

Special Medical Examination

You should refer an employee for an extraordinary medical examination if you have doubts about their continued fitness for work or if the level of risk has increased.

Termination Examination

This examination is conducted upon termination of employment. Legal regulations precisely specify the cases in which an employee must undergo this examination. These mainly include situations where an employee performed high-risk work in risk categories 2, 3, or 4, or if they may be suffering from an occupational disease and it is appropriate to determine whether or how their health has deteriorated.

An Example from Our Law Practice

We were approached by an employer whose warehouse worker had returned to work after a prolonged period of sick leave but was experiencing obvious health difficulties when handling heavier loads. The employer was unsure whether they could immediately reassign the employee to a different job or whether they first needed to obtain a medical evaluation. We recommended that the employer arrange for the employee to undergo a special occupational health examination, prepared the proper request for the occupational health service provider, and helped arrange temporary job reassignment so that the employer could fulfill both its obligation to protect the employee’s health and its obligations under labor law.

What are the consequences if I don’t send the employee for the examination?

If you fail to send an employee for a mandatory medical examination on time, you may be committing an administrative offense and face a fine of up to 2 million CZK.

Not sure if you’ve set up all occupational health examinations correctly? For employees in high-risk categories, contract workers, or employees returning from a prolonged illness, a mistake could be costly. As part of our customized legal problem-solving service, we’ll help you verify who you need to send for a checkup and when, how to properly prepare a request for the doctor, and how to avoid fines during an inspection.

Summary

Occupational health examinations are not merely a formality. They help employers demonstrate that an employee is performing work for which he or she is medically fit, and they protect employees from work that could endanger their health.

In 2026, it is important to distinguish primarily between the category of work, risk factors, the type of employment relationship, and the employee’s specific situation. Different rules may apply to an administrative position in Category 1 than to work in a warehouse, at night, in manufacturing, or in a high-risk workplace.

For each position, the employer should clearly determine whether an initial, periodic, special, or exit medical examination is mandatory. It is equally important to properly prepare the request for the physician, maintain documentation, and monitor the deadlines for periodic examinations.

If an employer neglects a mandatory medical examination, they risk not only a fine from the labor inspectorate but also disputes with the employee, complications in the event of a workplace injury, or doubts regarding the validity of certain labor-law measures.