Signing an Employment Contract: When to Sign It and What to Watch Out For

Quick Overview: Signing an Employment Contract

Sign your employment contract no later than your first day of work, but ideally in advance so you have time to review its contents. It must include the type of work, the place of work, and the start date. Before signing, also check the salary, probationary period, working hours, benefits, non-compete clause, and consent to business travel. It is possible to sign an employment contract remotely, as well as to use an electronic signature, but always save a copy of the final signed version.

Mini checklist before signing an employment contract:

• Do the job title and type of work match what you’ll actually be doing?
• Is the place of work described too broadly?
• Is it clear when you’ll start and when your employment begins?
• Is the salary specified directly in the contract, a pay stub, or another document?
• Do you understand the probationary period, working hours, benefits, and any non-compete clause?
• Do you have your own copy of the signed contract?

Not sure if your employment contract is in order? Send it to us for review before you sign it. An attorney will point out risky provisions, an overly broad definition of the place of work, an unfavorable non-compete clause, and any ambiguities regarding salary or the probationary period.

An employment contract is a bilateral legal agreement between an employer and an employee. It establishes the employment relationship and sets out the basic conditions under which you will perform your work. Signing an employment contract is therefore not just an administrative step—its wording determines what work your employer can assign to you, where you will perform it, when the employment relationship begins, and what rules will apply to you.

The Labor Code requires that an employment contract be concluded in writing. According to the Labor Code, it must contain three mandatory elements:

• the type of work,
• the place or places of work,
• the start date.

These three points determine whether the employment contract is sufficiently specific. Other conditions, such as salary, working hours, benefits, or vacation time, may be specified directly in the contract, in a separate pay statement, in an internal regulation, or in other information provided by the employer.

When Should You Sign an Employment Contract?

You should sign the employment contract no later than the date specified in the contract as your start date. In practice, however, it’s better to sign the employment contract earlier. This will give you time to read it, compare it with what the employer promised you during the interview, and suggest changes if necessary.

Don’t sign the contract in a hurry at the reception desk, on your first day of work, or with the understanding that “the details will be worked out later.” Once you sign the contract, it will serve as the basis for determining your rights and obligations. If you’re unsure, ask your employer for time to review it.

In practice, we often deal with situations where an employee was given a different promise during the interview than what later appeared in the contract. Typically, this involves salary, working from home, bonuses, or the work location. Anything not included in the contract, pay stub, or other verifiable document is much harder to prove later on.

Employment Contract and Electronic Signature: Is It Possible to Do This Remotely?

Yes, an employment contract can be signed electronically. In practice, employment contracts with electronic signatures are primarily used today when an employee starts work remotely, works from another city, or the employer uses an electronic signature tool.

However, the remote signing of an employment contract must be set up in such a way that it is possible to prove who signed the contract and what wording was actually agreed upon. With simpler forms of electronic signatures, it may be more difficult to prove the identity of the signatory in the event of a dispute. Therefore, it is advisable to use a verifiable signature tool and save the final signed version of the contract, including all attachments.

If an employment contract is concluded electronically, the employee must receive a copy at an email address that is not under the employer’s control. Simply making the contract available on the company’s system is therefore not sufficient. Furthermore, for an employment contract concluded electronically, the employee may, under certain conditions, withdraw in writing within 7 days of receiving the contract, provided they have not yet started working.

Our recommendation: Before signing electronically, download the draft contract, review the attachments, and after signing, save the final version outside of your company email or internal system.

Type of Work

This should be agreed upon in as much detail as possible to avoid future disputes over what work the employer may assign to the employee and what is not included in the employee’s “job description.” The employer may not assign the employee work that is not specified in the employment contract. However, there is an exception to this rule: the law provides that an employer may (or must) transfer an employee to different work, but only for specifically enumerated reasons, primarily health-related reasons. At the same time, an employee may refuse work assigned by the employer if it does not correspond to the type of work described in the contract.

Place of Work

It is also important to pay attention to the agreed-upon place of work; this can be specified as a specific address, but it can also be defined very broadly, such as an entire region or the entire Czech Republic. This is particularly important for employers with multiple branches, for example; in such cases, the employer can essentially transfer employees at will if the place of work is defined broadly. When signing the contract, you should therefore ask why the place of work is defined so broadly, so that you are not caught off guard later.

Example from legal practice:

A security guard had a place of work agreed upon for a specific street in the city. However, troublemakers and graffiti artists were gathering around the building, so the employer ordered him to walk around the building every two hours. The security guard refused, because other streets were not specified as his place of work. Ultimately, however, an agreement was reached, and in exchange for a slight pay increase, the security guard agreed to the change in his place of work, so that the walls of the historic building were guarded from all sides.

If the place of work were definedtoo broadlyfor a specific type of work (e.g., the entire territory of the Czech Republic for a worker who actually performs work at a single workplace), it would be possible to consider the employment contract invalid. 

Start Date

The date an employee starts work is crucial because the employment contract takes effect on that date. There are several ways to determine the start date, including a specific date or based on another objective legal event, such as one week after the termination of the previous employment.

Such legal events must be sufficiently clear and must not cause uncertainty regarding when the employment relationship begins. From the first day of work, the employee is obligated to work, and the employer is obligated to assign that work. The start date can also be agreed upon as a day when work is not normally performed, such as a weekend.

Probationary Period

When signing an employment contract, always check whether a probationary period has been agreed upon and how long it lasts. Under the “flexi-amendment” to the Labor Code, the probationary period for regular employees may be agreed upon for a maximum of 4 months, and for managerial employees, for a maximum of 8 months. If the employment relationship is for a fixed term, the probationary period may not exceed half the agreed duration of the employment relationship.

The probationary period must be agreed upon in writing, no later than the date the employment relationship begins. During the probationary period, both the employee and the employer may terminate the employment relationship without giving a reason. However, this does not mean that a probationary period can be retroactively added to the contract at any time.

The most common mistake is that an employee only addresses the issue of why the contract specifies the maximum probationary period at the time of signing, even though the employer promised a shorter “orientation period” during the interview. If you want a shorter probationary period, address this before signing the employment contract, not after you start working.

Does your contract include a probationary period, a non-compete clause, or an ambiguously described salary? Have your contract reviewed before you sign it. A single sentence in the contract can later determine how easily you can leave, how much you’ll be paid, or where you’ll have to work.

Consent to Business Travel

If you’re taking a position where you’re likely to travel and handle work-related matters in various locations, your employer will usually ask you to sign a consent form for business travel; otherwise, they would need your permission for each specific business trip. Naturally, employees are entitled to reimbursements for business trips as stipulated by law, including, in particular: meal allowances, reimbursement of accommodation expenses, reimbursement of travel expenses, etc.

If your employment contract specifies a place of work that is broader in scope than a municipality, the starting point of the trip is considered to be your “regular workplace”; this may either be specified in the contract or is the location from which you most frequently begin business trips.

The broader the place of work you agree to, the more leeway the employer has to make changes. The wording “Prague 4, specific office address” has a different implication than “Czech Republic.” Before signing, therefore, ask why the place of work is defined this way and whether it matches what the employer promised you during the hiring process.

We often see very broadly defined places of work in employment contracts, even though the employee is actually assigned to a single specific branch. Such an agreement is not always automatically invalid, but it can be a source of disputes, especially if the employer later begins to transfer the employee to other locations.

Non-Competition Clause

You should also pay attention to non-compete clauses, which essentially restrict the employee after the employment relationship ends; for a maximum of one year after the employment relationship ends, the employee may not engage in any gainful activity that the employer performs or that would compete with the employer’s business. However, the employer must provide the employee with financial compensation amounting to at least half of the employee’s average monthly earnings. A non-compete clause may also include a reasonable contractual penalty; upon payment of this penalty by the employee, the employee’s obligation not to engage in similar activities is extinguished.

Other matters and details of the employment relationship may be agreed upon in a separate agreement or set forth in the employer’s internal regulations. Wages are likely the primary concern for every employee; they must be agreed upon or determined before the employee begins work.

Other provisions that may or may not be included in an employment contract

Some employees would like to have everything related to their job and job description clearly outlined in the contract. For employers, however, such detailed provisions are not advantageous, as they would require a new agreement and two signatures from the parties involved for every minor change—such as adjustments to benefits. Nevertheless, employment contracts often include provisions such as:

• salary amount,  
• regular bonuses, incentives, or allowances
• employee benefits,  
• working hours,
• vacation time, etc.  

From the employer’s perspective, it is undoubtedly more advantageous to enshrine these aspects of the employment relationship in an internal regulation, which the employer can amend unilaterally.   

Summary

Signing an employment contract is a crucial step before starting a new job. The employment contract must be in writing and must specify the type of work, the place of work, and the start date. Before signing, however, be sure to review your salary, working hours, probationary period, business travel, benefits, non-compete clause, and any attachments. An employment contract can also be signed electronically and concluded remotely, but always save a copy of the final, signed version. If something doesn’t sit right with you, don’t sign the contract in a hurry; instead, have it reviewed beforehand.