Legislation in the Czech Republic entitles employees to receive risk bonuses for work that is dangerous or that poses a risk to their health. The law explicitly allows for the determination of further bonus amounts under a collective agreement. This practice is widely used and consequently increases the financial attractiveness of jobs with difficult and hazardous working conditions.
Risk bonuses remain common
As part of the process concerning the Czech Republic’s accession to the European Union, the country has introduced a number of legal standards pertaining to work safety and health protection. Indeed, the legal protection of Czech employees in relation to work safety and health had already been at a high level prior to the changes required for joining the EU. However, it remains common practice in the Czech Republic, as in other new Member States, to provide bonus payments for work that is dangerous and a risk to health. Such an approach opposes the main principles of EU framework directives within the meaning of Article 16 (1) of Directive 89/391/EEC on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health of workers at work. These directives aim to avoid financial compensation for poor working conditions and concentrate instead on the prevention of health and safety risks.
Health and safety provisions in Labour Code
The Czech Labour Code refers to the elimination of possible life and health risks to employees caused by the employer: paragraph No. 132 specifies the employer’s duty to guarantee the work safety and health protection of employees with regard to possible life and health risks relating to service. Risk prevention is defined as a systematic methodical activity of the employer with the aim of avoiding risks, eliminating them if they occur and minimising them if unavoidable. This forms an important part of the employer’s duty in the field of work safety and health protection; it is the employer’s responsibility to assess risks and take measures to reduce the impacts where it is impossible to avoid them.
The employer is also obliged to categorise particular jobs according to four levels based on the occurrence rate of factors that may have an impact on the employees’ health. The employer submits high-risk jobs – grouped under Categories 3 and 4 – to a competent public health protection authority for approval.
Work safety and health protection is also one of the main fields of interest for the trade union organisations, which are entitled to inspect the work safety and health protection of employees under the Labour Code. Such inspections are part of their basic entitlements.
Prevalence of risk factors
According to the National Institute for Public Health (Státní zdravotní ústav, SZÚ), as of 15 May 2005, a total of 401,233 persons were registered in risky jobs (Category 2R, 3 and 4), which represents 8% of the total employee population in the Czech Republic. Moreover, some 19,434 persons – approximately 10% of whom were women – were registered under Category 4, comprising high risk workplaces; this number represents 0.2% of the total employee population.
Looking at particular health risk factors, employees were mostly exposed to physical loads, mental stress and noise. The database monitoring the number of workers according to the four classification levels was still at development stage and thus no trend data were yet available.
Bonus provision for difficult and hazardous work
According to Article 7 of the Law on Wages, Compensation for Working Availability and Average Earnings (No. 1/1992 Coll.), an employee is entitled to obtain the expected wages and bonus determined by Article 4 of the Government Order No. 333/1993 Coll. for work in difficult or dangerous working conditions. Furthermore, the law explicitly allows the determination of other bonus amounts under a collective agreement.
In 2004, according to internal data from the Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions (Ceskomoravská konfederace odborových svazu, CMKOS), bonus amounts for work in difficult and hazardous conditions were agreed under 17 higher level collective agreements (HLCAs) (CZ0605019I) between employer organisations and federations affiliated to CMKOS; this number represents about 85% of all HLCAs (Table 1).
Table 1: Coverage of bonuses for work in difficult and hazardous working conditions
Coverage of bonuses for work in difficult and hazardous working conditions | | HLCA No. in 2001 | HLCA No. in 2002 | HLCA No. in 2003 | HLCA No. in 2004 |
| No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | No. | % |
| Bonus for work in difficult and hazardous working conditions | 15 | 83 | 15 | 83 | 15 | 88 | 17 | 85 |
Source: Corenjová, H. and Kubínková, M., Report on development of high level and company level collective agreements in 2004; internal material of CMKOS.
Table 2 shows that the rate of benefit for employees exposed to risky working conditions – relative to the average hourly wages of employees – increased over time; hence, jobs in difficult and hazardous working conditions have become more financially attractive to workers.
Table 2: Amount of minimum and maximum average bonuses for work in high risk working conditions
Amount of minimum and maximum average bonuses for work in high risk working conditions | | Unit | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 |
| Bonus for work in difficult working conditions (average in CZ) | Min. CZK per hour | 3.0 | 3.4 | 3.8 | 3.9 | 4.1 | 4.6 | 5.5 | 5.7 | 5.9 |
| Max. CZK per hour | 4.7 | 5.4 | 4.9 | 4.6 | 5.0 | 5.6 | 6.3 | 6.8 | 6.9 |
| Average hourly wage of all employees | CZK per hour | 53.2 | 62.0 | 68.3 | 74.1 | 80.3 | 88.3 | 98.5 | 105.2 | 107.1 |
| % rate of bonus relative to average hourly wage | % (min.) | 5.6 | 6.4 | 7.1 | 7.4 | 7.8 | 8.7 | 10.4 | 10.8 | 11.0 |
| % (max.) | 8.9 | 10.1 | 9.2 | 8.7 | 9.4 | 10.5 | 11.8 | 12.7 | 13.0 |
Note: Bonuses determined by collective agreements in relation to the amount of average hourly wage of all employees. 1 EUR = 32 CZK in 2003.
Source: Trexima
Commentary
Apart from legislation, it is essential to reinforce general awareness of the responsibility of safety and risk prevention on the part of both the employer and employee. Nevertheless, the financial compensation for dangerous work is still attractive to many workers, even at the expense of their health. Railway workers and those in the chemical industry receive the highest compensation determined in collective agreements. It seems that improving working conditions without decreasing salaries will be key to any comprehensive work safety and health protection policy.
Renáta Kizlinková and Lenka Dokulilová, Research Institute for Labour and Social Affairs (VÚPSV)