Skip to content

Rest period

An employer shall be obliged to provide an employee whose work shift is longer than six hours with a break for rest and eating for duration of 30 minutes. An employer shall be obliged to provide an adolescent employee whose work shift is longer than 4.5 hours with a break for rest and eating for duration of 30 minutes.

Continuous daily rest

An employer shall be obliged to arrange working time in such a way that, between the end of one shift and beginning of another shift, an employee has the minimum rest of duration of 12 consecutive hours within 24 hours, and an adolescent employee, at least 14 consecutive hours within 24 hours.
Such rest period may be reduced to eight hours for an employee older than 18 years of age in the cases determined by the act.

Continuous weekly rest

Continuous weekly rest – two consecutive days of continuous rest once per week, which must fall on Saturday and Sunday or on Sunday and Monday, or other days of the week. If the character of work and operation conditions do not allow to schedule working time, the employer may, after agreement with the employees´ representatives or, if there are no employees´ representatives in the workplace, after agreement with the employee, schedule an employee aged over 18 years at least 24 hours of continuous rest, which should be on Sunday, provided that the employer provides the employee with alternative continuous rest in the week within eight months of the date when continuous rest should have been provided during the week. If the character of the work and the operational conditions do not permit the scheduling of working time and the employee is over 18 years of age, the employer is obliged to schedule working time so that the employee has at least 35 hours of continuous rest once a week; such continuous rest shall fall on a Sunday and a part of either the day preceding or following the Sunday; such a schedule shall be agreed with employee representatives or, if there are no employee representatives in the workplace, agreed with the employee.

Rest days

Rest days are days on which continuous rest of an employee falls in the week, and holidays. Work on rest days may only be charged exceptionally and upon prior negotiation with employees’ representatives.

On a day of continuous rest in the week, an employee may only be charged the following necessary work that cannot be performed on working days:

a) urgent repair work,

b) loading and unloading work,

c) stock-taking and closing of accounts work,

d) work performed in continuous operations for an employee who failed to take up their shift

e) work for averting threat endangering life or health, or in case of extraordinary events,

f) imperative work with regard to satisfying the living, health and cultural needs of the population

g) feeding and care of agricultural animals,

h) imperative work in agriculture crop production with planting, cultivating and harvesting of crops and in the processing of foodstuff raw materials.

On a public holiday, it shall be possible to charge an employee with such work only which may be charged on days of continuous rest in the week, work in continuous operations and work necessary for guarding the premises of the employer.

On the days 1 January, 6. January, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Easter Monday, May 1, May 8, July 5, August 29, September 1, September 15, November 1, November 17, December 24, after 12.00, 25 December and 26 December, the employee cannot be ordered nor the work that is the sale of goods to the final consumer, including any related work (hereinafter referred to as “retail”) cannot be negotiated with the employee, except for the retail sale.

Work on days, on which continuous weekly rest of an employee falls and work on rest days / holidays may only be charged exceptionally and upon prior negotiation with employees´ representatives.