Náhrada mzdy po dobu pracovní neschopnosti v mezinárodním srovnání

Since 1957, an employee has been protected against a lack of income because of illness only within public sickness insurance. In 2006, the Czech Parliament approved the Labour Code (Act No. 262 of 2006 Collection of Laws), which regulated an employer’s duty to pay an employee sick pay during the first 14 days of his or her incapacity to work. It will have been 50 years since such a regulation was in force in Czech law. Due to mainly political reasons, the provisions in question (sections 192–194 of the Labour Code) have not come in force yet, but their effectiveness is scheduled for 1st of January 2009. The above social reform of sickness insurance was triggered by the steady increase in the period of employees’ incapacity to work. According to official data collected by the Czech carrier of sickness insurance (the Czech Social Security Administration) from 1996 to 2006, there are two contradictory trends concerning employees’ behaviour connected to their incapacity to work. Presently, employees are declared to be disabled less frequently than in 1996, but they are ill longer. Although the Czech Social Security Administration collects still more money in premiums than it pays out in benefits, the legislature deemed the said trends in sickness insurance as dangerous and therefore suggested that an employer shall contribute to coverage of employees during their incapacity to work. Nevertheless, the regulation of sick pay, which was finally set forth in the Labour Code, was prepared in an extraordinary way, as the preparation and the legislation process were hasty and without the necessary consultation of experts and broad social dialog. Thus, there are a few fundamental questions which have been asked but have never been answered by the legislature. Some of these questions are connected to the dearth of comparative research in legal systems of other EU Member States, such as Germany, Slovakia or Spain, which for years have maintained a similar system of employer participation in the financial protection of a disabled employee. This paper aims to conduct the said Jack of research and therefore provides a reader with information concerning relevant provisions of EC-law and chosen national regulation. All inferences derived from the foreign regulations are set forth at the end of the article.