Every day, one million people meet in the Czech Republic with labor law. The first document on the territory of today’s Czech Republic, which also contained legal aspects of the work, was “Ius regale montanorum” – the upper code of Wenceslas II. from the years 1300-1305[1]. Labor law has historically emerged from the need to protect the weaker party – employee. The aggregate designation for all obligations governed by labor law are called employment relationships and are governed by the Labor Code, the New Civil Code and the Law on employment. The Labor Code sets out the basic principles of the labor relations they express values that protect public order[2]:

1. special legal protection of the status of an employee,
2. satisfactory and safe working conditions,
3. fair remuneration of the employee,
4. proper performance of work by employees in accordance with the legitimate interests of the employer,
5. equal treatment of workers and the prohibition of discrimination between them

These labor relations are shared individually and collectively. The difference between them is in the subjects between which rights and obligations arise. If they are an employee and the employer, we are talking about an individual employment relationship. If they are subjects union organization and employer (or employers’ association), we speak on collective labor relations. In the other parts we will focus mainly on individual employment relationships.

Individual labor relations are divided into basic and secondary relations depending on what is their legal reason for the occurrence. Basic labor relations include relationships based on a contract of employment or an agreement to work outside the employment. In all other cases, we are talking about secondary labor relations, for example an act of unlawful conduct that establishes the obligation of one party to compensate for damage or in case of death of an employee when a liability arises between the employer and the surviving spouse/wife (the subject of the obligation is the employee’s financial rights against the employer at the time of his death).

Labor law is based on the rule that labor relations can only come into being with the free consent of the individual and the employer. Until the creation of a labor law, the relationship between the Contracting Parties is equal. Czech labor law distinguishes 2 ways of setting up an employment relationship, through a contract of employment and appointment.STORY chapter 3 cz

[1] BĚLINA, Miroslav. Employment Law. 4th edition. Prague: C.H.Beck, 2010. 624p.

[2] Law no. 262/2006 Codex.: Labor code.

Transactions, agreements, exchanges of goods and services… they are in the base of every civilization. Humans have used exchanging methods to acquire what they needed in exchange for what they have for thousands of years. Nowadays, these exchanges are regulated by contracts, which are mutually accepted, legally binding agreements between the interested parties.

As any other essential part of human’s life and interaction, it is necessary to have certain rules that ensure that one party is not going to benefit from that exchange by prejudicing the other party. For this reason, contracts are regulated by Contract Law, the part of the legal system that stablishes the obligations and rights of any agreement, oral or written, as well as the limitations and freedom included on them. Contract law is used for a wide variety of things, from tenancy contracts to even an employment contract.

In the following chapter, we will be able to see how Contract Law works.