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Affected by floods? We will advise you what steps to take next
11.06.2013
Flooding that affects your business premises can be a trying situation for employees and employers. Do you know how the consequences of flooding are regulated in the Labour Code? And what to do when your accounting records are damaged or destroyed by water? Here are our tips and recommendations.
Dealing with the consequences of a flood? We will advise you on your statutory entitlement
1. Salary compensation for remedying flood damage
If you are repairing damage from flooding that has occurred to your own property, it may interfere with an employee’s work performance (an obstacle to work):- The employer may grant you leave without salary compensation or may also grant you salary or wage compensation.
- You can also agree with the employer to work overtime to make up for the missed working hours.
- It is an obstacle to work on the employee’s part under Section 202 of the Labour Code, and it is an excused absence with no salary compensation.
- The duration of the obstacles must be substantiated to the employer.
- Help should be provided in an organised rather than spontaneous manner.
2. Salary compensation for damage to work premises
Your employer has been affected by flooding and has to suspend operations:- It is essential that your employer try to transfer you to another job provided that the circumstances so allow. The employer may do so even without your consent and for the minimum necessary period of time
- If you are not transferred to another job by the employer, it is an obstacle to work on the part of the employer, and you are entitled to salary compensation of at least 60% of your average earnings
- If the employer is not affected by floods but cannot continue with operations due to a suspended supply of materials, energy or water, it is an obstacle to work and you are entitled to salary compensation of at least 80% of your average earnings.
3. Employer in financial difficulties as a result of floods
If your employer fails to pay you your wages as a consequence of floods, you can rely on Act No. 118/2000 Sb., on Employee Protection in Cases of Employer Insolvency, as amended. Alternatively, you might want to contact the employment agency having local jurisdiction for the employer’s registered office for advice on further action.4. Property damaged by floods? Are you entitled to any allowances?
Under law, immediate emergency assistance may be provided, depending on the property owner and earnings – either yours or those of jointly assessed persons.- Assistance may be provided up to fifteen times an individual’s minimum subsistence level, i.e. up to CZK 51,150.
- In addition, you can be granted emergency assistance up to the amount of a specific expense, providing that the sum of such assistance does not exceed ten times the minimum subsistence level of an individual in a calendar year, i.e. currently up to CZK 34,100.
- Applications for assistance should be filed with the employment agency having local jurisdiction for the individual’s permanent residence.
- The application forms can be downloaded from the Ministry of Social Affairs’ website at http://portal.mpsv.cz/forms (Formuláře pro pomoc v hmotné nouzi – ‘Žádost o pomoc z důvodu postižení mimořádnou událostí’ or ‘Žádost o mimořádnou okamžitou pomoc’, available in Czech only).