Civil law claims for work-related injuries and occupational diseases

In the case of a work-related injury or an occupational disease, the employee is entitled to all of the following from the employer:

• Claim for compensation of lost earnings, both during the period in which the employee is unable to work and afterwards (plus potentially lost pension benefits); the employer must pay to the employee the difference between his or her average earnings before the injury and after (sick pay, disability pension, lower wages);
• Compensation for pain and more difficulty with future employment in society;
• Claim for reimbursing justified costs related to treatment (regardless of which country the person is treated in);
• Compensation for material damages (e.g. broken glasses or car used at work with the employer’s consent); and
• In case of death – claim for compensating the costs of a funeral, living costs of the bereaved and a one-time compensation (husband and any child not provided for are entitled to CZK 240 thousand each; parents only if they lived with the deceased employee in a single household).

The employer is obliged to discuss the form and amount of the compensation with the employee and a labour union without undue delay.

If the employer does not pay these claims voluntarily, the employee must turn to the courts. The employee’s rights generally become void after 2 to 3 years from the day on which the employee learns about the damage and the fact that the employer is responsible. The right to compensation for lost earnings as a whole remains valid, however – only the claims for individual (monthly) payments of these claims are time-barred. If any person suffers an injury not as an employee, but an independent entrepreneur, and if this injury was caused by another person, the entrepreneur has essentially similar rights as an employee does towards his or her employer, with the following differences:

• the injured person must prove guilt of the other party
• the claim for compensation of lost earnings may become void in its entirety if not applied in the defined period