Statutory law claims towards the state

In addition to the above, injuries may also have consequences in public law. The following situations are significant from the perspective of criminal law: if a work-related or any other injury was caused as the consequence of a crime, the police (if the police learn about it, but anyone may draw attention to a case by filing charges) should start prosecuting the guilty party; the injured person may propose to the court to issue, together with a verdict of guilty, also the duty to compensate for damages (where damages are all the claims listed above). This mechanism, known as an adhesion procedure, makes it much easier for the injured to exercise their rights.

There are, however, also certain property rights that create obligations of the state towards the injured person:

  • if the person becomes unable to work – s/he has the right to a sickness benefit in accordance with the Health Insurance Act if the person pays health insurance: for 380 days in which the person is unable to work (sometimes more), he or she is entitled to sick pay, typically at 60% of the average earnings, first directly from the employer and after 2 or 3 weeks from the Czech Social Security Office (Česká správa sociálního zabezpečení); and
  • if the injury results in disability – s/he has the right to disability pension in accordance with the Pension Insurance Act:
    1. Disability is defined as a long-term (usually at least 1 year) adverse health condition that led to a decline of the ability to earn money by a certain percentage (there are 3 levels of disability recognised in the Czech Republic), specified by a regulation of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs
    2. In order to become eligible for a disability pension, it is necessary either for this disability to be caused by a work-related injury (see above) or the person must have been paying social security insurance for a certain period (in practice, this is a specific number of years of wage-earning activities from which social insurance premiums are paid, or another time period that can be included in a pension claim); for persons over 28 years of age, the required period of insurance is 5 years.

Disability pension is calculated from the earnings of the person at the time before the disability.