Dear clients,

today (March 6, 2020), the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic has issued an extraordinary measure on the obligatory quarantine of citizens returning to the Czech Republic from Italy. Given that a large number of our clients are currently facing a question of how to address this measure from a practical point of view, we are bringing you the following brief recommendation:

Measure of the Ministry of Health

▪ Persons residing in the Czech Republic who return from their stay in all of Italy to the Czech Republic from March 7, 2020, are obliged to notify their general practitioner (GP) immediately

▪ The GP has to be notified remotely (i.e. by phone, e-mail, skype, etc.)

▪ The GP is obliged to issue a 14-day quarantine decision

▪ Quarantined persons are entitled to wage compensation similarly as in the case of temporary incapacity to work

▪ Under the Public Health Protection Act, each and every breach of quarantine is subject to a fine of up to CZK 3.000.000

Practical recommendations to employers

▪ We recommend contacting all employees you are aware of that may be potentially affected by the measure (in case of doubt, contact any who are returning from their vacation);

▪ If your employees are returning from Italy on Saturday (March 7, 2020) and are scheduled to attend their shift on Sunday (March 8, 2020) – we recommend ordering them not to work but rather to stay at home due to obstacles at work on employer’s side;

▪ Unlike temporary incapacity to work, quarantine cannot be ordered retrospectively;

▪ Also, we recommend instructing these (and all) employees to contact their GP who is obliged to order the quarantine under the Measure of the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic;

▪ Where possible, the Ministry of Health suggests that an agreement on home-office is reached between the employer and employee. We believe that the combination of the statutory obstacle to work and home-office is generally problematic (however, we consider the risks arising from the implementation of the recommendation of the Ministry of Health as low);

▪ We encourage you to appeal to all your employees to comply with their legal precautionary duty (i.e. particularly not to cause any harm to their employer and to take care of their health and health of the other employees) and to refrain from traveling to Italy.

We will gladly answer any further questions that you may have.