Pay transparency rules in Czechia
Not yet law. Czechia missed the 7 June 2026 EU deadline. A draft amendment to the Labour Code was published on 26 March 2026 and is still going through consultation. The plan is for most rules to start on 1 January 2027, with gender pay-gap reporting phased in from 2028. One piece is already in force: since 1 June 2025, employers cannot stop staff from discussing their pay.
The EU Pay Transparency Directive (Directive (EU) 2023/970) is a European law that requires employers to be open about pay and to close the gender pay gap. It forces employers to share salary information with job candidates and staff, bans asking applicants about their pay history, and makes larger employers report on the difference between what they pay women and men. Where an unexplained gap of 5% or more shows up, the employer must work with staff representatives to investigate and fix it. Each EU country had until 7 June 2026 to write these rules into its own national law. Czechia has not yet done so: it has only published a draft. Until that draft is passed and takes effect, the Directive's specific duties are not yet legally binding on employers operating in Czechia, though a partial pay-secrecy ban already applies.
Current status: a draft, not yet law
Czechia has not transposed the Directive. A draft Labour Code amendment was published on 26 March 2026 and is still in consultation; most rules are planned to start on 1 January 2027.
Czechia missed the EU-wide transposition deadline of 7 June 2026. On 26 March 2026 the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (MPSV) published a draft amendment to the Labour Code (zakoník práce) that would transpose Directive (EU) 2023/970. The draft is taking a deliberately 'minimalist' approach, meaning it aims to meet the EU minimum without adding extra burden. As of 30 June 2026 it is still in the inter-departmental comment stage (připomínkové řízení) on the government's ODok portal and has not been passed by Parliament or signed into law. The plan is for most obligations to take effect on 1 January 2027, with gender pay-gap reporting starting later. None of the new draft-specific duties are legally binding yet. Because the deadline has passed, the European Commission can open infringement proceedings against Czechia, but that does not create direct obligations for private employers.
What will change for employers when it passes
Employers will have to build a documented pay system, sort jobs into value-based groups, publish pay ranges to candidates, stop asking about salary history, answer staff pay-information requests, and (if large enough) report their gender pay gap.
The draft would require every employer, regardless of size, to create a remuneration system (systém odměňování) that sets out how it pays people and sorts roles into groups graded by the value of the work, judged on complexity, effort and responsibility. Before pay negotiations begin, employers must tell candidates the offered pay or pay range. Employers may no longer ask a candidate about their pay at a previous job. Existing staff gain the right to ask for information about their own pay and the average pay levels for their category of work, broken down by sex, with a response due within roughly two months. These are new, more structured duties than current Czech law and will need preparation before the 2027 start date.
Pay-gap reporting and joint pay assessment
Reporting is phased by size: 250+ and 150-249 employees report first by 30 April 2028 (for 2027); 100-149 employees by 30 April 2031. An unexplained gap of 5% or more triggers a joint pay assessment with staff representatives.
Under the draft, employers with 250 or more employees report their gender pay gap annually, with the first report due 30 April 2028 covering 2027. Employers with 150 to 249 employees also report first by 30 April 2028, then every three years. Employers with 100 to 149 employees start later, with a first report due 30 April 2031 covering 2030, then every three years. Employers with fewer than 100 employees have no reporting duty. If reporting shows a gap in average pay between women and men of at least 5% in any category of work that cannot be objectively justified and is not corrected within six months, the employer must carry out a joint pay assessment together with employee representatives. These thresholds and dates come from the published draft and may change before it becomes law.
Penalties and enforcement
The draft sets fines up to 1,000,000 CZK for the most serious breaches. A separate, already-in-force ban on pay-secrecy clauses (since 1 June 2025) carries fines up to 400,000 CZK. The Ombudsman would become the equality body.
The draft proposes tiered fines enforced by the State Labour Inspection Office (Státní úřad inspekce práce): up to 1,000,000 CZK for the most serious failures, such as not building a pay system, withholding pay information from staff, or skipping required pay-gap reporting, with lower tiers around 200,000 to 400,000 CZK. Separately, a measure that is already law - the Labour Code 'flexi-amendment' in force since 1 June 2025 - bans confidentiality clauses that stop employees discussing their pay, with fines up to 400,000 CZK. The draft would also designate the Public Defender of Rights (the Ombudsman) as Czechia's equal-treatment body, able to assist and represent workers in pay-discrimination disputes. All figures from the unpassed draft are provisional.
How it works when an Employer of Record is the legal employer
With an EOR, the EOR is the legal employer in Czechia and carries these statutory duties. It builds the pay system, makes the disclosures, files any reports and counts toward the size thresholds. The client company should still supply accurate role and pay data.
When you employ staff in Czechia through an Employer of Record (EOR) such as Teamed, the EOR is the legal employer on record. That means the statutory pay-transparency duties land on the EOR: setting up the documented remuneration system, classifying roles into value-based groups, disclosing pay ranges to candidates, not asking about salary history, responding to employee pay-information requests, and producing gender pay-gap reports if the relevant size threshold is met. The headcount that decides whether reporting applies is generally the EOR's Czech workforce, not the client's global headcount. In practice this is collaborative: the client provides accurate job descriptions, pay levels and any benefits so the EOR can classify roles and report correctly. Because the law is still a draft, the immediate step is readiness, not filing - getting clean pay and role data in place before the rules begin.
At a glance
| Pay shown in job ads | Proposed - employer must give pay or pay range before negotiations (draft, planned 1 Jan 2027) |
|---|---|
| Salary-history question banned | Proposed in draft (planned 2027); pay-secrecy clauses already banned since 1 Jun 2025 |
| Gender pay-gap reporting from | Proposed: 250+ and 150-249 employees report first; 100-149 from 2031; under 100 exempt |
| First report due | Proposed: 30 Apr 2028 (250+ and 150-249, for 2027); 30 Apr 2031 (100-149, for 2030) |
| Penalties | Proposed: up to 1,000,000 CZK (draft). Pay-secrecy breach: up to 400,000 CZK (in force) |
Key figures
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Transposition status | Not transposed - draft published 26 March 2026, in consultation, missed 7 June 2026 deadline (source) |
| Instrument | Draft amendment to the Labour Code (novela zákoníku práce) transposing Directive (EU) 2023/970 (source) |
| Planned effective date | 1 January 2027 for most provisions (draft, not yet law) (source) |
| Pay in job ads | Proposed: employer must disclose offered pay or pay range before negotiations begin (source) |
| Salary history ban | Proposed in draft (from 2027); related pay-secrecy clause ban already in force since 1 June 2025 (source) |
| Reporting threshold | 250+ annual; 150-249 every 3 years; 100-149 from 2031; under 100 exempt (draft) (source) |
| First report due | 30 April 2028 (250+ and 150-249, for 2027); 30 April 2031 (100-149, for 2030) (source) |
| Joint pay assessment trigger | Unjustified gap of at least 5% in a category of work, not fixed within 6 months (source) |
| Penalties (draft) | Up to 1,000,000 CZK for the most serious breaches (draft) (source) |
| Pay-secrecy ban (in force) | Confidentiality clauses on pay banned since 1 June 2025; fines up to 400,000 CZK (source) |
| Equality body | Public Defender of Rights (Ombudsman) to become equal-treatment body (draft) (source) |
Frequently asked questions
Has Czechia passed the EU Pay Transparency Directive into law?
No. As of 30 June 2026 Czechia has only a draft. The Ministry of Labour published a draft Labour Code amendment on 26 March 2026 and it is still in consultation. Czechia missed the 7 June 2026 EU deadline. The plan is for most rules to start on 1 January 2027.
Do employers in Czechia have to publish salaries in job ads yet?
Not yet as a hard legal duty. The draft would require employers to tell candidates the offered pay or pay range before pay negotiations begin, either in the ad or beforehand. This is planned for 1 January 2027 but is not in force while the bill is still a draft.
Can employers in Czechia ask candidates about their previous salary?
The draft would ban this from 2027. Separately, a related protection is already in force: since 1 June 2025 employers cannot use confidentiality clauses to stop staff discussing their own pay, with fines up to 400,000 CZK. The full salary-history-question ban becomes binding only when the new law takes effect.
When is the first gender pay-gap report due in Czechia?
Under the draft, employers with 250 or more and 150 to 249 employees would report first by 30 April 2028 (covering 2027). Employers with 100 to 149 employees report first by 30 April 2031 (covering 2030). Employers under 100 are exempt. These dates are from the draft and could change.
If we use an Employer of Record in Czechia, who handles these duties?
The EOR, as the legal employer, carries the statutory pay-transparency duties: the pay system, disclosures, reporting and so on. The client should provide accurate role and pay data. Since the law is still a draft, the practical task now is getting clean pay data ready, not filing reports.
Pay transparency is moving at different speeds across the EU. When Teamed is your legal employer in Czechia, these duties sit with us: compliant pay ranges, the salary-history rule, employee pay-information requests, and reporting where it applies. We track the law as it changes so your hiring stays compliant.
