Sickness Insurance Act Amendment

At the start of September, an amendment of Sickness Insurance Act bringing several interesting legislative changes has been published in the Collection of Laws.

One of the changes concerns a new rule on the provision of leave for fathers of newborns. These payments are available to employees or entrepreneurs paying sickness insurance. New fathers will thus be able to enjoy two weeks of leave instead of one week so far.

Period during which leave can be enjoyed has also been updated. Newly, the period extends by the time during which the newborn stayed in hospital within the first 6 weeks after birth. New fathers will thus be able to choose whether to commence their leave during the first six weeks after the baby is born, or after the baby‘s return from hospital. The typical situation when this arises is when a baby is placed in an incubator or when another medical issue arises requiring a hospital stay.

The Sickness Insurance Act amendment also introduces changes in sickness payments relating to care for long-term sick. In case of incurably sick persons requiring long-term care, their relatives will be entitled to long-term care payments even in a situation where care for the sick in their home environment. The only condition required is that the doctor in charge confirms the patient’s medical state.

Apart from the change of rules regarding long-term care payments, the amendment also introduces a change relating to the care leave, in terms of increasing eligibility for it. The rules so far restricted the number of people to those living with the sick in a common household. The amendment henceforth allows close relatives caring for the sick to go on care leave as well. In practice, this could be e.g. a working grandfather or grandmother. The Health Insurance Act Amendment was published in the Collection of Laws on 8 September 2021 and enters into force in January 2022.

Pension Insurance Act Amendment

Apart from the amendment of Sickness Insurance Act, Pension Insurance Act amendment was published on 8 September 2021 in the Collection of Laws. This amendment increases pensions by CZK 300 on top of the mandatory annual appreciation.

The Act also introduces the so-called upbringing payment of CZK 500. Everyone who brought up a child will be entitled to a payment of CZK 500 for every child. However, this can only be claimed by one of the parents.

The Pension Insurance Act amendment also amends early pension for rescue workers not impacting the amount of their pensions.

Pensions should increase by CZK 300 on top of the mandatory appreciation as of 1 January 2022. Upbringing payments and early pension for rescue workers will enter into force in 2023.

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