Termination due to company relocation

The transfer of an employee or a business trip is only a temporary measure, which must take place with the employee's consent. However, if your company is moving to a new location (whether it is a specific branch/establishment you work for or the company’s headquarters), the place of work in the employment contract changes. This can happen again only if both parties agree to the change and jointly sign a new contract or an addendum to the employment contract.

If working in a new place is problematic for you, for example in terms of a long commute, or you simply do not want to work in a new place, you can sign a termination of employment instead of a new contract. However, your employer may give you a notice of termination due to moving even if you agree to work in a new place.

When terminating from the employer due to company moving (and thus not signing a new contract or amendment), you are entitled to severance pay. This reason will even help you get more unemployment benefits if you need it, so be sure to write it down in your notice or termination agreement. If you meet the legal conditions, you are entitled to unemployment benefits for 5 to 11 months, depending on your current age.

Pay attention to what you have in your employment contract

The place of work is most often mentioned as a municipality (e.g. Prague), but it can also be a specific address of an office or establishment. However, for some professions (e.g. driver, sales representative, etc.), a wider place of work is indicated, which is defined, for example, by a region or territory of the Czech Republic. If the company moves within the area defined in the employment contract, you are not entitled to termination notice due to moving (and therefore not to severance pay). You can give a classic termination notice but count on a protective notice period.

When is termination of employment illegal due to moving

Due to the move, it is not possible to terminate the employment relationship with an employee who is in the so-called "protection period". These are, for example, employees on sick or parental leave. In such cases, the employer must wait for the protection period to end. However, the employee may give his resignation at any time.

Attention: If the sick employee or pregnant worker is on probationary period, the protection period does not apply. The same applies if the employment is terminated by an agreement agreed by both parties.

Termination due to your moving

Of course, you can resign from your employment due to moving abroad or to another city from which you do not want to commute to your current place of work. However, be aware that while moving a company is an obstacle on the part of the employer, you are not entitled to severance pay when moving on your own initiative.

Although you may come across a helpful employer with whom you can agree to resign by agreement on a specific date, the law applies the classic two-month notice period, unless otherwise specified in the contract. Moving as such is not a sufficient reason to automatically shorten the notice period (this is only a serious threat to health or the fact that the employer has not paid your salary), so inform your employer in time before moving. But you can get time off to move by law.