Constitutional Court overturns pay freeze for judges

This year’s judicial pay freeze has been struck down by the Constitutional Court, which on Tuesday annulled the fixed salary base and criticized the government’s repeated “unsystematic interventions.”  The state must now retroactively compensate judges, a move the Justice Ministry earlier estimated at over CZK 800 million, plus interest and legal costs. The ministry said it respects the court’s decision and expects the total costs to reach CZK 620 million.

Under the standard calculation, the base salary should have exceeded CZK 130,000, but the government had capped it at CZK 121,685 for 2024 to meet fiscal savings targets — a move many judges called unconstitutional.