Government to keep community service for unemployed

The Czech government plans to keep community service for the unemployed which was overturned last week by the country’s Constitutional Court, the minister of labour and social affairs, Ludmila Müllerová said on Czech TV on Sunday. To accommodate the objections of the court, the system might undergo some minor changes, Ms Müllerová said. These could include the prolongation of period after which the jobless are required to start community service, and even a possibility of some salary being paid to those who take part in the programme.

The Constitutional Court last week said the free yet compulsory community service for the unemployed, introduced by the Nečas government last year, was humiliating, in breach of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and also contradicted a ban on forced labour.