Government to discuss sick-leave benefits

The Czech government will meet on Monday to discuss sick-leave benefits after the Constitutional Court ruled last week that the changes introduced were unconstitutional. According to recently introduced healthcare reforms, employees, who previously received 40% of their salary during the first three days of illness, now receive no benefits whatsoever. The court argued that the changed legislation, designed to prevent employees from abusing sick-leave benefits, was unconstitutional because it failed to guarantee an employee’s right to security in times of illness. Labour and Social Affairs Minister Petr Nečas says the ruling is absurd since a similar practice exists in other EU states.