Workplace Injury: What to Do, Your Rights, and Employer Responsibilities

A workplace injury can change your life in seconds. A sudden accident at work can leave you dealing not only with your health but also with compensation claims. Today, we’ll explain what a workplace injury is, who has what responsibilities, and what rights you have.

This article applies only to the Czech Republic.

What Is a Workplace Injury?

A workplace injury is defined by labor law as harm to an employee’s health or death that occurs while performing work tasks or in direct connection with them, caused by a sudden and violent external influence, independent of the employee’s will.

In simpler terms, these are injuries that occur:

• While performing duties within the employment relationship (e.g., falling from a height during installation).
• While performing tasks assigned by the employer.
• While moving around the workplace (e.g., tripping over a threshold in a hall).
• While voluntarily performing an activity for the employer.
• During a business trip.

However, injuries that occur on the way to or from work, or during lunch breaks, are not considered workplace injuries. The key factor is whether the injury was directly related to work duties assigned by the employer.

The employer determines whether an incident qualifies as a workplace injury. If there is a dispute, the case may go to court, and labor inspection authorities can intervene to reassess the employer’s decision.

What to Do When a Workplace Injury Occurs: Who, What, and How?

When an accident happens, both parties have specific obligations and rights. Here’s a summary:

Employee Responsibilities

This will be brief. The employee is required to immediately report the workplace injury to their superior if they are able and cooperate in clarifying the causes. The same applies to the workplace injury of another employee or person.

Everyone is obligated to provide first aid, call a doctor, and, if necessary, summon firefighters or the police and report the workplace injury to the employer.

Employer Responsibilities

If a workplace injury occurs, the employer must:

• Preserve the accident site until the cause and circumstances are clarified.
• Investigate the cause and circumstances of the injury.
• Record the injury in the accident log.
• Report the injury to authorities when required:
  • Police (if the injury is fatal or involves a suspected crime).
  • Labor unions or labor inspection authorities (for injuries leading to more than three days of work incapacity or hospitalization exceeding five days).
• Prepare an accident report and regularly submit records to the labor inspectorate or other relevant authorities.
• Implement measures to prevent a recurrence of the injury.

Employers must also have liability insurance to compensate employees for workplace injuries—more on this below.

Employee Rights

Employees who suffer a workplace injury are entitled to compensation and reimbursement for damages. This includes:

• Compensation for lost earnings during work incapacity, paid for the entire period of incapacity.
• Compensation for lost earnings after incapacity ends or in case of recognized disability (so-called annuity).
• Pain and suffering compensation and compensation for reduced quality of life, paid as a lump sum according to government regulation No. 276/2015.
• Reimbursement for material damage if personal belongings (such as footwear, electronics, luggage, etc.) are damaged in the accident.

In the case of a fatal injury, surviving family members are entitled to:

1. A one-time compensation payment.
2. Compensation for loss of support.
3. Reimbursement of necessary medical expenses.
4. Compensation for reasonable funeral costs.
5. Adjustment of average earnings to account for inflation.
6. Compensation for material damage, payable to the deceased employee’s heirs.

All employees must be properly informed of their rights. Employers must ensure that workers have access to this information.

Employer Rights

Employers can be partially or fully exempted from liability for compensation, but only under specific conditions. They are not required to pay compensation if they can prove that the damage or harm resulted from:

• The employee’s deliberate violation of legal regulations, workplace safety rules, or employer instructions, despite being aware of them and having been regularly trained and monitored for compliance.
• The employee’s intoxication from alcohol or drugs, provided the employer could not have prevented the injury.

However, these circumstances must be the sole cause of the damage or harm.

If other factors contributed to the injury, the employer may only be partially exempt from liability. The same applies if the employee acted recklessly despite knowing the risk. However, ordinary negligence and risks inherent to the job are not considered recklessness.

Conclusion

A workplace injury can significantly impact anyone’s life. That’s why it’s crucial to know how to proceed, understand your rights, and focus on prevention—such as using personal protective equipment and following occupational health and safety guidelines. Being informed and taking the right steps can make dealing with workplace injuries easier and provide greater security in difficult situations.