Termination of employment

If you are employed and plan to become an IT Freelancer, and have this activity as your main source of income, you will likely be ending the employment relationship with your current employer.

It is, of course, possible to be simultaneously employed and carry out business as an IT Freelancer on the side (or vice versa, where you will have some kind of an employment alongside your own business), but it is not always possible, or suitable, due to time constrains or other reasons (your current employer in particular may not appreciate the competition that you, as an employee, bring as an entrepreneur at the same time. This depends on the wording of your employment contract and your employer’s governing documents; often these restrictions apply to the same or related fields of business as that of your employer and/or areas of activities that you, directly, perform for the employer).

Here we focus on situations where you wish to end your employment and enter “full-time” self-employment.

Termination of employment is regulated by the Chapter IV of the Labor Code (Act No. 262/2006 Coll.)

You, as an employee, can terminate the employment relationship in several ways:

By mutual agreement

An ideal, fast and fundamentally non-conflict option. If you and your current employer agree to terminate your employment, it will end on the day that you mutually agreed upon. The agreement must, of course, be in writing.

By termination notice

As an employee, you can resign at any given time, even without giving a reason. This is a unilateral legal act and the employer cannot prevent you from doing so. However, upon giving notice, you must take into account the notice period, which is 2 month and begins on the 1^st day of the month following the notice delivery to the employer. (Thus, if you resign on January 10^th your employment does not end until March 31^st). Your notice must be in writing.

By immediate termination

In specific cases, stipulated by the Labor Code, you can also terminate the employment relationship immediately (for example for health reasons, if the employer has not paid you wages, etc.).

By termination during the trial period

If you are newly employed and have agreed a trial period with your employer, you can cancel the employment relationship during this period, with immediate effect, and even without disclosing a reason. Cancellation of work during the probationary period also requires a written notice.

Further details on termination of employment and sample documents can be found, for example, here: zakony.centrum.cz/zakonik-prace/cast-2-hlava-4

When terminating your employment, do not forget to obtain the following documents from your employer:

• employment record,
• personal records of pension insurance,
• certificate of taxable income

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