Shift schedules under the Czech Labor Code: 2 weeks, 3 days for DPP

Under the Czech Labor Code (zákoník práce), you must have the shift schedule in writing. Inform employees of it at the latest 2 weeks before the start of the period the shifts apply to, or 1 week in advance with a working time account. For an agreement to complete a job (DPP) and an agreement to perform work (DPČ), 3 days before the start of the shift or period is enough [1]. You can agree on a different deadline with the employee. The same deadlines apply to every change of the schedule.

According to the Supreme Court, a change you do not announce on time does not take effect. Anyone who does not come to work according to it has not been absent without excuse [4]. Below you will find the deadlines, shift and rest limits, the differences for agreements, and a process for keeping track of it all without rewriting Excel on Sundays. The text reflects the Labor Code as of November 6, 2026. The amendment effective from January 1, 2027 does not change the cited sections [1].

How far in advance must an employee know the shift schedule?

The employer schedules working time and sets the start and end of shifts [1]. Deadlines for informing employees of the schedule:

Relationship	At the latest	Where it is stated
Employment relationship	2 weeks before the start of the period the schedule covers	Section 84
Employment relationship with a working time account	1 week before the start of the period	Section 84. A working time account may only be introduced by a collective agreement or internal regulation (Section 86)
DPP and DPČ	3 days before the start of the shift or period	Section 74(2)
All of the above	at a different time, if you agree with the employee	Section 84, Section 74(2)

For agreements, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (MPSV) specifies that these are 3 calendar days. The agreed period may be shorter or longer [3]. If you plan shifts for permanent staff by month, you need the schedule for the next month ready roughly in the middle of the previous one.

How does the working time schedule work for DPP and DPČ?

The written schedule for agreement workers has applied since October 1, 2023. It was introduced by the Labor Code amendment No. 281/2023 Coll. [5]. In addition, the rules of an employment relationship apply to agreements, with exceptions that do not include working time [1]. MPSV concludes from this that you must also give agreement workers breaks and daily and weekly rest, and keep working time records for them [3].

On top of that, scope limits apply [1]:

• DPP: at most 300 hours in a calendar year with one employer. Other DPPs with you in the same year also count (Section 75).
• DPČ: on average at most half of the set weekly working time. It is assessed over the entire duration of the agreement, at most over 52 weeks (Section 76).

If the agreement does not contain the expected scope and method of scheduling working time, you must inform the agreement worker of them in writing at the latest within 7 days of the start of work (Section 77a) [1].

A deadline shorter than 3 days must be agreed with the employee. The law does not require written form for such an agreement, but it is recommended [5]. It is practical to write it directly into the agreement, together with the channel through which the temporary worker will receive the schedule.

What limits must the shift schedule respect?

The deadline is only half of it. The schedule must also pass the limits on shift length and rest [1]:

Rule	Employee aged 18+	Minor (under 18)	Section
Shift length	at most 12 h	at most 8 h; under 15 or without completed compulsory schooling 7 h	83, 79a
Weekly working time	40 h; two-shift regime 38.75 h; multi-shift and continuous 37.5 h	at most 40 h; in the group above 35 h	79, 79a
Meal and rest break	at the latest after 6 h of continuous work, at least 30 min	at the latest after 4.5 h	88
Daily rest	at least 11 h within 24 h	at least 12 h; in the group above 14 h	90
Weekly rest	at least 24 h plus the daily rest that follows	at least 48 h	92

You can split the break, but one part must be at least 15 minutes. It cannot be placed at the start or end of a shift and does not count as working time. Daily rest for employees over 18 can be shortened to as little as 8 hours only in the cases listed in Section 90(2). These include continuous operations, unevenly scheduled working time, overtime, agriculture and consumer services. The following rest must then be extended by the amount it was shortened [1].

With uneven scheduling, the average weekly working time must work out over at most 26 weeks, or 52 under a collective agreement. For an employee working at night, a shift must not exceed 8 hours within 24 hours. Only when this is not possible for operational reasons is an average of 8 hours over at most 26 weeks enough (Section 94) [1].

Can you change the schedule at the last minute?

Only with the employee’s consent. The deadline of 2 weeks, 1 week or 3 days also applies to a change of the schedule [1]. The Supreme Court stated that until the new schedule is drawn up in writing and the employee has been informed of it within the statutory or agreed period, no change takes place. An employee who did not work according to such a change has not been absent without excuse [4].

Watch out for the opposite case as well. If you agree with an employee on a specific schedule, you cannot then change it on your own. Only by another agreement [2].

The law knows one more route: a written agreement under which the employee schedules their own shifts (Section 87a). Even then, the 12-hour cap per shift applies [1].

In what form must the schedule be?

In writing. But you do not have to hand it to everyone on paper. According to the Supreme Court, it is enough if the schedule is part of an internal regulation or written instruction that the employee can read, and you inform employees that a change has occurred [4]. Examples given are publishing it on the internal computer network or posting it at the workplace [6]. The law does not say through which channel employees must be informed [1].

In practice, two things follow from this. The schedule needs one place where the valid version always lives. And for each version you need to know when it was created and when who saw it. When you send the schedule as a photo to a group chat, this is hard to trace afterwards.

The schedule does not replace records. For each employee, you must also keep a record of the start and end of the shift worked, overtime, night work and on-call time (Section 96) [1]. For agreement workers too [3].

What happens if the schedule is missing or comes late?

A fine from the labor inspectorate. The Labor Inspection Act (zákon o inspekci práce) sets these upper limits for companies [7]:

Offense (Section 28 of Act No. 251/2005 Coll.)	Fine up to
Failure to set a shift schedule or to meet the conditions for scheduling working time, which include the deadlines under Section 74(2) and Section 84	CZK 2,000,000
Failure to provide a work break or minimum rest	CZK 1,000,000
Failure to keep working time records	CZK 400,000

These are maximum rates, not fixed amounts.

This is not legal advice. For a specific case, consult a lawyer specializing in employment law or your payroll accountant.

How to watch deadlines and limits automatically

The rules are clear and can be calculated. So they do not need a person poring over a spreadsheet. The process we propose:

1. One schedule, one valid version. The roster lives in one place, in a shared spreadsheet or an app. Not in files like “roster_final2.xlsx”. Each version has a publication date.
2. Relationship type for each person. Employment relationship, working time account, DPP, DPČ, minor, or an agreed different deadline. Based on this, the system knows which deadline and which limits apply.
3. Checking limits before publishing. Shift length, breaks, 11 hours between shifts, weekly rest, night shifts. The system flags a conflict before the schedule goes out.
4. Checking the deadline. On publication and on every change, it calculates how many days remain until the first affected shift. If it is less than the deadline requires, it asks for confirmation that the change has been agreed with the employee.
5. Hour counter for agreements. For DPP it adds up hours per calendar year, for DPČ it watches the average. The manager sees who is approaching 300 hours before scheduling them.
6. Record of acknowledgment. People receive the schedule on their phone or by e-mail and confirm it. For each version you can see who saw it and when.
7. From the schedule to payroll. Shifts worked, with start and end times, go to the payroll accountant as source data, without retyping.

The manager still approves the schedule. The automation calculates and reminds; a person decides. Borderline cases, such as shortened rest or an agreement on a shorter deadline, are assessed by the manager or the payroll accountant.

When is an off-the-shelf app enough?

Often. There are ready-made apps for shift planning. The Czech app Dayswaps, for example, according to its website offers shift planning and swaps, attendance, a mobile app, export for the payroll program, and warnings about short rest or overtime before the schedule is published [8]. Do you have one site, a few shift types and payroll in a standard program? Start there; you do not need anyone else.

A custom integration makes sense when the schedule should be based on orders or machine capacity, when people data live in another system, or when hours need to flow further than an off-the-shelf app can handle.

How we do it

In our own operation we use PackLabsApp, the operations app of our packing facility in Kuřim: shifts, training with sign-off on the phone, hygiene checks with limits, QR labels and the order plan. People claim shifts in it on their phones, and we see the order plan for days and weeks ahead in one place.

Sources

1. Act No. 262/2006 Coll., Labor Code, current version from November 1, 2026: Section 74(2) (schedule for DPP and DPČ, 3 days), Section 75 (DPP 300 hours), Section 76 (DPČ half of weekly working time, 52 weeks), Section 77(2) (employment rules for agreements), Section 77a(1)(g) (information on scheduling within 7 days), Section 78(1)(j), (k), (m), Section 79, Section 79a, Section 81, Section 83, Section 84, Section 86, Section 87a, Section 88, Section 90, Section 92, Section 94, Section 96. https://www.zakonyprolidi.cz/cs/2006-262 · Future version from January 1, 2027 (cited sections unchanged): https://www.zakonyprolidi.cz/cs/2006-262/zneni-20270101
2. MPSV – Příručka pro personální agendu, VIII.3 Rozvržení pracovní doby: deadlines under Section 84, an agreed schedule cannot be changed unilaterally without another agreement. https://ppropo.mpsv.cz/viii3rozvrzenipracovnidoby
3. MPSV – Příručka pro personální agendu, VII. Dohody o pracích konaných mimo pracovní poměr: 3 calendar days, a different notice period shorter or longer, breaks and rest, working time records for agreements. https://ppropo.mpsv.cz/viidohodyopracichkonanychmimopra
4. MPSV – Supreme Court decision 21 Cdo 1937/2022 (September 16, 2022), following Supreme Court judgment 21 Cdo 631/2019 (January 21, 2021): informing does not always require handing over the schedule in written form, a change without timely notice does not take effect, not working according to it is not unexcused absence. https://ppropo.mpsv.cz/judikatns21cdo19372022
5. epravo.cz – Rozvrh pracovní doby nově i pro „dohodáře“ (May 29, 2024): obligation from October 1, 2023 under Act No. 281/2023 Coll., shortening the deadline only by agreement, recommended written form. https://www.epravo.cz/top/clanky/rozvrh-pracovni-doby-nove-i-pro-dohodare-118042.html
6. epravo.cz – Rozvržení pracovní doby a jeho změny provedené zaměstnavatelem a jejich účinky (nejen) pro zaměstnance (May 17, 2021): analysis of judgment 21 Cdo 631/2019, publication on the internal network or posting at the workplace. https://epravo.cz/top/clanky/rozvrzeni-pracovni-doby-a-jeho-zmeny-provedene-zamestnavatelem-a-jejich-ucinky-nejen-pro-zamestnance-112986.html
7. Act No. 251/2005 Coll., on Labor Inspection, current version from November 1, 2026: Section 28(1)(b), (d), (f), (h), (k) and note 46 (Section 74(2) and Section 84 of the Labor Code), Section 28(2) (upper limits of fines). https://www.zakonyprolidi.cz/cs/2005-251
8. Dayswaps – shift planning, description of features on the vendor’s website (as of November 6, 2026). https://www.dayswaps.com/cs

Planning shifts in Excel?

In a free 30-minute audit, we will go through how the schedule is created at your company, who receives it and how hours get to payroll. We will also tell you when an off-the-shelf shift app is enough. If shifts should be linked to orders, the warehouse or the payroll program, see how we handle system integration. And when a new person joins the schedule, read how to register them with ČSSZ.