Health care for employees - the employer's obligations

People were aware of the connection between the quality of the job done and the person performing the job as early as in the ancient times and in the times of ancient Egypt. In the course of centuries prevention was favoured over the treatment of an injury or illness. Nowadays the healthcare for employees is regulated by numerous international as well as national rules of law, the most important international one for the observed field being the International Labour Organization Convention No. 161 ? Occupation health services Convention. Upon this international convention ratified in Czechoslovakia in February 1989, many rules of law dealing with the health protection of employees at their workplaces are specified in our legal order, the significant being the Act 262/2006 Coll., Labour Code and newly also the Specific Healthcare Act 373/2011 Coll. The thesis aims to recapitulate the basic rule of law regarding the above-mentioned matter as well as finding out how these rules of law are adhered to and what the employees' awareness concerning their rights and obligations in the area of occupational healthcare is. The practical research of this thesis used qualitative dialogues with the representatives of 10 companies with different business planes. At the same time, a quantitative survey took place among the employees of the same companies. The results indicate that employers meet their obligations to their employees in the area of arranging occupational health services including regular medical checkups. Furthermore, employers try to respect the doctor's capability to work, despite the fact that this area is often quite problematic for them. The employees themselves are aware of their rights and obligations in the area of occupational health services