Vývojové tendence právní úpravy pracovních podmínek

In the beginning of the paper the author defines the concept of “working conditions”, which in its narrowest sense means working hours, time for rest, the safety and protection of health at work, in a slightly wider sense it also includes wages and salaries, and in the broadest sense it covers all the terms regulated by labour law, i.e. the results of both the legislative process and contracts between employees and employers. Special attention in this area is devoted to the increased protection of certain categories of the labour farce (women, mothers, juveniles, disabled people). The general trend, drawn from the 19th century, is described in the paper as a gradual improvement of working conditions of employees. The author points out that the improvement is in the best interest of not only the employees, but also of the employers. This trend contributes to increased performance due to the positive effect of improved working conditions on both the physical capacity of people and their mentality, and their relationship to work and the work place. As far as developmental trends in the Czech Republic in this area are concerned, the author assumes that they feature the efforts to approximate Czech Labour Law to that of the European Union. She mentions the ways in which European rules regulate different aspects of working conditions (working hours, time for rest during the day, week and year, night shifts, employees’ health care, etc.) and she concludes that in many cases, in fact in the majority of cases, the European regulation is more generous towards employees and their rights, when compared to Czech legal rules. Naturally, the main direction of ideas follows the de lege ferenda – namely focusing on legal regulation that will be more in conformance with European law.