Brno, Feb 23 (CTK) – Czech Ombudswoman Anna Sabatova has asked the Constitutional Court (US) to scrap the government’s directive setting a special minimum wage for the employees who are on disability pension, which actually amounts to direct discrimination, she told CTK on Tuesday.
The directive sets the minimum monthly wage of 9,900 crowns for healthy employees and 9,300 crowns for the disabled.
“The Labour Code guarantees the same money for the same labour, but this principle has been violated in relation to disabled employees,” Sabatova said.
She called on the labour inspection offices not to wait for the court verdict and urge employers to create equal conditions for all employees.
Sabatova said she has discussed the problem with Labour and Social Affairs Ministry officials who promised to remedy it next year. Sabatova would not wait inactive until then, however.
She said the abolition of the minimum wage for the disabled will concern thousands of Czechs, many of whom work with security firms or as administrative employees.
The fact that their minimum wage is 600 crowns lower than that of healthy employees goes counter to the Labour Code, the anti-discrimination law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms that is a part of the Czech constitution, Sabatova said.
It is impossible for employers to cut these people’s pay based on the argument that they receive the disability pension in addition to it, she said.
The disability pension is a compensation for people being restricted when choosing jobs and facing many other obstacles. It is no additional luxurious benefit, Sabatova said.
