In its resolution file no. IV. ÚS 393/26 of 8 April 2026, the Constitutional Court dismissed a constitutional complaint filed by VELKÁ PECKA s.r.o. (Rohlík.cz), which challenged decisions of the administrative courts confirming the commission of an offence consisting in enabling the performance of illegal work by couriers cooperating on the basis of framework agreements as self-employed persons. The company was fined CZK 2.5 million by the labour inspection authority. Both the administrative courts and the Constitutional Court concluded that the actual manner in which the couriers performed their activities fulfilled the characteristics of dependent work under Section 2(1) of the Labour Code. The Constitutional Court confirmed that the activities of couriers may generally be classified as so-called activity capable of being performed in either regime.
However, in the case at hand, the complainant company “exercised substantial control over the carriers (couriers) and organised their work to such an extent that it essentially excluded any independence on their part as entrepreneurs or suppliers: the carriers could, for example, formally arrange for another entity to perform a specific ride instead of them, but this required the complainant’s prior written consent and, in practice, such a form of cooperation essentially did not occur.” The courts also considered significant the extensive system of control and contractual sanctions, as well as the economic dependence of some couriers on the platform.
The Constitutional Court emphasised that, when assessing the so-called disguised employment scheme, the actual substance of the relationship is decisive, not its formal contractual designation. According to the Court, the mere fact that the cooperating persons prefer the self-employed regime or have a certain degree of flexibility in organising their work does not preclude the existence of dependent work. In addition, according to the courts, the formal possibility of substitution by another person or cooperation with competitors was not actually used in practice.
The decision is significant particularly in view of the growing importance of the platform economy and the forthcoming implementation of the EU Directive on platform work. The Constitutional Court expressly recalled that the European regulation is also based on a rebuttable presumption of the existence of an employment relationship in cases where a platform exercises control over and manages workers.
Read the full HR Legal Update 05/26 here.