Illustrative photo – Director General of the Labor Office of the Czech Republic Viktor Najmon in a picture from November 6, 2020.
Prague – Minister of Labor Marian Jurečka (KDU-ČSL) on Tuesday dismissed the General Director of the Labor Office, Viktor Najmon. He had been dissatisfied with his management of the office for a long time. The ministry will announce a selection process for the post. Until then, the head of the information technology section, Karel Trpkoš, will temporarily lead the institution. ČTK was informed by the press department of the ministry. ČTK is looking for Najmon's statement.
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Labor offices have been facing an onslaught since last year. They have been criticized for delaying the processing and payment of benefits. Minister Najmon criticized repeatedly. Two weeks ago, at a meeting of the social committees of the House and the Senate, he said that the labor office was not working well. He mentioned several times last year that the CEO was not proactive enough in solving problems.
“Labor offices are faced with a whole range of problems that mean complications both for the office itself and the entire department, and above all for clients. All this is not a matter of a few weeks or months, but rather protracted and unsolved problems, which I have repeatedly pointed out to the management of the labor office,” Jurečka said in a press release. According to him, despite the proposed measures, the situation was not developing well and it is necessary that the head the office had competent management. “For a year, we have been calling for selected branches to be strengthened in terms of personnel, for the ongoing digitization process to be properly communicated, for employees to have sufficient information and also for them to be sufficiently motivated. Unfortunately, this is not happening to a satisfactory extent. In addition to internal communication, direct communication with clients and the media also lag behind in some places, this needs to be changed,” said the head of the Department of Labour.
There are approximately 11,500 places in the employment office. At the beginning of February, Najmon told deputies that there were a total of 381 unfilled positions in the republic. According to Najmon, the office accelerated the auditions. In the metropolis, it offers an additional fee upon boarding. It also accepts contract workers to help out. Employees are redistributed between branches, digital requests are processed by workplaces in the Liberec and Ústí Regions. The call center, which will answer questions instead of them, should also relieve employees.
According to the press department of the ministry, Jurečka handed Najmon a job evaluation on Tuesday with a description of the reasons for the dismissal. The procedure was according to the service law, the press department noted.
The service evaluation includes “grading” the results. These can be excellent, very good, good, sufficient or unsatisfactory. The law mentions the revocation, reduction or withdrawal of the personal allowance. In the case of the supervisor's position, he regulates the appeal if the evaluation concludes that the results are unsatisfactory or insufficient. It is possible to terminate the employment relationship of an employee if, according to two consecutive evaluations, the performance was unsatisfactory. The head of the office cannot object to the evaluation.
