If an employee is in pre-trial detention for more than three months, their employment contract expires by operation of law, regardless of the parties’ intentions. If the detention lasts up to three months, the contract does not expire and the employment relationship continues.

The period of pre-trial detention is an authorised absence, though the employee is not entitled to remuneration and their holiday entitlement is reduced proportionally if the detention lasts at least one month.

While the employee is being detained – that is, during an authorised absence – the employer may not terminate the contract with notice, but may dismiss the employee without notice for misconduct, as long as the statutory grounds for such dismissal exist.

If the contract expires during this time, the employer must issue the employee with a work certificate stating the expiry of the employment contract as the legal basis for the employment relationship ending.

If the criminal proceedings against the employee are discontinued, or if the employee is acquitted, the employer is obliged to reinstate the employee, provided that they report for work within seven days of the judgment becoming final.

Employers should also distinguish between pre-trial detention and a custodial sentence – in the case of serving a sentence, the employer may terminate the contract without notice under Article 53 §1(2) of the Labour Code, i.e. due to an authorised absence from work, other than sickness, lasting more than one month.

The employer should receive information about the employee’s detention from the court, though this is only the point of notification and not the moment the contract expires. Expiry occurs only after three months of absence, or earlier if the contract is terminated without notice.

Find more articles in PRO HR November 2025.