Updated 12 Oct 2026, 6-minute read

Public sector salary in Czechia: what to ask for when the base pay is set by a scale

Teachers, nurses, civil servants, social workers. If you are paid according to salary scales (platové tabulky), you may think there is nothing to talk about. The base salary really is fixed. But your salary has several parts, and in two of them you can get more than most people think.

What a public sector salary consists of

Step 1: check your salary statement

Your employer must give you a written salary statement (platový výměr). It shows your salary grade, step, base salary and allowances. Get it out and check two things:

• The salary grade is set by the most demanding work your employer requires from you, according to the catalogue of jobs (katalog prací). If you do more demanding work than your grade corresponds to, you are entitled to a higher one.
• The salary step is set by your counted experience (započitatelná praxe). This is where mistakes are most common, see the next step.

Step 2: check that all your experience has been counted

According to the Ministry of Labour (MPSV), experience in your field is counted in full, other experience according to how useful it is, but at most two thirds of it. On top of that, so-called substitute periods are counted in full, mainly maternity and parental leave.

Since June 2025, a completed doctoral degree also counts as experience. And the higher base salary applies from the first day of the month in which you reach the required experience, not from when payroll notices it.

Step 3: ask for a personal bonus

The personal bonus is not an entitlement, but it is not small change either. Your employer can grant up to 100% of the base salary of the highest step in your grade. It is granted and increased through your salary statement, and every change must be justified in writing. It may only be reduced if your results get worse.

• Come with specific facts. What you do beyond others: training new colleagues, leading a project, taking over the work of someone who left.
• Talk early. Your head distributes the non-entitlement components from a budget set for the whole year. A request at the beginning of the year or before the money is allocated has a better chance than in November.
• Name a specific amount. “I would like my personal bonus to go up by CZK 2,000” is an easier decision for your head than “could you add something”.

Template: request to recalculate counted experience

Requests to Czech employers are normally made in Czech, so here is the Czech text, with a translation below.

Vážená paní ředitelko / Vážený pane řediteli, žádám o přezkoumání mé započitatelné praxe a platového stupně. V době [od–do] jsem pečovala o [počet] děti na mateřské a rodičovské dovolené. Od 1. 1. 2025 se podle nařízení vlády č. 466/2024 Sb. péče o dítě započítává bez dřívějšího limitu 6 let. Přikládám kopie rodných listů a čestné prohlášení o délce péče. Prosím o nový platový výměr, pokud mi vznikne nárok na vyšší platový stupeň. S pozdravem [Jméno a příjmení]

Translation: “Dear Head, I request a review of my counted experience and salary step. Between [from–to] I cared for [number] children on maternity and parental leave. Since 1 January 2025, under Government Regulation No. 466/2024 Coll., childcare is counted without the previous 6-year limit. I attach copies of the birth certificates and a sworn statement on the length of care. Please issue a new salary statement if I am entitled to a higher step. Kind regards, [Name].”