They may; the law does not generally prohibit outside activity. If, however, it is competing in character with the employer’s business activity (the Czech statute speaks of activity identical to the employer’s business activity), the manager needs the company’s prior written consent in both Slovakia and Czechia. Slovak law also treats consent as granted if the employer does not respond to the request within 15 days; Czech law contains no such deeming provision. Where the manager is also a managing director, the stricter non-competition prohibition under company law applies as well.
The finance director has a trade licence alongside their employment and keeps the books for a few acquaintances in the evenings. The sales director is approached to join the supervisory board of a company from a related sector. The company needs to know what it must tolerate, when it may refuse consent and what happens if the manager does not ask at all. The Slovak and Czech rules rest on the same principle but differ in the detail.
Slovakia: consent only for competing activity
The Labour Code (Act No. 311/2001 Coll.) does not require consent for every outside activity, only for activity that competes with the company:
An employee may, alongside their employment performed in an employment relationship, carry out another gainful activity that is competing in character with the employer’s business activity only with the employer’s prior written consent. If the employer does not respond within 15 days of delivery of the employee’s request, consent is deemed to have been granted.
— Section 83(1) of the Labour Code (unofficial English translation)
What matters is the comparison with the employer’s business activity, not whether the activity takes the form of a trade licence, an s.r.o. or membership of a corporate body. Bookkeeping for acquaintances requires no consent at a manufacturing company; the same activity requires consent where the employer itself provides accounting services. Mind the time limit: if nobody deals with a request sitting on an HR officer’s desk, consent stands once the period expires.
The employer may revoke consent once granted, in writing and for serious reasons, which must be stated in the revocation. The manager must then terminate the activity without undue delay, in the manner prescribed for it by the relevant legislation (Section 83(2)). No consent is needed for scientific, teaching, journalistic, tutoring, lecturing, literary or artistic activity (Section 83(3)).
Even non-competing activity has limits, which follow from the employee’s basic duties. The manager must use working time to work for the employer, must not act contrary to the employer’s legitimate interests and must observe confidentiality as to matters learned in the course of their employment (Section 81(b), (e) and (f)).
A manager who is also a managing director
Where the manager also acts as the managing director of an s.r.o., the non-competition prohibition under Section 136(1) of the Commercial Code applies to them as well. That provision does not deal with consent but directly prohibits, for example, entering into transactions in one’s own name connected with the company’s business, or serving on the body of another legal person with a similar business activity, save in the cases the statute lists (for instance where the company itself participates in that business). The memorandum of association or the articles may extend the restrictions further. A shareholder holding no office is bound by the prohibition only where the memorandum of association or the articles so provide (Section 136(3)), as we explain in is a shareholder subject to a non-competition prohibition. In Czechia, a comparable prohibition for a managing director is governed by Section 199 of the Business Corporations Act (Act No. 90/2012 Sb.), although the memorandum of association may regulate it differently.
Czechia: consent without a deeming provision
The Czech Labour Code (Act No. 262/2006 Sb.) ties consent to gainful activity identical to the employer’s business activity. Under Section 304(1) of the Czech Labour Code, an employee may carry out such activity only with the employer’s prior written consent. Czech law contains no rule that the employer’s silence amounts to consent. Revocation of consent must be in writing and state the reasons, and the employee must then terminate the activity without undue delay (Section 304(2)). The exceptions for scientific, teaching, journalistic, literary and artistic activity are similar to those in Slovakia.
What to set out in the management contract
- Defining competition: a reference to the actual business activity of the company and the group, not merely to the register extract, so that it is clear what requires consent.
- The request procedure: to whom the request is delivered and who decides on behalf of the company; in Slovakia this guards against consent arising merely through lapse of time.
- Consents granted in advance: a list of activities and offices to which the company agrees on signature, and the conditions for revoking them.
- The period after departure: during employment the statutory rule applies; after it ends, only a properly agreed clause does. We examine the conditions for its validity in is a post-employment non-compete clause valid.
We prepare these arrangements as part of our management contract service. If you wish to address protection against competition comprehensively, including a post-employment clause, our non-compete clause service follows on from it.
This answer provides general information on the law as at 12 September 2026. It does not constitute legal services or replace an assessment of an individual case. The details of your situation may differ. Book a consultation to discuss them.
