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20 December 20225 minute read

SLOVAKIA: Changes in the Labour Code as of November 2022

The Slovak Parliament adopted the amendment to Act No. 311/2001 Coll. the Labour Code, as amended (Amendment). The Amendment enters into force on 1 November 2022 and mainly aims to transpose directives of the European Parliament, namely Directive (EU) 2019/1152 on transparent and predictable working conditions in the European Union and Directive (EU) 2019/1158 on work-life balance for parents and carers and repealing Council Directive 2010/18/EU. Below we summarize the most important changes:

  1. Delivery of documents

The employers may no longer shorten the period for takeover of registered mail by their employees to less than 10 days.

The Amendment also introduces new rules for providing information to employees in electronic form, if:

  • not specifically prohibited by law;
  • employees have access to the electronic form of the information;
  • employees can save such information and print it;
  • the employer retains evidence of its transmission or receipt.
  1. Non-compete

The employers are not allowed to restrict the employees from engaging in any other gainful activity outside of the working hours except for activities that are competitive to the employer's business) or under special regulations.

  1. Working conditions

The employment contract must contain the employer's and employee's identification data in addition to the already required essential requirements.

The Amendment introduces the obligation of the employers to inform the employees in writing on their working conditions and employment conditions (information can be provided also electronically) if not included in the employment contract, for instance:

  1. determination of the place of work, resp. main place of work;
  2. weekly working time, method and rules for the distribution of working time, including the expected working days, extent and timing of work breaks, rules on overtime, including overtime pay, etc;
  3. vacation entitlement;
  4. payment of wage, including pay dates;
  5. rules for employment termination, length of notice period, time limit for challenging employment termination at court;
  6. trainings provided by the employer.

The above information must be provided: 

  1. within 7 days as of the commencement of the employment, to the extent of information referred to in points (a), (b) and (d),
  2. within 4 weeks as of the commencement of the employment, to the extent of information referred to in points (c), (e) and (f).
  1. Work outside the Slovak Republic

If work is performed outside the Slovak Republic, employer and employee must agree on specific essential requirements (such as place of work, duration) if

  • not included in the employment contract;
  • period of work outside the Slovak Republic exceeds 4 weeks.

Also, additional

  • currency in which the wages will be paid;
  • indication of other fulfilments connected with the performance of the work in the State;
  • an indication of whether repatriation of the employee is provided and what are the conditions of repatriation.
  1. Probationary period

Pursuant to the Amendment, employees with a fixed-term employment may not have a probationary period longer than half of the agreed duration of the employment relationship. For example, if the employment was concluded for 4 months, the probationary period cannot be longer than 2 months.

  1. Deductions from wages

The Amendment allows for deductions from wages to be made for unbilled meal allowances (in other cases specific agreement or an agreement in the employment contract is required).

  1. Agreements on work performed outside the employment

New rules for minimum predictability of work have been introduced. The employer must inform the employees on

  • days and periods during which they may be required to work;
  • period, during which the employees must be informed about work prior to its commencement (this may not be less than 24 hours).
  1. Father's leave

In addition to maternity and parental leave, the Amendment introduces the institute of father´s leave.

Fathers on father´s leave will be protected to the same extent as mothers during maternity leave (e.g. from employment termination).

Fathers can take 2 weeks of paid leave within 6 weeks as of the child's birth, even if the mother receives maternity or parental allowance at the same time.

  1. Employer´s information obligation relating to the current employments

Even for existing employments, if the required extent of information on working conditions (as mentioned above) is missing in the employment contracts, the employers must upon the employees´ request provide them with the written information referred to in points 3 and 4.

If you would like to revise your existing employment contracts in light of the above-mentioned Amendment, or in case of any other questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

Kind regards,

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