Working life country profile for Slovakia
This profile describes the key characteristics of working life in Slovakia. It aims to provide the relevant background information on the structures, institutions, actors and relevant regulations regarding working life.
This includes indicators, data and regulatory systems on the following aspects: actors and institutions, collective and individual employment relations, health and well-being, pay, working time, skills and training, and equality and non-discrimination at work. The profiles are systematically updated every two years.
‘Individual employment relations’ refers to the relationship between the individual worker and their employer. This relationship is shaped by legal regulation and by the outcomes of social partner negotiations over terms and conditions. This section looks at the start and termination of the employment relationship and entitlements and obligations in Slovakia.
Requirements regarding an employment contract
An employment relationship is established by a written employment contract between the employer and the employee on the day agreed in the employment contract as the day of taking up work. The employer is obliged to provide the employee with one written copy of the employment contract.
In an employment contract, the employer is obliged to stipulate the following substantial items to the employee:
the type of work for which the employee was accepted and a brief description of it
the place of work performance (municipality, part of municipality or a place otherwise determined)
the day of take-up of work
wage conditions, unless agreed in a collective agreement
In addition to the above, further working conditions, particularly concerning payment terms, working time, duration of paid holidays and the length of the notice period, can also be outlined in the contract.
An employer can only conclude an employment contract with an adolescent (less than 18 years of age) upon medical examination of the adolescent.
Dismissal and termination procedures
The Labour Code regulates the termination of the employment relationship and dismissal procedures. An employment relationship can be terminated by agreement, by notice, by immediate termination and by termination within a probationary period. By agreement, the employment relationship terminates upon a specific day. Notice must be given in writing and delivered to the other party or it will be invalid. An employer may give notice to an employee only for reasons expressly stipulated in the Labour Code. The period of notice ranges from one to three months, depending on the employee’s health status and number of years in service for the employer. The reasons for immediate termination are strictly defined by law. An employment relationship concluded for a fixed period terminates upon expiry of the agreed period.
Employees who are made redundant for defined reasons are entitled to receive severance pay according to the number of years in service, which is at least equal to their average monthly earnings but up to four times the amount of their average monthly earnings. Rules regulating the dismissal of employees and the amount of severance pay are usual subjects of collective bargaining.
Parental, maternity and paternity leave
In 2021, 31,990 maternity benefits were provided per month, on average. The proportion of the men who are eligible who receive the parental allowance has been increasing and was 22% in 2019. Parental allowance was provided to 141,323 people per month, on average. Almost all of these people were women – only 3.4% were men. Paternity leave was introduced in late 2022; therefore, no figures are available on take-up yet.
Statutory leave arrangements
| Maternity leave | |
| Maximum duration | The standard duration is 34 weeks (six to eight weeks before the birth), while it is 37 weeks for a single mother and 43 weeks for a mother who has a multiple birth (twins, triplets or more). A woman usually begins her maternity leave six weeks before the planned birth or, for a first-time mother, eight weeks before birth. If she does not use this period of maternity leave for any reason, she can use only 28 weeks after the birth. The father can take leave instead of the mother. In that case, the duration is 28 weeks or 31 weeks if he is a single father and 37 weeks if he takes care of more than one child. |
| Reimbursement | Maternity allowance is calculated as 75% (2022) of the daily assessment base or the probable daily assessment base (average earning). |
| Who pays? | Social Insurance Agency |
| Legal basis | Act No. 461/2003 on social insurance, as amended Act No. 311/2001 on the Labour Code, as amended, and related healthcare legislation |
| Parental leave | |
| Maximum duration | Until the child is three years of age (or six years if the health status of the child or children is considered critical in the long term) |
| Reimbursement | As of January 2022, it was €280 monthly, or €383.80 monthly when the recipient previously received a maternity benefit. |
| Who pays? | Social Insurance Agency |
| Legal basis | Act No. 571/2009 on parental allowance, as amended Act No. 311/2001 on the Labour Code, as amended, and related healthcare legislation |
| Paternity leave | |
| Maximum duration | Up to two weeks in the first six weeks after childbirth If the mother or the child needs to be hospitalised in the first six weeks (aside from standard postpartum care), the father can ask to prolong the six-week period for the same number of days as hospitalisation was necessary. |
| Reimbursement | Calculated in the same way as the maternity allowance, as it is part of the same leave arrangement |
| Who pays? | Social Insurance Agency |
| Legal basis | Act No. 311/2001 on the Labour Code, as amended, and related healthcare legislation Act No. 461/2003 on social insurance, as amended |
Sick leave
Sick leave is regulated by Act No. 461/2003 on social insurance and by Act No. 462/2003 on income replacement in the case of an employee being temporarily incapacitated for work. Some sickness-related issues are also regulated by the Labour Code. Sickness pay is calculated based on a daily assessment and is provided for a maximum of 52 weeks. The first 10 days of sick leave benefit is paid by the employer – in the first three days, the rate is 25% and from the 4th to the 10th day it is 55%. For the remainder of sick leave, the benefit is paid by the Social Insurance Agency at a rate of 55% of the assessment base. The Labour Code prohibits termination of the employment relationship while an employee is on sick leave is not allowed. In 2021, the total number of paid benefits was 2,205,283. From March 2020 to December 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Social Insurance Agency paid the benefit for the first 10 days of sick leave instead of employers.
Retirement age
In 2004, the retirement age for receiving the old-age pension was increased to 62 years for all population groups (except for women with multiple children, for whom this retirement age was reached in 2023). Since 2017, the legal retirement age has been gradually increasing in line with the increase in life expectancy. In 2022, the retirement age was 62 years and 10 months. The age of retirement is lowered by six months if a person raised one child, by 12 months if they raised two children and by 18 months if raised three or four children. If a woman took care of five or more children, her retirement age is lowered by 25 months, while, for men, only the first three children apply.
