On July 13, 2011, the Labour Code was significantly amended by Act No. 257/2011 (including with respect to EPL). The amendment entered into force on September 1, 2011 (with the exception of certain provisions which entered into force on 1st January 2012).<br/>The Labour Code was further amended in December 2011 by Act 512/2011, effective as of 1st January 2012.

New in Sept. 2011:
As a result of the introduction of a new definition of collective dismissals into the LC, enterprises with less than 20 employees are now expressly exempt from the procedural requirements applicable to collective dismissals (see sec. 73, as amended LC).
Under the previous LC, there was no reference in the definition of collective dismissal to a minimum number of employee employed.
Please not that this exclusion only covers collective dismissals and the rules on individual dismissals and contracts of employment apply to all enterprises.

- There is no general exclusion of seafarers from the Labour Code: sec. 73(9) LC only excludes "crew members of vessels flying the flag of the Slovak Republic" from the provisions on collective redundancies.
- On civil servants see sec. 2 and 3 LC.
*Sec. 2: (1) This Act shall apply to legal relations in the civil service performance, only where so stipulated by a special regulation.
(2) This Act shall apply to legal relations arising from the public function performance, if so expressly stipulated or if so stipulated by a special regulation.
*Sec. 3: "1) Labour-law relations of employees performing work in the public interest shall be governed by this Act, unless stipulated otherwise by a special regulation. [prior to the July 2011 amendments: labour-law relations of employees in the public service performance]
(2) Labour-law relations of transportation employees, members of ships' crew floating under the flag of the Slovak Republic, employees of private security services and professional sports people shall be governed by this Act, unless stipulated otherwise by a special regulation.
(3) Labour-law relations of employees of churches and religious communities which perform clerical activities, shall be governed by this Act, unless stipulated otherwise by this Act, special regulation, international treaty by which the Slovak Republic is bound, a treaty concluded between the Slovak Republic and churches and religious communities, or internal regulations of churches and religious communities."

On July 13, 2011, the Labour Code, and in particular the provisions on termination of employment were significantly amended by Act No. 257/2011. The amendments entered into force on September 1, 2011 (with the exception of certain provisions which entered into force on 1st January 2012).
The Labour Code was further amended in December 2011 by Act 512/2011, effective as of 1st January 2012 but there were no changes on EPL.

Sec. 48 LL as amended in 2011.
New as of Sept. 2011: Act No. 257/2011 modified the rules on fixed-term contract by extending the maximum cumulative duration from 2 to 3 years, as well as the number of renewals within that period from 2 to 3. In addition, it reduces the list of reasons that justify the recourse to FTC beyond the 3-year limit.

Note: Those limitations do not apply to contracts of employment concluded with temporary agency workers.

Sec. 48 LC, as amended by Act 257/2011, in force since 1 Sept. 2011:
No reasons required for the conclusion or renewals of contracts (max. 3 renewals) within a 3 year-period.
However valid reasons are required for any further extension to 3 years or beyond the 3-year period. (Sec. 48(4) LC ) These are:
- substitution of an employee during maternity leave, parental leave, leave immediately linked to maternity leave or parental leave, temporary incapacity for work or an employee who has been given long term leave to perform a public function or trade union function,
- the performance of work in which it is necessary to significantly increase the number of employees for a transitional period not exceeding eight months per calendar year
- performing seasonal work (not exceeding 8 months per year),
- the performance of work agreed in a collective agreement.
A further extension or renewal of an employment relationship for a fixed term of up to three years or over three years can be also agreed with a teacher in higher education or a creative employee in science, research or development if there are objective reasons relating to the character of the activities of the teacher in higher education or creative employee in science, research or development as stipulated in special regulation. (sec. 48(6) LC, as amended by Act 257/2011)

New in Sept. 2011: The list of reasons which can justify a further extension or renewal up to three years [previously 2 years] has been modified and reduced by Act 257/2011.
For example, the possibility to further extend or renew a FTC with respect to an employee for whom it was permitted by law or international treaty has been removed. Similarly, the "performance of care services under special regulation" is not any more considered to be a valid reason for such renewal. Lastly the following valid reasons: "performance of care services under special regulation" and "the performance of work for which an education in the arts is required" have been
modified and the law now requires "objective reasons relating to the character of the activities of the teacher in higher education or creative employee in science, research or development as stipulated in special regulation".

New in September 2011: Sec. 48(2) LL, as amended by Act 257/2011 of July 2011 (in force since 1 September 2011): "A fixed term employment relationship may be agreed for at most three years [instead of 2 years under the 2009 LC]. A fixed term employment relationship may be extended or renewed at most three times within a three year period [instead of twice under the 2009 LC]."

However, a further extension or renewal (thus 5 FTCs in total) within the 3 year period or beyond is possible only for the following reasons:
"a) substitution of an employee during maternity leave, parental leave, leave immediately linked to maternity leave or parental leave, temporary incapacity for work or an employee who has been given long term leave to perform a public function or trade union function,
b) the performance of work in which it is necessary to increase employee numbers significantly for a temporary period not exceeding eight months of the calendar year,
c) the performance of work that is linked to the seasonal cycle, which repeats every year and does not exceed eight months in the calendar year (seasonal work),
d) the performance of work agreed in a collective agreement."


(Note on the legislative evolution :
- 2011 (Act 257/2011 of 13 July 2011, in force since 1 September 2011): maximum duration of 3 years and maximum 3 renewals within a three-year period (max. 4 FTCs. Further renewal beyond the 3-year period possible in limited situations (see above under valid reasons):
- 2010 (Act. No 574/2009, in force since 1st March 2010) : maximum duration of 2 years and maximum 2 renewals within a three-year period. (max. 3 FTCs) Further renewal beyond the 2-year period possible in limited situations (see above)
- 2007 and prior to March 2010: maximum duration of 3 years and maximum 1 renewals within a three-year period (max. 2 FTCs). Further renewal beyond the 2-year period possible in limited situations)

New as of September 2011: Sec. 48(2) LL, as amended by Act 257/2011 of July 2011 (in force since 1 September 2011): General rule: max. 3 years [instead of 2 years under the 2009 LC].
However, a further extension or renewal within the 3 year period or beyond the 3-year period (without any statutory limitation) is possible only for the following reasons:
"a) substitution of an employee during maternity leave, parental leave, leave immediately linked to maternity leave or parental leave, temporary incapacity for work or an employee who has been given long term leave to perform a public function or trade union function,
b) the performance of work in which it is necessary to increase employee numbers significantly for a temporary period not exceeding eight months of the calendar year,
c) the performance of work that is linked to the seasonal cycle, which repeats every year and does not exceed eight months in the calendar year (seasonal work),
d) the performance of work agreed in a collective agreement."


(Note on the legislative evolution :
- 2011 (Act 257/2011 of 13 July 2011, in force since 1 September 2011): maximum duration of 3 years and maximum 3 renewals within a three-year period. Further renewal beyond the 3-year period possible in limited situations (see above under valid reasons):
- 2010 (Act. No 574/2009, in force since 1st March 2010) : maximum duration of 2 years and maximum 2 renewals within a three-year period. (max. 3 FTCs) Further renewal beyond the 2-year period possible in limited situations (see above)
- 2007 and prior to March 2010: maximum duration of 3 years and maximum 1 renewals within a three-year period (max. 2 FTCs). Further renewal beyond the 3-year period possible in limited situations).

Source: Eurostat, as of second trimester 2012.
The figure refers to the percentage of employee with a contract of limited duration (= temporary job) of total number of employee aged 15-74 years.
Eurostat data are based on the following definition:
"A job may be considered temporary if employer and employee agree that its end is determined by objective conditions such as a specific date, the completion of a task or the return of another employee who has been temporarily replaced (usually stated in a work contract of limited duration). Typical cases are: (a) persons with seasonal employment; (b) persons engaged by an agency or employment exchange and hired to a third party to perform a specific task (unless there is a written work contract of unlimited duration); (c) persons with specific training contracts."

Sec. 45 LC, as amended in 2011:
(1) A probationary period may be agreed in an employment contract for a maximum of three months, except in the case of an executive employee who reports directly to the statutory body or a member of the statutory body and in the case of an executive employee who reports directly to such an executive employee, where the maximum shall be six months. A probationary period may not be prolonged.
[New as of Sept. 2011: the probationary period was extended to 6 months for executive employees as opposed to the standard three months under the previous Labour Code (2009 version) and which remains applicable to all other types of employees]

New as of Sept. 2011 : Sec. 45(5) LL (introduced by Act No. 257/2011) now makes it possible to agree in a collective agreement to a longer probationary period up to 6 months for all categories of workers and up to 9 months for employees with managerial responsibilities.

On the general prohibition of discrimination, see sec. 13 LC which refers to the principle of Equal Treatment contained in the Act No. 365/2004 Coll. of 20 May 2004 (Amended in 2007 and 2008) on Equal Treatment in Certain Areas and Protection against Discrimination. This Act prohibits discrimination in employment relations (including dismissal) on grounds of sex (which includes pregnancy, motherhood, sex or gender identification), religion or belief, race, nationality or ethnic origin, disability, age, sexual orientation, marital or family status, colour, language, political affiliation or other conviction, national or social origin, property, lineage or any other status. (See sec. 6 read together with sec. 2 and 2 a) of the Act).
Note, that until April 2011, that the list of prohibited grounds contained in the Labour Code (sec. 13(2)) was much more restrictive than that of the Act 365/2004. New as of 1 April 2011: An amendment to the Labour Code, Act. No 48/2011 of 8 february 2011, effective as of 1 April 2011 brought the list of prohibited grounds of discrimination of the Labour Code in line with the Anti-Discrimination Act while adding additional grounds in the LC. As a result, sec. 13(2) LC now expressly prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation, disability and ethnic origin. Two new grounds, which were not included in the Anti Discrimination Act have also been introduced in the LC (sec. 13(2) and art. 1 of the Fundamental Principles, namely: Unfavourable state of health and genetic features".

"Filing a complaint against the employer is included in sec. 13(3) LC which stipulates that "in the workplace, nobody may be persecuted or otherwise sanctioned in the performance of labour-law relations for submitting a complaint (...) against another employee or the employer."

In addition, sec. 64 LC expressly prohibits the employer to give notice to employees - subject to certain exceptions - during a "protection period", namely:
- at a time when the employee is declared temporarily incapable for work due to disease or accident, unless deliberately induced or caused under the influence of alcohol, narcotic substances or psychotropic, and within the period from submission of a proposal for institutional care or from entry into spa treatment up to the day of termination thereof,
- in case of conscription of the employee to perform extraordinary service in time of crisis, or in case of performance of alternative service,
- during the entire period of pregnancy, maternity leave, parental leave or in case a single-parent (male and female) takes care of a child under the age of three,
- during the leave granted for the performance of a public office,
- at a time an employee is on the basis of a medical opinion, certified as temporarily unfit for night work.
However, this prohibition of notice does not apply to cases of termination:
* for reasons justifying immediate termination unless concerning employee on maternity leave or on parental leave,
* for other breaches of labour discipline unless concerning a pregnant employee, an employee on maternity leave or on parental leave (male and female),
* in the event of cessation of activities or relocation of the employer's business,
* if the employee has lost by his/her own fault the preconditions for the performance of the agreed work pursuant to a special law.

Some categories of workers enjoy special protection which takes either the form of 1) a prohibition of notice during "a protection period" or 2) additional procedural requirements (i.e prior approval of a competent authority).

1) Sec. 64 LC expressly prohibits the employer to give notice to employees - subject to certain exceptions - during a "protection period", namely:
- at a time when the employee is declared temporarily incapable of performing work due to disease or accident, unless deliberately induced or caused under the influence of alcohol, narcotic substances or psychotropic,
- in case of conscription of the employee to perform extraordinary service in time of crisis,
- during the entire period of pregnancy, maternity leave, parental leave or in case a lone employee (male and female) takes care of a child under the age of three,
- during the leave granted for the performance of a public office,
- at a time an employee is declared temporarily incapable of performing night work.
However, this prohibition of notice does not apply to cases of termination:
* for reasons justifying immediate termination unless concerning employee on maternity leave or on parental leave,
* for other breaches of labour discipline unless concerning a pregnant employee, an employee on maternity leave or on parental leave (male and female),
* in the event of cessation of activities or relocation of the employer's business.

New in Sept. 2011: The LC, as modified by Act No. 257/2011 now grants a special against termination during the probationary period to pregnant women, mothers of children below nine months and breastfeeding women. While as a rule, termination of employment during the probationary period can take place for any reason and without justification, employment of the above mentioned workers may be terminated only in exceptional cases not relating to pregnancy or maternal function, and the reasons for termination must be stated in writing (sec. 72(1) LC as amended).

2) Specific requirements:
- Prior authorization:
* Employee's representatives:
According to See also sec. 240(7) LC, as amended by Act 257/2011 Employees' representatives which include trade union members, members of a works council or a works trustee, during their term in office and for six months after its termination [reduced by Act 257/2011 - previously 1 year], shall be protected against measures which could damage them, including the termination of the employment relationship and which could be motivated by their position or activity. Sec. 240 (8) LC specifies that any summary dismissal or dismissal with notice of a member of the relevant trade union body, a member of a works council or a works trustee requires the prior consent of these employees' representatives.
*Disabled workers:
Sec. 66 LC: "An employer may dismiss an employee with health disability only with he prior consent of the relevant office of labour, social affairs and family otherwise notice shall be invalid. No such consent is required where the employee has reached the age entitling him/her to old-age pension or was dismissed on the grounds of cessation of activities or relocation or for grave breaches of labour discipline.
- Severance pay [See below under severance pay - the rules have been substantially modified by Act 257/2011]:
There is no general right to severance pay except for redundancies. However, the LC foresees specific severance payment in the following situation:
* Termination with notice following a prohibition to carry out the work as a result of "employment injury, occupational disease or the risk of such an disease, or he/she has already received the maximum permitted level of exposure in the work place as determined by a decision of a competent public health body. The employee is entitled to severance pay (unless the occupational injury or disease was caused by his/her fault) amounting to at least 10 months' pay (sec. 76(3) LC, as amended by Act 257/2011.).
* With regard to termination with notice due to "long term loss of ability to perform the work" for health reasons, the rules have changed in 2011: under the previous LC, employees were entitled to 2 month's pay or 3 months' pay if they had at least 5 years of service. According to sec. 76(1) LC, as amended by Act 257/2011, when the employment is termination because the employee is no longer able to perform the work, given his/her health status severance payment now amounts to the employee's average monthly earnings multiplied by the number of months of the notice period. Severance pay now functions as a pay in lieu of notice, as it is not any more payable when the employee works through the entire statutory notice period. The employer is required to pay the employee a severance payment only in the event that the employment terminates by agreement. If the employee works partially through the termination period, he/she will be entitled to some severance payment for the time he/she has not worked.

Sec. 61 (1) LC.

New as of September 2011: The provision on the notice period has been amended by Act 257/2011.
(See sec. 62 LC, as amended).

Prior to the entry into force of the Act 257/2011 in September 2011, the notice period for any dismissal (regardless of the grounds) was 2 months or 3 months in the event the employment relashionship has lasted at least five years.

In the current version of the LC (Sept. 2011), the minimum notice period has been reduced (from 2 to 1 month) and the notice period now also varies according the the grounds of dismissal as follows:

1) For employee with less than 1 year of service, regardless of the reason for dismissal, the notice period is 1 month.
2) If the employment relationship was terminated due to:
a) the dissolution or relocation of the enterprise (or part thereof) or ;
b) redundancy arising from organisational changes or;
c) because the employee has a medical condition that caused a long-term loss of his/her ability to perform his/her work,
the notice period is
- 2 months, if the employee' length of service is at least 1 year and less than 5 years;
- 3 months, if the employee' length of service is at least 5 years.
2) If the dismissal is based on any other lawful grounds, the length of the notice period is 2 months if the employee's length of service is at least 1 year.

Sec. 73(1) LC, as amended by Act No. 257/2011, in force since 1 Sept. 2011:
Collective redundancy shall occur
* if an employer or a part of an employer terminates employment relationship by notice on the grounds of winding-up or relocation of the company or part thereof, redundancy arising from change in duties, technical equipment or reduction in the number of employees with the aim of securing work efficiency, or on other organisational changes
* or if employment relationship is terminated by another method on reason not relating to the person of the employee within 30 days
* of at least ten employees of an employer who employs more than 20 and less than 100 employees,
* of at least 10% of total up expenses of employees of an employer who employs more than 100 and less than 300 employees,
* of at least 30 employees of an employer who employs more than 300 employees."

Under the previous version of the LC, the quantitative definition for collective redundancies was "at least 20 employees over a period of 90 days".

Therefore the criteria for defining collective dismissal been revised to adjust to the size of the enterprise. This means that for enterprises with 20-199 employees, the minimum threshold has been reduced (i.e 10 to 19.9 employees currently as opposed to 20 previously) while it has increased for those with more than 200 employee (min. 20,1 (10%) and up to 30 as opposed to 20 previously).
In addition, as a result of the reform, the time frame within which concomitant dismissal shall take place in order to qualify for collective dismissals has been limited to a period of 30 days (as opposed to 90 days previously).

Sec. 73(2) LC: negotiations shall start at least one month prior to the commencement of collective redundancies. If there are no employees' representatives in the workplace, the employer shall negotiate directly with the affected employees.

See sec. 73 (3) LC: written information identical to that provided to the employee's representatives shall be delivered to the Labour office.
Sec. 73 (4) LC: written information on the outcome of negotiations shall be submitted to the Labour office.

New in Sept. 2011
Note, that as a result of 2011 reform (effective as of September 2011), the employer is no longer required to carry out compulsory negotiation with the Labour Office on alternatives to dismissal.

No criteria listed in the legislation.
However sec. 73 (2)e) and (3) state that the selection criteria should be one of the elements to be communicated to the worker's representatives and to the Labour Office within the framework of the negotiation process.

There is no rehiring priority for redundant workers. Art. 61(3) LC LC only provides that employers cannot create a new position or recruit any new staff on a position made redundant during a period of 2 months (New as of Sept. 2011 - previously 3 months). However, it does not does not foresee that any such re-opened positions be offered first to the redundant workers.

Sec. 73 (2 LC): There is an obligation on the part of the employer to negotiate with the employee's representatives "measures enabling avoidance of collective redundancies of employees, or reduction thereof, mainly negotiate the possibility of placing them in appropriate employment at the employer's other workplaces, also subsequent to preceding preparation, and measures for mitigating the adverse consequences of collective redundancies of employees".

New as of Sept. 201:
Act No. 257/2011 deleted from the LC sec. 73(7) LC which provided the obligation on the part of the employer to negotiate with the Labour Office "such measures enabling prevention of collective redundancies or its limitation, in particular over a) conditions for maintaining employment, b) possibility of employing discharged employees with other employers, c) possibility of discharged employees to perform work in the case of their retraining".
Therefore, as a result of the 2011 reform, the employer's is only required to carry out negotiations on alternatives to dismissal and measures with the employees' representatives and not any more with the labour administration.

There is no general right to severance pay except for redundancies. However, the LC foresees specific severance payment in the following cases:
* Termination with notice following a prohibition to carry out the work as a result of "employment injury, occupational disease or the risk of such an disease, or he/she has already received the maximum permitted level of exposure in the work place as determined by a decision of a competent public health body. The employee is entitled to severance pay (unless the occupational injury or disease was caused by his/her fault) amounting to at least 10 months' pay (sec. 76(3) LC, as amended by Act 257/2011.).
* Termination with notice due to "long term loss of ability to perform the work" for health reasons. New as of 1 Sept. 2011: under the previous LC, employees were entitled to 2 month's pay or 3 months' pay if they had at least 5 years of service. According to sec. 76(1) LC, as amended by Act 257/2011, when the employment is terminated because the employee is no longer able to perform the work, given his/her health status, severance payment now amounts to the employee's average monthly earnings multiplied by the number of months of the notice period. Severance pay now functions as a pay in lieu of notice, as it is not longer due when the employee works through the entire statutory notice period. The employer is required to pay the employee a severance payment only in the event that employment is terminated by agreement. If the employee works partially through the termination period, he/she will be entitled to some severance payment for the time he/she has not worked.

See sec. 76(3) LC, as amended by Act 257/2011, in force since 1 Sept. 2011. Prior to the amendments, in the event of economic dismissal employees were entitled to a redundancy payment of at least 2 month's pay, increased to 3 months' pay if the employee has at least 5 years of service.
New as of Sept. 2011: The rules on redundancy entitlements have been substantially modified: when an employee is terminated on economic grounds (namely: winding up or relocation of the employer, redundancy ) he/she is now entitled to either notice or severance pay but no longer both.
If an employee is given notice for the above mentioned reasons, the employee has the right to ask the employer to terminate employment relationship by agreement before the start of the notice period and the employer must comply with this request. In such cases only, the employee must be entitled to a severance allowance equal to not less than his/her average monthly earnings multiplied by the number of months of the notice period (sec. 76(2) LC).Where, on the other hand, there is no agreed termination, the employee is not entitled to any severance pay and the statutory notice periods apply.
Lastly, if upon agreement, the employee continues to work for only a part of the notice period, he/she will be entitled to some severance payment for the time he/she has not worked (sec. 76(3) LC).

See sec. 79 (1) and (2) LC.

Sec. 79 (1) and (2) LC. Sec. 79(2) LC was amended by Act No. 257/2011 in force since Sept. 2011.

Reinstatement is the rule if the employee insists on continuing the employment relationship unless the courts decides that "it cannot be justly required of the employer to further employ the employee": sec. 79 (1) LC.
If termination is invalid but the employee does not insist on further continuing the employment relationship, it will be deemed to have been terminated by mutual agreement: sec. 79 (3) LC.

No statutory provision found in the legislation reviewed.

Sec. 77 LC.
Sec 9 LC.

No statutory provision found in the LC.
However, mediation is foreseen by Act no. 420/2004 since 1 September 2004 as a method for out-of-court resolution of individual labour disputes.

See secondary sources: http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/studies/tn0910039s/sk0910039q.htm (Eurofound)
http://ec.europa.eu/civiljustice/adr/adr_svk_en.htm (European Commission, European Judicial Network)

This refers to the average litigation time (in months) for individual labour disputes in Slovakia in 2008 and is therefore not specific to dismissal disputes. Original source: Statistical yearbook of the Slovak Ministry of Justice, reported in: Ludovit Cziria, "Slovakia: Individual disputes at the workplace - alternative disputes resolution", 2010, available on the Eurofound website at: http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/studies/tn0910039s/sk0910039q.htm