The Government of the Slovak Republic has adopted several amendments to Act No. 311/2001 Coll. (hereinafter referred to as the “Labor Code”) in connection with the Covid19 pandemic and the state of emergency declared in Slovakia. Via this publication we bring you an overview of these changes.

LABOR LAW AREA

The amendment to the Labor Code concerns the period when a state of emergency is declared in Slovakia as well as the period of two months after the withdrawal of it. The provisions of the Labor Code with the following deviations apply during this period:

1. Possibility of instructing home office - by the employer, if the agreed type of work allows it - there will be no need for mutual agreement resp. employee approval as it has been valid until now.

2. The right to home office by the employee, provided that the agreed type of work permits this and there are no serious operational reasons on the part of the employer that would not allow the home office to be performed.

3. The employer is obliged to notify the employee of the working time schedule at least two days in advance, unless he or she agrees with the employee for a shorter period of time, and with a validity for at least a week.

4. Taking vacation - the time limit for announcing the holiday on the part of the employer is reduced to 7 days prior to the start of the holiday and if it is an unused holiday for the previous calendar year the period for notification is only 2 days before the start of the holiday.

5. Possibility of the employer to decide to reduce the employee's wage to 80% of his / her average earnings - ie. that employers who do not have employees' representatives, may decide that, in the event of an impediment to work on the part of the employer, they may provide employees with a wage compensation equal to 80% of the employee's average earnings, but at least equal to the minimum wage. This applies to cases where an employee is unable to perform his work in whole or in part as a result of an interruption or restriction of the employer's activity at the discretion of the competent authority or as a result of an interruption or restriction of the activities as a result of the declaration of an extreme situation, the state of emergency, or an extra-ordinary situation.

6. Protection for employees who are subject to quarantine and isolation shall be the same as if the employee is recognized as temporarily incapable of work.

All the information above is valid from April 7, 2020 and it may change in the next few days. Do not hesitate to contact our advisors for more detailed information. We would also like to draw your attention to our task-force of experts, which are focused on resolving issues related to the ongoing situation. Read more HERE. For more information, click on our Facebook or Linked-In.