Law news

Labour Law

Parliament enacted a substantial amendment of Act No. 311/2001 Coll. Labour Code, effective as of September 1, 2011 (except for Section 103 relating to the length of vacation, which becomes effective as of January 1, 2012). The amendment introduced several changes; we briefly summarize below the most important ones:

Withdrawal from the employment contract – the amendment extends and further specifies the conditions, under which an employer may terminate the employment contract. The amendment specifies when the employer may withdraw from the contract because of obstacles to work on the side of the employee and introduces a new reason for withdrawal: the employee was convicted of an intentional crime.
Probation period – Section 45 was amended and now provides for the possibility to agree on a probation period of up to 6 months (previously 3 months) in case of employees in management positions. The amendment also introduces the possibility to agree in collective agreements on the extension of the probation period for further 3 months in all categories of employees (both standard positions and management positions). Further, it is possible to agree in collective agreements that the probation period will not be extended by the duration of obstacles on the side of the employee, or by other objective reasons, including obstacles on the part of the employer, which under the law extend the probation period.
Term of employment – the amendment extends the maximum length of fixed term employment from 2 to 3 years, and within the 3 years, employment may be extended or re-negotiated 3 times at most. • Shared position – the amendment introduced the legal concept of “shared position”. Shared position is a concept under which several employees with reduced working time share the same position, and agree among themselves on their working schedule and their work duties. If there is an obstacle on the side of one of the employees working in the shared position, the other employees sharing the same position are obliged to substitute him/her unless this is impossible for serious reasons.
Notice period – the amendment substantially changed the rules regarding the notice period. Instead of the previous general 2 month-notice-period for termination by both the employer and the employee, the amendment introduced different notice periods from 1 to 3 months under the following rules: for a termination notice given within the first year of employment, the notice period is 1 month, if given after the first year of employment, the notice period is 2 months. The notice period is 3 months if the termination notice is given by the employer after the fifth year of employment of the employee for economic reasons (organizational changes, dissolution of the employer) or due to a long term loss of ability of the employee to perform work for medical reasons.
Cancellation of cumulation of the notice period and the severance allowance – the new legislation canceled the cumulation of two legal concepts: the notice period and the severance allowance, i.e. the right of the employee to a severance allowance does not arise if the employee remains employed during the notice period.
Non-compete clause – the new legislation introduced the possibility to agree on a non-compete clause for the time following termination of employment. This concept was not recognized under Slovak law before the amendment, though non-compete clauses did form part of employment contracts (with uncertain enforceability). The employer may now agree with the employee in the employment contract on non-compete clause, under which the employee undertakes not to carry out competitive work for a maximum period of 1 year following termination of employment. As consideration for such undertaking, the employer is obliged to pay compensation to the employee equal to at least 50% of the employee’s salary for the whole duration of the undertaking. The amendment also provides for the possibility to agree on a penalty to be paid by the employee to the employer in case of breach of the non-compete undertaking (the penalty cannot, however, exceed the amount of the agreed compensation).
Working time account – a new legal concept called “working time account” was introduced. The working time account consists in a variable distribution of the working time and may be applied only following agreement with the employees’ representatives. If applying the working time account, the employer may schedule the working time of all its employees in a way that enables the employees to work more when the business of the employer is high and less or not at all when the business of the employer is low.
Overtime work and night work – the amendment provides for a greater flexibility with respect to night work and overtime work; more specifically, in a calendar year, the employee may work overtime for a maximum of 400 hours and employees in management position for a maximum of 550 hours (previously 400 hours). The employer is still obliged to provide the employee either with an overtime salary surcharge or a substitute time-off. However, the period, in which the employer is obliged to provide the employee with a substitute time-off, is extended from 3 to 12 months following overtime work. Further, the amendment introduced the possibility for the employer to order collective use of paid vacation for 3 weeks in case of serious operational reasons, which, however, must be notified to the employees at least 6 months in advance.
Damages – under the new legislation, the employer may, following agreement with the employees' representatives, determine employment positions, in which the employees may agree with the employer on the obligation to insure work equipment entrusted to them by the employer for loss or destruction. The amount of damage, which is subject to prior negotiation with the employees' representatives when it comes to its payment by the employee or its settlement based on agreement with the employee, was increased from EUR 33.19 to 50 EUR.
Collective labor-law relationships – introduced modifications affected for example the division of powers between the trade union and the work council if both exists with the same employer –the amendment reinforced the position of the work council and weakened the position of the trade union. The amendment also introduced the possibility to agree in the collective agreement, in specific cases, on employment terms and conditions less favorable for the employees than those provided for by the Labor Code or other labor-law regulation.