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Leave Entitlements And Balances In Slovakia Explained
Correctly identifying or balancing leave entitlements in Slovakia can be a complicated process, particularly for employers who are unfamiliar with local legislation.
Slovakian employee leave entitlements are stipulated in Labour Code No. 311/2011 as later amended. They may be increased by a collective agreement, or agreed to directly in employment contracts.
The Labour Code defines three categories of leave entitlement:
- annual leave or its proportion
- leave based on the days worked
- additional leave
Annual leave
Employees who perform work for at least 60 days in a calendar year in the same continuous employment are entitled to annual leave or its proportion, which is 1/12 for each full calendar month.
The basic leave entitlement per calendar year consists of the following:
- four weeks
- five weeks for an employee who is at least 33 years of age by the end of the respective calendar year.
Example:A 29 year-old employee entered into temporary employment on 15 April 2015. The contract terminates on 14 October 2015. The employer provides the leave entitlement as stipulated by law. Therefore the employee’s leave entitlement represents 5/12 of the leave entitlement for five entire calendar months of work performed, since the months of April and October were only partially worked. The leave entitlement represents 8.5 days ((20/12) x5=8.5).
Leave based on days worked
Slovakian employees who do not perform work for the same employer for at least 60 days in a calendar year, are not entitled to annual leave, nor to its proportional part. The employees become entitled to leave based on the days worked in the amount of 1/12 of annual leave for every 21 days worked in the respective calendar year.
Example:An employee is entitled to annual leave amounting to 25 days. He entered into the employment on 1 January 2015 and was terminated by the employer within the probationary period. The employee worked 41 days therefore, is entitled to 1/12 of leave which represents two days.
Additional leave
One week of additional leave or its proportional part shall be granted when the work is classified as particularly demanding or damaging to health, as specified in the regulation.
Reduction of leave
A Slovakian employee’s leave may be reduced provided they are absent from work for 100 or more working days. The leave entitlement shall be reduced by 1/12 for the first 100 working days of absence and by 1/12 for every further 21 working days.
The acceptable reasons for absence are specified by law. Among these are:
- long-term sick leave with the exception of accidents at work and occupational diseases
- parental leave
- performance of public functions, etc.
Example:An employee is on maternity leave from 19 September 2014 until 11 June 2015. The employee will then begin parental leave from 12 June 2015. The period of maternity leave is classified as work performance, thus the condition of working 60 days in a calendar year is fulfilled. The employee shall, therefore, be entitled to four weeks of leave in 2015. However, due to parental leave, the employee will miss 147 working days and her leave will be reduced by 3/12 that is, 1/12 for the first 100 days and 1/12 for every 21 day period following.
Identifying leave balances
When terminating a Slovakian employment contract, it is necessary to recalculate the leave entitlement remaining until the termination date, add the leave for the previous period and deduct the leave which the employee has already taken.
This may lead to three situations:
- The leave balance equals zero. In such a case, the employee shall work until the employment termination date.
- The leave balance is higher than zero. This means the employee may decide to take the leave, or request its reimbursement upon termination of employment.
- The leave balance is lower than zero. This may occur if the employee takes more days of leave than they are entitled to after the recalculation. The employer shall take the difference into account by means of wage reduction in the final salary.
Example:A 35 year-old employee has been employed since 1 August 2013. The employee has 15 days of leave remaining from 2014. The employment terminates on 30 September 2015. The employee takes 20 days of leave by 30 June 2015. After the annual leave recalculation, the new leave entitlement is 18.5 days ((25/12)*9). After adding the 15 remaining days from 2014 and deducting 20 days of the leave taken in 2015, the employee becomes entitled to 13.5 days of leave. 18.5+15-20=13.5.
The statutory regulations surrounding leave entitlements in Slovakia can be confusing for both employers and employees. TMF Group’s expert local HR and payroll team can make sure your calculations are correct the first time.
Get in touch with our team in Slovakia.