• Employment contract

An employment contract forms the basis for an employment relationship. Employment relationships in Slovenia are normally for an indefinite period. The contract can be concluded for a fixed period, full or part time.

• Copyright contract

Work based on copyright contract is subject to civil law, whereby a written agreement on performed work, deadlines and payment is normally included.

• Service contract

The subject of a contract for work can be the production of items (this mostly applies to craft production and other major investment arrangements), the repair of items (craft services), physical and intellectual work.

• Student work

Student work is occasional or temporary work performed by a student, pupil or any other appropriate person via an authorized organization that issues the appropriate work referral.

Full-time work cannot exceed 40 hours per week. By law or collective agreement, it may determine as full-time work less than 40 hours per week, but not less than 36 hours per week.

An employee has a right to 30-minute paid lunch break.

An employer must inform employees of any overtime work in written form in advance, and employees must be appropriately paid for overtime work. Overtime work is limited to a maximum 8 working hours per week, 20 working hours per month or 170 working hours per year. An employee is entitled to overtime pay only if the employer has ordered him to do so. If an employee works longer than full time without prior overtime order, he is not entitled to payment. The compensation is usually 150% of the salary.

Upon the request of the employer, the employee is obliged to work full time — overtime:

• in the case of exceptionally high loads,
• if it is necessary to continue the work or production process to prevent material damage or danger to human life and health,
• if it is necessary to prevent damage to work equipment which could lead to interruption of work,
• if necessary to ensure the safety of persons and property and traffic safety,
• in other exceptional, urgent, and unforeseen cases determined by law or collective agreement at activity level.

The annual leave in a given calendar year may not be less than 20 days, regardless of whether the worker works full-time or part-time. The worker is entitled to one additional day of annual leave for each child under the age of 15.

The longer duration of annual leave may be determined by a collective agreement or employment contract.

Maternity leave (materinski dopust) as a rule begins 28 days prior to the anticipated date of birth and it lasts one year, together with parental leave.

In Slovenia, there are two types of leave following the birth of a child: maternity leave for the mother and paternity leave for the father, and parental leave, which is the same length for the mother and father and amounts to 130 days.

According to the new rules, parental leave for both will amount to 160 days. Paternity leave will be reduced from 30 to 15 days, and parental leave will be extended to 160 days, with the father having 60 non-transferable days. So, the father will still be able to transfer 100 days to the mother and the mother will be able to use 260 days as before. The same also applies vice versa, when the mother transfers all 100 days to the father, the father can use 260 days of parental leave, while the mother has 60 non-transferable days.

In Slovenia, the first 20 days of sick leave are paid by the employee and in the case of further absence, benefit will be covered by the compulsory health insurance system. A worker is entitled to receive a wage compensation of 80% of their salary or wage in the previous month.

• lunch allowance – maximal amount for a meal allowance is 7,96 EUR per working day,
• work from home allowance – contribution for employees who are working from home. This compensation amount is

exempt from the income tax base up to 2% of employee’s monthly salary (usually 1EUR – 2 EUR).

• cell phones – almost all companies provide mobile phones to all employees for business and private use,
• workplace canteens – usually provided for bigger companies,
• company cars – some companies provide a company car to executives and senior managers,
• educational allowance – some companies provide training and education, most of them for MBA,
• transportation allowance — employees receive 0,21€ per kilometer for travelling to work from a home address,
• 13th salary — not required by law, usually given by the end of the year,
• additional annual leave – due to the length of service the employee is entitled to additional leave.

• 3-5 years: 1 day
• 6-10 years: 2 days
• 11-15 years: 4 days
• 16-20 years: 5 days
• 21-25 years: 6 days.

In Slovenia, the employer must register the employee for the obligatory pension, invalidity, health, and unemployment insurance. Social security contributions in Slovenia are paid as a withholding tax by the employer and by employees via their monthly salary using their gross salary as the basis.

Mandatory benefits:

• Contribution for pension and disability insurance: employer – 8,85%, employee 15,50%.
• Contribution for compulsory health insurance: employer – 6,56%. employee – 6,36%.
• Parental care contribution: employer – 0,10%, employee – 0,10%.
• Employment contribution: employer — 0.06%, employee — 0,14%.
• Contribution for insurance in case of injury at work and occupational disease: employer – 0,53%.
• NEW — Compulsory medical contribution: 35 EUR, paid by employee.

Total contribution for the employer is 16,10% and for employee 22,10% + 35 EUR.

Supplementary benefits:

• Voluntary supplementary pension — pension contributions from both the employer and the employee benefit from tax relief up to 5,844% of the gross wage of the employee, and are capped at approximately 2.800 € per year and employee,
• Voluntary health insurance – can roughly be divided in supplementary and additional.
• Supplementary insurance covers for health care costs, which are not fully covered by the compulsory health insurance and
• additional health insurance consists of various insurance products related to additional health care (using the specialists’ examinations, dental care, rehabilitation after accidents etc.).
• Travel health insurance — medical treatments during travel and stay abroad. Companies typically cover this cost for business travels. More than 90% of companies cover this insurance for their employees.
• Personal accident insurance — some companies provide personal accident insurance with coverage for accident death and permanent disability as main coverages and in a form of insurance policy. It can be concluded from 3,5€ on. The company can cover it for the employee and withdraw it from the salary with employee’s consent.
• Life insurance – covered by employee himself. Usually, the life insurance contract is concluded with a third-party insurance company.

Unemployment benefit amounts to 80% of the basis for the first 3 months (which is the average monthly salary received by an insured person during the eight months prior to unemployment, including compensation of salary, health insurance, family protection insurance, old-age, and invalidity insurance), 60% for the following 9 months and 50% of the basis after 12 months. Benefit may not be lower than EUR 530.19 gross and may not exceed EUR 892.50 gross. During the period of accepting benefits, ZRSZ (Institute for Employment of Slovenia) pays all social security contributions.

The Employment, Self-employment and Work of Aliens Act entered into force on the 15 July 2015, which redefined the employment of foreign nationals and introduces a single permit for work and residence and the principle of a «one-stop shop», to which an alien or his employer submits a single application for a single permit (for residence and work) at a single place.

A single permit for residence and work is issued by the Administrative Unit offices, with the consent of the Employment Service of Slovenia.

Single permit for residence and work

Procedure for obtaining approval — the Employment, Self-employment and Work of Aliens Act became applicable on 1 September 2015, introducing a single permit for residence and work. A single permit enables aliens from third countries to enter, reside and work in the Republic of Slovenia. An employer who wishes to employ a foreign national must first publish the employment vacancy. An application for a single permit can be filed by the employer or by the foreign national. An alien files the application by the consulate of the Republic of Slovenia abroad. The employer can file an application at the Administrative Unit offices or at the consulate of the Republic of Slovenia. After receiving the application, the Administrative Unit office will require consent of the Employment Service, which will be given within 15 days. The consent of the Employment Service to a single permit for residence and work is given if the legal conditions are fulfilled and if there are no suitable resident workers in the records of the Employment Service. The first single permit is issued for a maximum period of one year and can be extended.

• Time frame — after submitting a complete application, a single permit for residence and work should be issued within 30 days.

Some categories of foreign nationals such as priests, foreign media reporters, business visitors and professional athletes do not require the single permit for residence and work and can be employed, self-employed or perform work, if their residence is in accordance with regulations governing the residence of aliens.

Citizens of member states of the European Union, as well as citizens of Norway, Liechtenstein, Iceland, and the Swiss Confederation, have the right to free access to the labour market. That means that they can be employed, self-employed or perform work without the consent of the Employment Service of Slovenia. Aliens residing in the Republic of Slovenia based on a permit for temporary residence for family reunification with Slovene citizens also have the right to free access to the Slovenian labour market.

The length of the notice period depends on the type of dismissal:

• Regular dismissal.This is a dismissal issued for a business reason (redundancy), employee incompetence, an at-fault reason (misconduct), for unfitness for work on account of a disability, or for a failed probationary period) has variable applicable notice periods (see below).
• Extraordinary dismissal.There are eight reasons for an extraordinary dismissal.

The minimum notice periods for regular dismissals are as follows:

• For a dismissal for business reasons (redundancy) or employee incompetence, the notice period depends on the employee’s length of service with the employer, from 15 to 80 days, as follows:
  • employed for up to one year: 15 days’ notice;
  • employed for more than one year but less than two years: 30 days’ notice;
  • employed for two years or more: 30 days’ notice, plus an extra two days’ notice for every additional year’s service above two years, up to a maximum of 60 days’ notice;
  • employed for 25 years or more: 80 days’ notice (unless a collective agreement governs otherwise).
• For a dismissal for at-fault reasons, the notice period is 15 days.
• For a dismissal for a failed probationary period, the notice period is seven days

In the case of a regular dismissal for business reasons (redundancy) or employee incompetence, employees are entitled to severance pay. Severance pay is calculated based on the employee’s average monthly salary over the last three months prior to the dismissal (the basic monthly salary), and is paid according to the employee’s length of service:

• Where the employee has been employed for at least one year, and up to ten years, one-fifth of the employee’s basic monthly salary will be paid for each of those years of service.
• Where the employee has been employed for more than ten years and up to 20 years, one-fourth of the employee’s basic monthly salary will be paid for each of those years of service.
• Where the employee has been employed for more than 20 years, one-third of the employee’s basic monthly salary will be paid for each of those years of service.

However, there is a maximum severance payment limit of ten times the employee’s basic monthly salary stipulated by law.

The right to severance pay is now also prescribed in certain cases of termination of fixed-term contracts. One-fifth of the employee’s basic monthly salary will be paid for the first year of service. An additional amount (which amounts to one-twelfth of the one-fifth of salary calculated for the first year) will then also be added for each extra month of employment above the first year of employment.