Definitive Guide to Hiring in Slovakia

Hiring in Slovakia

Hiring employees compliantly in Slovakia means doing it yourself or using an Employer of Record like Global Expansion. You should be careful using independent contractor agreements in Slovakia so that you don’t run afoul of employment laws. To hire an employee compliantly and offer them mandatory benefits and compliant agreements, you can:

(a) Establish your own new legal entity, banking, accounting and payroll service in Slovakia; or

(b) use an Employer of Record like Global Expansion who can handle all of the details for you.

Labor Laws in Slovakia

Employment laws in Slovakia are uniquely suited to the country’s way of life, and crucial to understand if you want to employ local talent in this country. Get the details on Slovakia employment laws and Slovakia policies here.

Employee Probation Period

• The parties can agree on an initial probationary period of maximum 3 months for general employees.
• For certain managerial positions, the initial probationary period may be extended up to 6 months.

Annual Leave in Slovakia

• Employees are generally entitled to four weeks of paid annual leave.
• Typically, one week is taken in the winter and three in the summer.

Holidays in Slovakia

Slovakia celebrates fourteen national public holidays as well as additional public holidays that vary by state:

Maternity Leave Slovakia

• Female employees are generally entitled to 34 weeks of paid leave.
• Single employees are entitled to 37 weeks.
• Leave generally begins six weeks before the due date, but may begin eight weeks prior.
• Women must take at least 14 weeks of leave, six of which must occur after the birth.

Paternity Leave Slovakia

• Fathers are generally entitled to paternity leave from the birth of the child until the end of the mother’s leave.
• Parents may request parental leave until the child turns three.

Sick Leave in Slovakia

• Employees are eligible for paid sick leave as follows:
  • First three days: 25% of normal wage, paid by the employer
  • Days four through 10: 55% of normal wage, paid by the employer
  • 11+ days: 55% of normal wage, paid by the Social Insurance Agency

Working Hours in Slovakia

• The maximum weekly working time is 8 hours/day and 40 hours a week.

Overtime in Slovakia

• The maximum overtime work that an employer can order is 150 hours per year
• An employee is entitled to the wage earned and to a preferential wage rate in the sum of at least 25 per cent of his or her average earnings for overtime work.

Termination of Employment in Slovakia

• The employment contracts in Slovakia can be terminated in writing by both parties as follows:
  • mutual agreement,
  • immediate termination
    • The employer must terminate the employment within two months since becoming aware of the grounds for the immediate termination, and at the latest within one year of the day on which those grounds arose. 
    • This method of termination of employment relationship can be used only in exceptional circumstances stipulated by the labor Code,
  • termination in the probationary period by both the employer or employee who may terminate the employment during probationary period without providing any reason for termination by a written notice that should be given and delivered to the other party at least 3 days before the day of stipulated termination,
  • notice
    • In this case both employer and employee may terminate an employment contract by a written notice. 
    • The employee may terminate the employment contract for any reason or without stating any reasons. 
    • On the other hand, the employer may terminate the employment contract only in the situations expressly stipulated in the labor Code.

Notice Period in Slovakia

• The statutory minimum notice period is: -
  • 1 month (unless longer notice period is stipulated by the labor Code)
  • 2 months, if the employee was employed for at least 1 year but less than 5 years
  • 3 months, if the employee was employed for at least 5 years

Severance in Slovakia

• Employees are generally entitled to severance pay if they have been terminated because:
  • the company dissolved or moved and the employee does not want to move
  • the employee is made redundant
  • the employee is no longer able to perform the job for health reasons
• If the employee received notice, his/her severance pay should be at least one to four times the employee’s average monthly earnings, depending on the number of years of employment.
• If the employee was terminated by agreement, he/she is entitled to one to five times his/her average monthly earnings, depending on the length of service.
• If the employer terminates an employee’s contract either by notice or agreement because the employee cannot perform the job due to an occupational accident, occupational disease, or the risk of such a disease, the employee is entitled to at least 10 times his/her average monthly earnings.

Slovakia Salary and Wages

13th/14th Month Salary in Slovakia

• Yes (Mandatory)
• There is a statutory discretionary power to pay the 13th or the 14th month salary.
• However, the employer must provide holiday allowance for a maximum of Euro 275 per year.

• If an employee is subject to the Slovak social security system, both the employer and the employee must pay social security contributions. 
• Slovak social security contributions consist of sickness, old-age, disability, unemployment, guarantee and accident insurance, and contributions to the reserve fund. 
• In general, every person performing an income-generating activity for which he or she is entitled to a regular monthly compensation (and also irregular for the purposes of pension insurance) subject to income tax is deemed to be an employee for Slovak social security purposes. 
• Rental, capital or other income is not subject to social insurance.
• Slovak health insurance contributions are for health care. 
• Individuals having income subject to income tax (including dividends paid to employees not participating in the registered capital of a company that are generated from profits for accounting periods beginning after 1 January 2011, and capital or other income on which the Slovak withholding tax does not apply) is subject to health insurance. 
• Persons acting as members of statutory or supervisory bodies for employers, with a registered seat in the Slovak Republic, are not subject to Slovak health insurance if they do not have permanent residency in the Slovak Republic and are subject to a health insurance system in a non-European Union (EU) state. 
• The combined rate for the employee’s social and health insurance contribution is 13.4% of his or her assessment base, which is, in general, his or her monthly taxable employment income. 
• The employer’s contribution rate is 35.2% of the employee’s assessment base. 
• The maximum monthly assessment base for all types of insurance (excluding accident insurance and health insurance) equals seven times the average wage in the Slovak economy. 
• The assessment base for accident insurance and health insurance is not limited. 
• This means that the actual health insurance contribution (employers’ as well as employees’ part) and accident insurance (employers’ part only) is calculated based on the total amount of income that is subject to the respective insurance under the Slovak legislation.

Immigration Slovakia

Learn about immigration requirements in Slovakia, work visa requirements, work permits and more.

Work permits

• Non-EU nationals must request permission to work in the Slovak Republic at the locally competent Office of Labor, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic. 
• The office may require from the employer a written request for permission to employ a foreigner. 
• An employer must report a job vacancy to the Central Labor Office at least 20 working days before applying for the job permission. 
• The process of reporting job vacancies can be omitted; however, this applies only for selected professions in regions with low unemployment rates as indicated by labor inspectorates.

Intra-company transfer.

• The recent amendment (to the Act on Residence of Foreigners, effective from 1 May 2017) involved national transposition of Directive 2014/66/EU on the conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals in the framework of an intra-corporate transfer (also known as the ICT Directive). 
• The purpose of this amendment is to facilitate mobility and accelerate the procedure for granting temporary residence permits for selected categories of employees who are nationals of third countries. 
• These are the cases with an employer established outside of the EU that transfers an employee for more than 90 days, up to three years for managers and specialists and up to one year for trainees, to a branch within an EU member state (including those covered by the EEA Agreement and the Swiss Confederation).
• However, once the EU member state implements the terms of the ICT Directive, the third-country nationals with an ICT permit issued in any EU member state (the location of first temporary residence) can enter, stay and work in one or more additional member states that have also implemented the ICT into local law, with little or no interruption to their secondment and vice versa. 

Value Added Tax (VAT) in Slovakia

• Companies are required to charge the correct VAT rates on their Slovakian transactions, and will be held liable for any errors or omissions.  
• Whilst the EU sets the framework for the rates, the Slovak Republic still determines the actual rates – although the higher, standard rate must be above 15%.
• The standard VAT rate in the Slovak Republic is 20%, with a reduced rate of 10% on certain goods and services.  
• A number of services are exempt from Slovakian VAT, such as financial and postal services.

Mandatory Benefits in Slovakia

• These are benefits as postulated by law
• These include probationary period, annual leave, public holidays, sick leave, maternity leave, paternity leave, notice period, severance pay, 13^th month pay and 14^th month pay
• Statutory benefits also include social security benefits

Payroll Accrual in Slovakia

Country Accruals Additional Information

Description

Employer’s social security contributions total 24.4% of remuneration; however, due to caps on the amounts on which these contributions are levied, the total contribution does not exceed EUR 1,629.42 per month in 2019, plus they pay injury insurance contributions of 0.8% of employees' total salary costs per month, which are not capped. The employer’s health insurance contributions total 10% of remuneration; however, as of 1 January 2017, caps on amounts on which these contributions are levied were abolished and the health insurance contributions are levied from the total employee’s remuneration. The regular monthly contributions to the health insurance system are treated as advance payments for the yearly liability and are subject to an annual reconciliation of health insurance contributions. Reconciliations are performed by a health insurance company. Note that non-cash benefits and income from the sale of shares are subject to health insurance contributions. Dividend income received from profits arising from 2012 until 2016 is subject to health insurance contributions at a rate of 14%, up to 60-times the

Payroll Accruals Additional Information

Accrued Benefits in Slovakia

Why use Global Expansion to hire in Slovakia

Establishing a branch office or subsidiary in Slovakia can be time-consuming, expensive and complex. With such a robust labor market in place, one must pay great attention to detail when structuring employment because Slovakia labor laws are complex.

The company also has a responsibility to comply with specific employment practices dictated by Slovakia law to maintain its good standing as an equal opportunity employer.

Global Expansion makes it easy for you to expand into Slovakia. We'll help you hire your candidate of choice, handle HR matters and payroll, and ensure that you comply with local laws without the burden of setting up a foreign branch office or subsidiary. In addition, you'll have complete control and direction over your employees.

We enable you to stay in control of everything. Our Slovakia Global Professional Employer Organization (PEO) and Employer of Record (EOR) solution provides you with peace of mind to focus on running your company and the security to enter new markets.