Posting workers to Slovakia

The Act No. 311/2001 Coll. (Labour code and later amendments), and Act No. 351/2015 Coll. (On cross-border co-operation in the posting of workers for the performance of works in the provision of services and later amendments) regulate the posting of workers to Slovakia. These Acts transpose Directive 96/71/EC, 2014/67/EU, and 2018/957/EU into national legislation.

In the following sections, we will introduce a summary of both the European Law and the local legislation on transnational posting of workers to Slovakia’s obligations.

For an overview of the EU legal framework on the posting of workers, take a look at our complete guide on EU Posted Workers Directives.

Preliminary assessments for the posting of workers to Slovakia

Before posting workers to Slovakia, the employer abroad should perform an overall assessment of the factors that make up a genuine posting, amongst which:

• the place where the employer has his registered office, administration, and administrative premises;
• the place where the employer pays taxes and social security contribution;
• the place where the employer performs an activity or the company’s chamber of commerce or a professional organization registration number;
• the place where the employer concludes employment contracts with the employees;
• the applicable law relating to employment contracts and other contracts concluded by the employer;
• the number of contracts executed in the context of the essential activities performed by the employer;
• the sum of turnover in another Member State.

In addition, the employer shall perform further assessment on the posted employees as well. In particular:

• whether the activity in Slovakia will be performed only for a fixed period;
• the date of beginning of the posting;
• previous periods during which the post was repeatedly occupied by the same employee or other employees;
• the nature of the activity performed;
• whether there will be travel and lodging expenses reimbursement;
• place where the employee usually performs his/her work;
• whether they will come back to his residence Country or will be posted to another Member Country.

Notification to the Slovakian authorities

If all the above-mentioned requirements are met, according to Directive 96/71/EU and its national transpositions, employers based in EU/EEA countries may post their workers to the Republic of Slovakia for provisions of services.

The host employer should notify the Labour Inspectorate of the Slovak Republic at least 1 day before the beginning of the provision of services.

The notification, which shall be in a paper or electronic format, must contain:

• Business name and registered office in case of a firm; full name in case of a natural person;
• Identification number and number of the register where it is registered;
• Estimated number of employees to be posted;
• Full name, date of birth, residence address and nationality of the posted employees;
• Day of beginning and day of termination of the posting;
• Address where the provision of service will occur and type of work performed;
• Name of the service/services that the host employer shall be providing through the posted employees;
• Full name, residence address and contact information of the contact person appointed to deliver documents and provide information to the National Labour Inspectorate, who must be physically present in the Slovak Republic territory for the entire period of posting;
• Whether the employee/s are substituting another employee previously posted to Slovakia, and all their relevant data.

Working and salary conditions in Slovakia applicable during the assignment

Slovakian working conditions partly apply to the posted workers. Specifically, § 5 of the Labour Law transposes all the Directive 96/71/EC, Article 3’s provisions, the hardcore provision.

Hardcore provisions refer to:

• length of working time and rest period;
• length of paid holiday;
• minimum wage, minimum wage claim and pay supplements for overtime work;
• occupational health and safety;
• working conditions of women, adolescent employees and employees caring for a child younger than 3 years of age;
• equal treatment and prohibition of discrimination;
• working conditions at employment by the agency for temporary employing;
• conditions concerning the boarding provided to the employee by the employer;
• travel expense reimbursement, reimbursement of the expenses for boarding and catering related to business trips or for the transport to the usual workplace in the territory of the Slovak Republic; for the purpose of special regulation or relevant collective agreement application, and the reimbursement of boarding and catering expenses or any other comparable compensation provided by the hosting employer under the legislation of the state, from which the employee is sent to perform work related to service provision.

Implementation of the hard-core provisions does not preclude the application of work conditions and terms of employment which are more favourable to the posted employee.

Minimum wage in Slovakia is €700.00 per month from January 1, 2023.

Social security in Slovakia

A posted employee within the framework of a provision of service continues to be employed in his/her residence Country.

In addition, thanks to the EU harmonized social system, posted employees only pay social contributions to the Country where they are resident. As a matter of fact, pursuant to Regulation (EC) 883/2004, the posting company must apply to the competent social institution for the issuing of an A1 Certificate for each posted worker. This document states in which Country the holder pays for social security contributions.

The employee shall have said document with him/her throughout all the posting period abroad.

Assignments lasting more than 12 months and termination of posting in Slovakia

Pursuant to Section 5(3) of Law No 311/2001 Coll., should the duration of a posting to Slovakia last more than 12 months, or the notification of an extension of a posting should exceed 18 months, employment relationships of the posted worker in the framework of a provision of service shall be governed by the Slovak Labour Law, special regulations, or the relevant collective agreement, except to the initiation, establishment, termination and cessation of an employment relationship, the pursuit of other professional or trade activity or the restrictions on professional or trade activity after the end of the employment relationship.

If the host employer replaces an employee posted to Slovakia, the duration of posting period includes the entire period before the replacement as well.

Documents’ availability during the assignment in Slovakia

All the following documents shall be available during the posting in the place of performance of work in Slovakia:

• a copy of the employment contract or relevant documents confirming the employment relationship;
• a timesheet of the working times of the posted employees;
• records of the wage paid to the posted employees during the posting period.

All the posting related documents shall also be kept available for a period of at least 2 years.

Penalties for non-compliance as defined in the local legislation

Pursuant to § 19 and § 20 of Act No. 125/2006 Coll. On Labour Inspection, the relevant authorities impose fines to:

• employers;
• self-employed workers;
• natural persons.

The relevant authorities impose a fine to employers or natural persons for:

• infringement of the prohibition on illegal employment from EUR 2 000 to EUR 200 000 and, in the case of illegal employment of two or more natural persons at the same time, at least EUR 5 000;
• an activity without authorization, certificate, license or permit, if an authorization, certificate, license or permit issued by the National Labour Inspectorate, labour inspectorate, natural person or legal person pursuant to a special regulation is required for performing the activity, from EUR 300 to EUR 33 000;

Labour Inspectorate might impose fines to enterpreneurs for:

• grave violation of obligations arising from the regulations from EUR 1 000 to EUR 200 000;
• failure to comply with the obligation imposed by the measure from EUR 300 to EUR 100 000.

The relevant authorities might impose fines within two years from the day of discussion of the protocol on labour inspection result. And at the latest within three years from the day of violation of obligation.

In addition, sanctions might also include:

• prohibitions;
• withdrawal of authorization;
• removal of the certificate and of the license.