What Do Employers Need To Know About The Third COVID-19 Law In Slovenia?

• Published date: 17 June 2020
• Author: Ms Kaja Ba'kovic (Selih & Partners), Karin Dodič ('elih), Darja Miklavčič ('elih) and Nata'a Pipan Nahtigal (Selih & Partners)
• Subject Matter: Employment and HR, Coronavirus (COVID-19), Employee Benefits & Compensation, Employment and Workforce Wellbeing
• Law Firm: lus Laboris

The Third COVID-19 law in Slovenia introduces new labour law measures, such as reimbursement for part-time work and extension of the salary reimbursement measure to employees temporarily waiting for work .This article provides details.

At its session on 29 May 2020, the Slovenian Parliament adopted the 'Act Determining the Intervention Measures to Contain and Mitigate the COVID-19 Consequences' (the 'Third COVID-19 Law'), which was published in the Official Gazette on 30 May 2020. This article sets out the key measures in the area of labour law introduced by the Third COVID-19 Law.

1. Reimbursement of part-time work

Duration of the measure

The main provisional measure in the area of labour relationships introduced by the Third COVID-19 Law is partial reimbursement of part-time work. The measure allows employers to order full-time employees to temporarily perform work part-time while simultaneously waiting for work part-time. Employers will be able to order part-time work between 1 June 2020 and 31 December 2020 at the latest. This measure cannot be introduced for employees during their notice period and for employees who are working part-time on the basis of social security rights.

Eligible employer

Any employer who enables its employees to perform at least part-time work will be eligible to obtain partial salary reimbursement or subsidy, provided that the employer:

• is a legal or natural person who was registered in the Slovenian Business Register before 13 March 2020 and is employing full-time employees;
• assesses it cannot provide at least 10% of his employees with at least 90% of the work load; and
• is not a direct or indirect beneficiary of the state or municipal budget, whose share of revenue from public sources in 2019 was higher than 50%.

Before a decision on part-time work can be adopted, employers will need to consult on the scope of the part-time work, number of employees to whom such work will be ordered and the duration of the order with the trade union at the respective employer or - if no such trade union exists - with the works council, and obtain their respective written opinion. According to the Third COVID-19 Law, these consultations should take place every time the circumstances of work change. If there is no trade union nor works council at the employer, the employer will have to notify employees in the usual way prior to adoption of decision on part-time work.

If an employer orders part-time work for some employees, the employer needs to notify the Employment Service of Slovenia (the 'Employment Service') within three working days from the order.

If these conditions are fulfilled (which will have to be confirmed by a written statement each month), the employer will be able to claim the subsidy monthly, for the previous month.

Employee's rights and obligations

An employee who will temporarily be working part-time will retain all rights and obligations arising from his or her employment relationship, unless these have been changed with the Third COVID-19 Law. Consequently, the employee will be entitled to payment for the time of actual performance of work and salary compensation for the time of waiting for work of the same amount as provided for in the Employment Relationships Act ('ZDR-1') where work cannot be performed due to incapability to provide work for business reasons. The employee will also have the right to a break in proportion to the time spent at work, and is obliged to return to...