POPULATION
5.4m
CURRENCY
€ (EUR)
CAPITAL CITY
Bratislava
Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a country in Central Europe. Known for its stunning landscapes, diverse culture, and innovative technology, Slovakia is a popular destination for tourism and cultural exploration. From the bustling streets of Bratislava to the serene landscapes of the High Tatras, Slovakia offers a wealth of cultural and natural attractions.
Slovakia's economy is diverse, with key sectors including manufacturing, services, and agriculture. The country is a major exporter of goods and a global leader in innovation. Slovakia's skilled workforce and strong infrastructure make it an attractive destination for international business.
Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only. We do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of this content. It is not legal advice and shall not be relied on as such.
It is mandatory to conclude employment contracts in writing. Employers must issue a written copy of the employment contract to employees with information related to the type of work, place of work, the start of the contract, working hours, wages, amount of leave, notice period, and applicable collective agreements. If the written employment contract does not contain all the required information, the employer must prepare a written notice to the employee containing all conditions within 1 month from the beginning of the employment relationship.
Slovakia's Labour Code makes it compulsory to have employment contracts in writing. There are no provisions related to oral contracts.
There are no guidelines or provisions regarding implied contracts in Slovakia, as written contracts are mandatory.
Daily working hours cannot exceed 10 hours. The employee's working time is a maximum of 40 hours per week and cannot exceed 48 hours including overtime. Working hours in a 24-hour period must not exceed 10 hours. Juvenile employees under the age of 16 can work for a maximum of 30 hours per week. Juvenile employees over the age of 16 can work for a maximum of 37 and 1/2 hours per week. The working time of a juvenile staff member must not exceed 8 hours in any 24-hour period.
Employees working with carcinogenic substances or hazardous areas can work for 33 and 1/2 hours per week. Employees working alternately in both changes in 2-shift operation can work a maximum of 38 and 3/4 hours a week and a maximum of 37 and 1/2 hours in all changes in 3-shift or continuous operation.
Probationary period of a maximum of 3 months (6 months for managers) can be agreed to in an employment contract. It must be in writing and cannot be extended. If an employee has not completed the entire work shift due to an obstacle on their part during the agreed upon probationary period, the probationary period can be extended by a day. It is not possible to have a probationary period in case of re-employment for a certain period.
During a probationary period, an employment contract can be terminated by either party for any reason or without giving a reason, unless otherwise provided, by giving written notice of termination at least 3 days in advance.
Notice period is at least 1 month for those who have worked for less than 1 year, 2 months for those who have worked for more than 1 year but less than 5 years, and 3 months for those who have worked for more than 5 years but less than 5 years. If the notice is given by an employee whose employment with the employer lasted at least 1 year, the notice period is at least 2 months. The notice period begins on the 1st day of the calendar month following the delivery of the notice and ends on the last day of the relevant calendar month. Employees can be terminated without notice in case of a serious breach of discipline.
If an employee does not remain with their employer during their notice period, the employer is entitled to monetary compensation for the notice period.
Employees whose contract is terminated by their employer due to redundancy, relocation of business or medical reasons are entitled to severance pay as follows:
If the employment contract is terminated with an agreement between the employee and employer, severance pay is increased by 1 month's salary. Employees dismissed due to disciplinary issues are not entitled to severance pay.
The Slovak Labour Code mandates that wages cannot be less than the determined minimum wage. The minimum wage is set by the Regulation of the Government of the Slovak Republic every year. Currently, the minimum wage is EUR 4.690 (euros) per hour or EUR 816 per month, effective January 1, 2025.
Overtime work cannot exceed an average of 8 hours per week unless the employer and the employees' representatives agree on a longer period, but not for more than 12 consecutive months.
For overtime work, employees are entitled to a wage benefit of at least 25% of their average earnings. Employees who perform risky work are entitled to a wage benefit of at least 35% of their average earnings. Employers can agree with employees on the use of compensatory leave for overtime work instead of wage benefit, not exceeding 150 hours a year.
Employees in Slovakia are entitled to a wage premium of at least 100% of their average earnings for working on a public holiday. Employees get their daily wages for the duration of annual leave.
Slovakia is a member state of the Schengen Agreement and issues the following types of visa:
There are 2 types of work permits in Slovakia:
Population 5.4m
Population in total, including all residents regardless of legal status © 2024 - WBG • EUROSTAT
54.2%
Urban Population
89.8%
Internet access
92.2%
Banking access
100%
Mobile phone access
Population: The World Bank: World Development Indicators: World Bank Group • World Population Prospects, United Nations (UN), uri: https://population.un.org/wpp/, publisher: UN Population Division; Statistical databases and publications from national statistical offices, National Statistical Offices, uri: https://unstats.un.org/home/nso_sites/, publisher: National Statistical Offices; Eurostat: Demographic Statistics, Eurostat (ESTAT), uri: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/data/database?node_code=earn_ses_monthly, publisher: Eurostat; Population and Vital Statistics Report (various years), United Nations (UN), uri: https://unstats.un.org, publisher: UN Statistics Division
Urban Population: The World Bank: World Development Indicators: World Bank Group • World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN), uri: https://population.un.org/wup/, publisher: UN Population Division
Internet access: The World Bank: World Development Indicators: World Bank Group • World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database, ITU (ITU), uri: https://datahub.itu.int/
Banking access: The World Bank: World Development Indicators: World Bank Group • FINDEX, WBG (WB), uri: https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/globalfindex
Mobile phone access: The World Bank: World Development Indicators: World Bank Group • World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database, ITU (ITU)
Employees are entitled to basic, paid annual leave of 4 weeks if they have worked for 60 days in a year. Employees who reach at least 33 years of age by the end of the calendar year, and those who have permanent childcare, are entitled to annual leave of 5 weeks. Employees who work underground for the whole calendar year in the mining of minerals or excavation of tunnels, and employees who perform work that is particularly difficult or harmful to their health, are entitled to an additional holiday of 1 week. Employees are paid their average earnings as compensation during annual leave. Annual leave can be taken, at a maximum, till the end of the following year.
Employees who are not entitled to annual leave or a proportion thereof because they have not worked for at least 60 days in the same year for the same employer are entitled to one-twelfth of the annual leave for each of the 21 days worked in the relevant year.
Employees are entitled to 7 days' paid sick leave per year for medical examination or treatment. Additional leave can be granted without pay. Employees are also entitled to a maximum of 30 days' leave annually for compulsory medical examinations, measures against communicable diseases, urgent medical-preventive care measures.
Employees are entitled to sickness benefits if they have been recognized as temporarily incapable of performing work due to illness or injury or if they have been ordered a quarantine measure or isolation.
Female employees are entitled to 34 weeks of paid maternity leave, with 6 weeks before delivery and 28 weeks after. Single mothers are entitled to a maternity leave of 37 weeks and women who give birth to 2 or more children at the same time are entitled to a maternity leave of 43 weeks. If a man is responsible for taking care of the child from birth, he is also entitled to the same duration of leave. Employees must have been insured for at least 270 days in the previous 2 years before delivery to be eligible for maternity leave. Eligible employees are entitled to maternity allowance paid by the Social Insurance Agency at the rate of 75% of their average wages for the duration of maternity leave.
Employees cannot be dismissed when they are on maternity leave, except in case of redundancy or serious breach of work discipline. If a pregnant woman performs work that is prohibited for pregnant women or which, according to a medical opinion, endangers her pregnancy, the employer is obliged to make a temporary adjustment to working conditions. If it is not possible to reassign the employee to another job, employers must provide them with paid leave.
Fathers are entitled to paid leave to the extent of maternity leave (28 weeks after childbirth) if they are responsible for childcare. They are also entitled to 75% of their wages if they are insured for at least 270 days in the 2 years before childbirth.
There are 3 pillars of the old age pension system. The 1st pillar is a mandatory pension scheme, the 2nd pillar is a defined contribution pension scheme managed by pension management companies, and the 3rd pillar is a voluntary pension scheme. However, the 2nd pillar will be mandatory for those under 40 starting employment for the first time beginning May 1, 2023.
An insured person is entitled to an old-age pension if he/she has been insured for at least 15 years and has reached retirement age. Retirement age depends on the year of birth of employees.
The amount of pension from the 1st pillar depends on the average personal wage point, the period of the pension insurance acquired on the day of entitlement to the old-age pension, and the current pension value, which is adjusted annually depending on the year-on-year growth of the average wage for the 3rd quarter of the previous year. The amount in 2nd and 3rd pillar can be taken out all at once or in the form of a life annuity at the time of retirement.
Spouses and children of an eligible, deceased, insured person are eligible for survivor benefits in Slovakia. The deceased must have been in receipt of retirement or disability pension or fulfilled the conditions to be eligible for retirement or disability pension at the time of death or died as a result of occupational disease or accident for beneficiaries to be eligible for pension. If the deceased was not eligible for either, the beneficiaries receive a lump sum benefit in the form of their contributions made in an individual account.
Spouse pension is 60% of the old-age or invalidity pension or early retirement pension to which the deceased spouse was or would have been entitled at the date of death. This is paid for 2 years and is continued if the spouse has retired or takes care of dependent children. A dependent child receives 40% of of the old-age or invalidity pension or early retirement pension to which the deceased parent or adoptive parent was or would have been entitled at the date of death.
Beneficiaries also receive a lump sum in case of death due to work accident or occupational disease.
Slovakia's Social Insurance Agency covers permanent disability benefits for insured people. An insured person is considered disabled if he/she has a decrease in the ability to perform a gainful activity by more than 40%, compared to a healthy person, due to a long-term unfavorable health condition. Number of years of insurance required for entitlement to disability pension depends on the age of the insured at the time of disability.
The amount of disability pension depends on the degree of disability, age and current pension value. Total disability is loss of 70% or more of their ability to work. Full pension is paid for total disability. Loss of 40% or more is considered partial disability and the pension is paid in proportion to the degree of disability.
In case of disability due to work accident or occupational disease, employees are granted benefits for the type of disability - temporary or permanent. Daily benefits are paid in case of temporary disability while in case of permanent disability monthly pension is paid for more than 40% disability and a lump sum for more than 10% disability.
The minimum working age in Slovakia is 15 years. The work of a natural person under the age of 15 or the work of a natural person over 15 years of age until the end of compulsory schooling is prohibited. An employee may enter into a material liability agreement at the earliest on the day he or she reaches the age of 18.
Persons under 15 years of age can work light work which, by its nature and extent, does not endanger their health, safety, their further development or their schooling only when performing or co-performing at cultural performances and artistic performances, sporting events, advertising activities, etc.
Employees under the age of 16 can work a maximum of 30 hours per week, even if they work for several employers. Employees over the age of 16 can work for a maximum of 37 and 1/2 hours per week. The working time of a juvenile staff member may not exceed 8 hours in any 24-hour period.
Unemployment 5.2%
Share of the labor force that is unemployed, but available for and seeking employment © 2024 - WBG • ILO
60.9%
Labor force population share
47%
Female share of labor force
82%
Healthcare access
Unemployment: The World Bank: World Development Indicators: World Bank Group • ILO Modelled Estimates database (ILOEST), ILO (ILO), uri: https://ilostat.ilo.org/data/bulk/, publisher: ILOSTAT, type: external database, date accessed: January 07, 2025.
Labor force (total): The World Bank: World Development Indicators: World Bank Group • ILO (ILO), type: estimates based on external database; United Nations (UN), publisher: UN Population Division; Staff estimates, WBG (WB)
Labor force population share: The World Bank: World Development Indicators: World Bank Group • ILO Modelled Estimates database (ILOEST), ILO (ILO), uri: https://ilostat.ilo.org/data/bulk/, publisher: ILOSTAT, type: external database, date accessed: January 07, 2025
Female share of labor force: The World Bank: World Development Indicators: World Bank Group • ILO (ILO), type: estimates based on external database; United Nations (UN), publisher: UN Population Division; Staff estimates, WBG (WB)
Healthcare access: The World Bank: World Development Indicators: World Bank Group • GHO, WHO (WHO), uri: https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/themes/topics/service-coverage
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