Employees in Slovakia are entitled to dozens of days of fully paid leave from work throughout the year in the event of various obstacles to work

From the employee’s perspective, there are three main categories of work-related obstacles that entitle them to time off work. It is up to the employer to decide when time off is paid in excess of the statutory minimum and when it is not.

Whilst every employee is legally entitled to seven days a year for their own medical treatment and a further seven days to accompany a family member (including parents and siblings), employees with a child under 15 are entitled to a further seven days (meaning they are entitled to a total of 21 days with full pay). Blood donors are entitled to a further 16 days of paid leave for regular blood donation, including travel time and the time required for recovery, if prescribed by a doctor. Anyone who donates blood and uses all their days of paid leave for medical treatment and to accompany family members and a child to the doctor will receive up to 37 working days (i.e. almost two months) of leave with full pay during the year.

The father of a newborn child is entitled to up to 21 days’ paid paternity leave and leave to care for a family member.

Those who are furthering or expanding their education can receive at least 50 days of paid leave per year to prepare for state exams and the final exam itself, plus additional days to attend classes.

On this topic Grant Thornton explains

• what obstacles to work are recognised by Slovak legislation and what benefits employees are entitled to
• what the most common mistakes made by companies and employees are, what the consequences are, and how they can be mitigated

 

What are obstacles to work and how do they ‘work’?

If circumstances arise that prevent an employee from performing their work for a certain period of time, and the employer is legally obliged to accept these circumstances, this constitutes an impediment to work. Examples include situations where an employee falls ill, has to care for a sick family member, or has to fulfil civic duties.

In certain cases specified by law, the employer is obliged to provide the employee with wage compensation for the time strictly necessary, provided that the obstacle to work could not be dealt with outside working hours. In other cases, the employer is obliged to grant the employee time off work, but without wage compensation.

Obstacles to work on the part of the employee can be divided into three basic groups:

1. Significant personal obstacles to work
2. Obstacles related to professional development
3. Obstacles related to the public interest

 

Significant personal obstacles to work

This category of obstacles to work generally includes events of a personal nature, which undoubtedly occur most frequently in the life of every employee. In addition to a medical examination of the employee or a family member, this also includes weddings, the death of a family member, or the birth of a child. Obstacles such as incapacity for work, caring for a family member, and maternity/parental leave occupy a specific position within this group, particularly with regard to how they are calculated and paid, as these are governed by laws other than the Labour Code.

The employer is obliged to grant the employee time off work in accordance with Section 141(2) of the Labour Code for the following reasons and to the extent specified below, provided that the relevant task could not be carried out outside working hours:

Reason for the obstacle	Extent of time off work	Wage compensation	Additional time off
Examination/treatment at a healthcare facility	7 days per calendar year	yes	yes, with or without wage compensation
Prenatal check-ups	for the time strictly necessary	yes	Yes, with or without pay
Birth of an employee’s child	for the time strictly necessary to transport the mother to a healthcare facility and back	Yes	yes, with or without pay
Accompanying a family member to a healthcare facility for examination, treatment or care	7 days per calendar year for only one family member	yes	Yes, with or without pay
Accompanying a minor child to a counselling and prevention facility for specialist services	7 days in a calendar year for only one family member	yes	Yes, with or without compensation
Accompanying a child under 15 years of age by a single employee who has sole custody of that child or who exercises parental rights and responsibilities alone towards that child	7 days per calendar year	yes	yes, with or without pay
Accompanying a disabled child to a social care facility or a school for children and pupils with disabilities	10 days per calendar year for only one family member	yes	Yes, with or without pay
Death of a family member death of a spouse or child	2 days + 1 day to attend the funeral	yes	Yes, with or without pay

death of an employee’s parent or sibling death of an employee’s spouse’s parent or sibling death of the spouse of the employee’s sibling	1 day to attend the funeral + 1 day if the employee is arranging the funeral of these persons	yes	Yes, with or without pay
death of an employee’s grandparent or grandchild death of the employee’s spouse’s grandparent the death of another person who, although not one of the relatives listed above, was living in the same household as the employee at the time of death	1 day to attend the funeral + 1 day if the employee is arranging the funeral of these persons	yes	yes, with or without pay
Wedding own wedding wedding of an employee’s child or parent	1 day as required	yes no	yes, with or without pay
Inability to travel to work due to weather conditions using the personal transport used by an employee with a disability	1 day	yes	Yes, with or without wage compensation
Unforeseen disruption to services, public transport delays	for the time strictly necessary	no	Yes, with or without wage compensation
Relocation of an employee who owns their own home	1 day if moving within the same municipality,   2 days if moving to another municipality	no, with wage compensation only if the move is in the employer’s interest	yes, with or without wage compensation
Looking for a new job before the end of the employment contract	0.5 days per week during the notice period	No, unless the notice was given by the employer for the reasons set out in Section 63(1)( (a) to (c)	yes, with or without compensation

 

In addition to the mandatory grounds defined by the Labour Code, the employer should specify in internal regulations or a collective agreement the specific obstacles to work for which they grant paid leave beyond the statutory requirements. It is also recommended to define work-related obstacles and the number of days granted beyond the statutory requirements without pay. In this way, employers will avoid unexpected staff absences and also avoid any unnecessary disputes.

In practice, employees most often take time off in the following situations:

 

7 days of sick leave per year

Every employee is universally entitled to seven working days for treatment or examination at a healthcare facility. In this case, the company cannot in any way restrict the employee from taking this time off if a doctor or healthcare facility confirms that the treatment or examination was planned or urgent. The employee simply needs to provide confirmation that they have undergone the examination or treatment. Such confirmation must include:

• employee's first name and surname
• date and time of the examination (from-to)
• stamp and signature of the doctor/healthcare facility

In the certificate, the doctor can specify the total time off required to undergo treatment or an examination. In addition to the time spent in the waiting room, the time required to travel from the employee’s home to the doctor’s surgery and back is also included, including any complications such as traffic congestion or vehicle breakdowns during the journey. The employer should take this total time into account and accept it.

 

Prenatal check-ups

A woman is entitled to one preventive check-up per month during pregnancy, and the Labour Code does not limit the number of check-ups . A doctor’s certificate is also key to recognising an obstacle to work and wage compensation is, in this case too, a doctor’s certificate.)

 

Accompanying a child or family member

To accompany a child under the age of 15, a parent or an employee who has sole custody of that child may take up to 7 days per year with full wage compensation. A further 7 days may be used to accompany a family member (spouse, own child, a child in foster care or pre-adoption care, the employee’s parent, sibling, spouse of a sibling, parent and sibling of the spouse’s parent, grandparent (own or spouse’s), grandchild, and any other person living in the same household as the employee, i.e. sharing the costs of their living expenses.

 

Death

In the event of a death, entitlement to leave depends on the relationship to the deceased. For the closest relatives (child, spouse), the employer must grant a total of 3 days’ leave (the day of the funeral and an additional two days).

 

Your own wedding

An employee is entitled to one day’s leave for their wedding. However, this only applies if the wedding falls on a working day or on a day when the employee is scheduled to work. If the wedding takes place on a Saturday and the employee is not required to work on that day under a shift rota, they are not entitled to extra leave.

 

Redundancy and job search

In Slovakia, Samsung and its suppliers have recently announced the redundancy of over 1,000 employees. Consequently, the entitlement to time off to look for a new job is becoming increasingly important.

Under the Labour Code, an employee whose contract is being terminated is entitled to 0.5 days off per week during the notice period to look for a new job, provided they have been given notice due to organisational changes or for health reasons. In Slovakia, the minimum notice period is 2 months (if the employment relationship lasted at least 1 year) or 3 months (for employment of more than 5 years); during this period, the employee may take a maximum of 4 or 6 days’ leave respectively.

These days can be accumulated and combined with the employer’s consent. However, this is subject to the condition that the employee must provide proof of having taken this leave, for example by means of a confirmation from the company that they took part in a recruitment process.

The employer must excuse the employee’s absence from work for these reasons and to this extent:

Reason for absence	Extent of excused absence from work	Financial security	Method of calculation
Temporary incapacity for work due to illness or injury (hereinafter “DPN”)	52 weeks	for the 1st–14th calendar day of DPN – income replacement during temporary DPN (paid by the employer); from the 15th calendar day of DPN – sickness benefit (paid by the Social Insurance Agency)	Income replacement during temporary DPN: 1st–3rd calendar day of DPN = 25% of the daily assessment base (hereinafter ‘DVZ’), 4th– 14th calendar day of sick leave = 55 % of the DVZ; sickness benefit = from the 15th calendar day of sick leave 55% of the DVZ
Personal and full-day care of a sick family member (hereinafter “OČR”) – short-term	14 calendar days	care allowance (paid by the Social Insurance Agency)	1st – 14th calendar day of OČR = 55% of the assessment base
Personal and full-time care of a sick family member (hereinafter referred to as ‘OČR’) – long-term	90 calendar days	care allowance (paid by the Social Insurance Agency)	15th – 90th calendar day of OČR = 55% of the reference income
Maternity leave (hereinafter ‘MD’) and paternity leave (hereinafter “OD”)	MD lasting 34 weeks (37 weeks for a single woman; 43 weeks if the woman gives birth to two or more children); MD lasting 28 weeks (31 weeks for a single man; 37 weeks in connection with caring for two or more children)	maternity benefit (paid by the Social Insurance Agency)	maternity benefit = 75% of the assessment base
Paternity leave (hereinafter ‘OD’)	OD lasting 14 calendar days – the father may take it during the first 6 weeks after the child’s birth	paternity benefit (paid by the Social Insurance Agency)	paternity benefit = 75% of the assessment base

Parental leave (hereinafter ‘RD’)

RD for the duration of caring for a child up to 3 years of age, up to 6 years of age if the child has a long-term adverse health condition requiring special care

parental allowance (paid by the Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family)

the amount of the parental allowance is regulated by the Parental Allowance Act

 

It is less well known that an employee receives wage compensation from their employer and sickness benefit from the Social Insurance Agency for a maximum of 52 weeks during sick leave. Previous periods of sick leave are only included in this period if at least 26 weeks of sickness insurance have elapsed since the last period of incapacity for work. Sick leave may last longer than 52 weeks, but without entitlement to sickness benefit from the Social Insurance Agency, and the employee may then be left without income unless they are awarded a disability pension or a benefit from the Job Centre, provided the employee is registered and this is granted to them.

 

Obstacles due to upskilling

Upskilling employees is becoming increasingly important in the modern workplace. However, when it comes to training, it is crucial to distinguish between when an employee is improving their qualifications and when they are deepening their knowledge, particularly with regard to the correct assessment of the employee’s legal entitlements in relation to the provision of time off work as well as financial support during this time off.

The employer is obliged to grant the employee paid leave with wage compensation to the following extent:

Reason for the impediment	Extent of time off work	Wage compensation
Further training	to the extent necessary to attend classes	yes, where the employer agrees to the employee’s further training, and in particular where this is in line with the employer’s needs. The resit examination is undertaken without pay.
	2 days to prepare for and sit each exam
	5 days for the preparation and sitting of the final, school-leaving and graduation examinations
	40 days in total for the preparation and sitting of state examinations or dissertation examinations at the various levels of higher education
	10 days to prepare and defend a final, diploma or dissertation thesis
	5 days per calendar year for continuing professional development, in the case of an employee working in the healthcare profession

 

Compensation for lost wages is not mandatory in this case. The employer may, but is not obliged to, grant such paid leave.

 

Obstacles in the public interest

In the case of obstacles to work in the public interest, these are obstacles arising from the performance of public duties, the fulfilment of civic obligations, or the performance of other acts in the public interest.

The employer is obliged to grant the employee time off work for these reasons and to this extent, if the relevant activity could not be carried out outside working hours:

Reason for absence	Duration of leave	Wage compensation
Long-term performance of a public or trade union role	for the entire duration of the role	No
Performance of a public office alongside employment	up to 30 days	no, unless otherwise agreed
Civic duty (witness, interpreter, expert witness, etc.)	for the time strictly necessary	no, unless otherwise agreed
Compulsory medical examinations, participation in rehabilitation stays, participation of employee representatives in training	for the time strictly necessary	yes
Donation of blood and other biological material, apheresis	for the time strictly necessary, up to a maximum of the time taken from working hours within 96 hours of setting off for the collection	yes

A blood donor is entitled to 16 days’ paid leave for regular blood donation, including travel and the time needed for recovery, if prescribed by a doctor. This figure corresponds to the maximum recommended 4 donations per year for men. For women, no more than 3 donations per year are recommended, which amounts to 34 days’ leave. “The key to a specific entitlement to take leave is a doctor’s statement requiring rest due to the employee’s state of health following the donation of blood or other biological materials,” explains Martina Švaňová.

 

The most common mistakes made by employees

An employee is required to notify their employer in advance of any obstacle to work and subsequently provide evidence of it. In practice, employees most commonly make mistakes such as notifying their line manager of the obstacle too late, failing to provide supporting documentation – e.g. from a doctor, failing to specify the duration of the obstacle to work, misusing time off – e.g. a doctor’s appointment took a few hours, but the employee is absent from work for the whole day, using time off for another purpose, and so on.

It is difficult for the employer, and one might say almost impossible, to monitor the misuse of these absences, and so they are often left with no choice but to rely on the certificate issued to the employee by the relevant institution (doctor or other body), that the matter in question had to be dealt with during the employee’s working hours.

When it comes to obstacles to work in the public interest, employees have the mistaken belief that this always constitutes paid leave for which they are entitled to wage compensation from their employer, but the truth is that in most cases of such impediments, it is unpaid leave, where wage compensation is provided by another authority (e.g. a court) or no compensation is provided at all.

 

The most common mistakes made by employers

In practice, there is often confusion regarding the application of obstacles to work, with employers sometimes forcing an employee to take annual leave instead of statutory time off work, which is a violation of their rights. If it is a statutory obstacle, they cannot order the employee to take annual leave. Another offence on the part of the employer is failing to recognise an employee’s statutory impediment for the duration stated by the relevant institution in the certificate. In practice, this mainly concerns situations involving an employee’s examination or treatment at a healthcare facility, where the doctor states in the medical certificate that the examination lasted the whole day.

Some employers do not recognise a full-day absence if it has been certified by only one doctor, but require the employee to provide a certificate bearing at least two, or possibly more, stamps from different doctors for it to be accepted. Or, if an employee submits a certificate for a full-day examination from the same doctor on two consecutive days, many employers do not accept this either. However, if the healthcare facility certifies the sick note and specifies the duration of the absence from work – that is, not just the examination itself, but also including travel time or mandatory rest – the employer has no right to dispute or challenge this certificate. It is not possible for them to arbitrarily decide that instead of eight hours, they will only pay the employee for four, or that they will only accept a certificate with stamps from two different doctors to cover the whole day.

If a company does not accept a doctor’s certificate, the employee can contact the Labour Inspectorate, which will rule in favour of the employee, who is in the right in this matter. However, if the employer suspects that the employee is misusing sick leave, they can check with the doctor to see if the employee actually attended the examination.

In the case of employees donating blood, employers often recognise only the travel time to and from the venue and the actual time spent donating as a paid absence, but not the time the doctor has prescribed for the employee’s recovery, which may be several days.

In each of the above cases, however, such a procedure has no basis in law and could cause problems for the employer.

When it comes to improving an employee’s qualifications, employers often confuse the terms ‘improving qualifications’ with ‘enhancing qualifications’. Upgrading qualifications means obtaining a higher level of education or a new qualification, for example by studying at university. Deepening qualifications, on the other hand, involves maintaining and expanding an employee’s existing knowledge necessary for performing their work, for example through training courses or seminars. Time spent on upskilling is considered an obstacle to work on the part of the employee, for which they are entitled to wage compensation; time spent on deepening qualifications, on the other hand, is considered work performance, for which the employee is entitled to wages.

With regard to the fact that if an employee takes unpaid leave for only part of a working shift, such a day is not reported to the Social Insurance Agency on the grounds of a break in insurance. Such a day is reported to the Social Insurance Agency only if the unpaid leave lasted the whole day, i.e. the employee missed the entire shift for the aforementioned reason. The same principle applies to health insurance: if an employee takes unpaid leave for only part of the day, they are still considered an employee for that day and therefore it is not reported to the Health Insurance Company.

In practice, there are cases where a payroll accountant, tasked with this responsibility by the employer, reports a period as an interruption in insurance cover or as a period during which the employee is not considered to be in employment, even if the employee is absent for only part of the day, which is not in accordance with the law and the employee is thus effectively at a disadvantage, because, for example, they must then pay health insurance for such a day themselves at the Health Insurance Fund, as they are considered a self-payer, and at the Social Insurance Agency, the period of interruption is not included in the calculation of pension entitlement. The employee can check this in their online account with the Social Insurance Agency, and if they find any discrepancies, they can notify their employer to rectify the situation.

 

Measures to reduce problems with the practical application of obstacles to work

The employer can significantly mitigate the above-mentioned shortcomings and their potential negative consequences regarding the practical application of work-related obstacles through a combination of rules, monitoring and well-organised work.

1. The employer shall clearly set out internal rules in an internal policy that precisely define how an employee is to report an obstacle to work (e.g. in advance, by text message, by email, etc.), what kind of confirmation they must provide, what the confirmation must contain (e.g. date of examination, arrival and departure times, etc.), by when the confirmation must be submitted, and by what means.
2. It monitors recurring cases (e.g. frequent visits to the doctor, unreasonably long absences, etc.) through HR staff or line managers, and if anything appears suspicious, the employer may conduct an individual interview with the employee and ask for an explanation, warning of the possible consequences.
3. A more flexible approach to organising work can also help, e.g. the company allows flexible working hours, overtime, working from home, etc.
4. Many problems are resolved simply because the employee knows that this is actually being monitored.
5. The employer reminds employees of their obligation to try to deal with the matter outside working hours, if the situation allows, to choose the earliest possible time outside work, to return to work if the obstacle ends earlier, and so on.
6. Ongoing training for staff in roles responsible for approving, assessing and recording employees’ claims relating to obstacles to work with regard to both the relevant legislation and the employer’s internal processes, such as HR staff, payroll accountants or managers at various levels of management.

 

Granting of leave beyond the statutory requirements

An employer may also grant an employee additional paid or unpaid leave due to obstacles to work on the employee’s part, but this must be provided for in the employer’s internal regulations. At the same time, the principle of equal treatment applies – that is, additional leave must be granted equally and without discrimination.