Background information

The Public Scholarship, Development, Disability and Maintenance Fund of the Republic of Slovenia (henceforth the Maintenance Fund) protects claims of the employees whose employment has been terminated due to bankruptcy proceedings, a decision on compulsory workforce composition, insolvency procedures in one of the other EU Member States or European Economic Area (in which the employment or active work was being carried outside the Republic of Slovenia), or if the company is being removed from the court register without liquidation under the provisions of the Financial Operations, Insolvency Proceedings and Compulsory Dissolution Act (ZFPPIPP). All employees are eligible, irrespective of the type of their employment contract. In case of insolvency, unpaid wages, severance pay, and social contributions for the last six months are priority claims in the insolvency procedure.

Content of measure

Coverage by the Maintenance Fund includes the right to receive payment (total amount not exceeding four and a half minimum wages) of: 

• unpaid wages for the period of the last three months prior to the termination of the employment relationship (maximum of three minimum wages prescribed by the Minimum Wage Act, lowered by taxes and contributions);
• unpaid wage compensation for sick leave for the last three months before the termination of the employment relationship (maximum of three minimum wages prescribed by the Minimum Wage Act, lowered by taxes and contributions);
• wage compensation for unused annual holidays to which the employee was entitled in the current year (maximum of one half of minimal wage prescribed by the Minimum Wage Act, lowered by taxes and contributions);
• severance payment, as provided by the law on employment relations (maximum of one minimum wage prescribed by the Minimum Wage Act, lowered by taxes and contributions).

The Maintenance Fund is financed (with regard to covering payments to the employees) by the state budget, by employers (0.06% of the payroll costs) and by the Maintenance Fund by means of transfer and enforcement of claims from the insolvent employer.

The deadline for filing an application for financial protection is 90 days after the termination of the employment relationship. The Maintenance Fund has to meet all its obligations within 30 days after the decision and the procedure is final.

Use of measure

From 1997 to 2023, the Maintenance Fund paid out wage guarantees of €141 million to 92,479 individuals. The maximum amount was spent in the first two years as the law on the Maintenance Fund had retroactive force. The economic crisis brought about a progressive increase in the number of workers’ claims. It reached its peak in 2011 when €20 million was distributed to 7,205 individuals, a record in the history of the Maintenance Fund. In the last years, the bankruptcies of small businesses have prevailed.

In 2022, the Maintenance Fund paid out its smallest amount, €0.7 million. However, in 2023, the fund disbursed a slightly higher sum of €1.7 million to 417 individual employees (as reported in the Annual Report 2023). The average net payment per beneficiary in 2023 was €2,203. Most of the wage compensation requests came from former employees of Studio Moderna. Out of these requests, 151 employees were recognized as being entitled to wage guarantees.

More information can be found in the ERM legal database .

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Other groups of workers	Does not apply to businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Company / Companies	Companies National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Unknown	Unknown
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Unknown
• Main level of involvement: Unknown

Involvement

Unknown

Views and reactions

Unknown

Sources

• 09 May 1997: The Public Scholarship, Development, Disability and Maintenance Fund Act (ZJSRS) (SL) (www.pisrs.si)
• 15 January 2008: Financial Operations, Insolvency Proceedings and Compulsory Winding-up Act (ZFPPIPP) (SL) (pisrs.si)
• 03 October 2024: Public Scholarship, Development, Disability and Maintenance Fund of the Republic of Slovenia (webpage) (www.srips-rs.si)