Background information

According to the Labour Market Regulation Act, support is available for employees whose job is at risk due to a collective or individual dismissal with a notice period. Also, job seekers with a fixed-term contract expiring in three months are entitled to the support of the instrument. Employees register with the ZRSZ three working days after being served with notice of termination of their employment contract. The employer must allow these workers to be absent from work at least one day a week during the notice period in order to receive job-search assistance.

Content of measure

The public employment service provides the job seeker the usual career counselling which includes:

• individual counselling and assistance for creating an employment plan,
• in-depth career counselling including personal competency assessment,
• assistance for career guidance skills development,
• employment incentives,
• promotion of self-employment,
• right and obligation to participate in active labour market policy measures,
• creation of an individual employment plan.

Workers whose employment is at risk are invited to register with the Employment Service of Slovenia within three days after the notification of termination of employment. Employers, on the other hand, notify the Employment Service of Slovenia about the termination of employment contracts via the ‘Employer Portal’. During the notice period, workers have a right to be absent from work for at least one day per week to get job search assistance. For the time of absence, the Employment Service of Slovenia reimburses employee's gross salary to employers. The programme is funded by national and European funds

Use of measure

The Ministry of Labour has announced that in the new financial period of 2021–2027, there will be a special focus on programmes aimed at retaining jobs that are threatened by technological change and other labour market effects. These programmes are considered important for early activation of at-risk workers who may be in danger of losing their jobs (Ministry for Labour, Annual Report on State Labour Market Measures for 2023, p. 65-66).

In 2023, the Employment Service of Slovenia organized a job fair for workers facing redundancies at Laško Union Brewery. The job fair was attended by eight employers. According to the Ministry for Labour, this initiative is a good example of preventing at-risk workers from transitioning into unemployment (Ministry for Labour, Annual Report on State Labour Market Measures for 2023, p. 14).

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Employees in standard employment	Applies to all businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Public employment service	European Funds 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

• 12 October 2010: Labour Market Regulation Act (Zakon o urejanju trga dela, ZUTD) (pisrs.si)
• 15 November 2018: Eurofound (2018), Public and social partner based support for redundan (www.eurofound.europa.eu)
• 30 June 2023: Ministry for Labour, Annual Report on State Labour Market Measures for 2022 (www.gov.si)
• 12 July 2024: Ministry for Labour, Annual Report on State Labour Market Measures for 2023 (vrs-3.vlada.si)
• 03 October 2024: Ministry for Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Active Employment Policy (www.gov.si)