Background information

For the period of the pandemic, some labour regulations, such as rules on working time, break time, and rest periods, ceased to apply to public employees. Public servants were exposed to health hazards and overburdened by demand. The government issued a measure to support public servants during this challenging period.

Content of measure

A public employee can be temporarily assigned to another job without his or her consent or transferred to another employer. In the state of emergency, their superior can require public servants to work up to 20 hours of overtime a week and a maximum of 80 overtime hours a month. Also, some labour regulations, such as rules on working time, breaks, and rest periods stopped applying to public servants. Because of the unique circumstances, the government provided public servants with a bonus of up to 100% of their hourly rate. Measures cover all public employees and are temporary, lasting only from 13 March 2020 to 31 May 2020. The government determines the allocation of bonuses among public organisations, while superiors decide about who gets allowances and in what amount

Use of measure

Measures in the ‘Act Determining the Intervention Measures to Contain the COVID-19 Epidemic and Mitigate its Consequences for Citizens and the Economy’ (ZIUZEOP) cover all public employees and are temporary in nature, lasting only for the time of the epidemic from 13 March to 31 May.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Employees in standard employment Other groups of workers	Does not apply to businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Public support service providers	No special funding required

Social partners

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

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	No involvement	No involvement
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

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

• Unknown
• Main level of involvement: Unknown

Involvement

No involvement.

Views and reactions

In the letter to parliamentary deputies, The Association of Free Trade Unions (ZSSS) urged to cancel Article 35 in the tenth COVID-19 (ZDUPŠOP) law stipulating a temporary suspension of working time limits for public employees. ZSSS claimed that the reasons for the suspension of working time limits (‘tasks connected with COVID-19’) are imprecise. Doubts are reasonable given that the government gave an example of police and security forces to which Article 35 may apply. Then, Article 35 is against the ILO Convention No. 149 (Nursing Personal Convention), which provides equal working conditions to healthcare workers compared to other workers. Moreover, a 60-hour workweek is against the European Social Pillar and the European Committee of Social Rights’ decisions about reasonable working time.

Sources

• 10 April 2020: Zakon o interventnih ukrepih za zajezitev epidemije COVID-19 in omilitev njenih posledic za državljane in gospodarstvo (ZIUZEOP) [Act Determining the Intervention Measures to Contain the COVID-19 Epidemic and Mitigate its Consequences for Citizens and the Economy (www.pisrs.si)
• 16 December 2021: Zveza svobodnih sindikatov Slovenije (The Association of free trade unions of Slovenia, ZSSS), Letter to Parliamentary Deputie (www.zsss.si)
• 29 December 2021: Act on Additional Measures to Stop Spreading and Mitigate, Control, Recover and Eliminate the Consequences of COVID-19 (Zakon o dodatnih ukrepih za preprečevanje širjenja, omilitev, obvladovanje, okrevanje in odpravo posledic COVID-19, ZDUPŠOP), Official Gazette, No. 206/200 (www.pisrs.si)
• 07 November 2022: Act on emergency measures to contain the spread and mitigate the effects of communicable disease COVID-19 in the health sector (Zakon o nujnih ukrepih za zajezitev širjenja in blaženja posledic nalezljive bolezni COVID-19 na področju zdravstva, ZNUNZB (www.pisrs.si)