Background information

On 7 July 2021, the Parliament adopted the ninth COVID-19 law (ZIUPGT). It aims to support the economy affected by the pandemic due to confinement measures that prevented companies from operating their economic activity or a specific and severable part of their activity. It has retroactive effects given that companies are able to request support from 1 July 2021 onwards. The measure will support specific sectors by subsidising the pay for annual leave in the amount of €1,024 per worker. According to the Employment Relationships Act (ZDR-1), it is the minimum that employers must pay to workers who are entitled to annual leave.

Content of measure

The measure helps companies from sectors most hit by confinement measures during the pandemic. The state will finance the minimum pay for annual leave in 2021, €1,024 per worker (the equivalent to the monthly minimum wage). The following sectors are eligible:

• Manufacture of beer
• Operation of teleferics, funiculars, ski and cable lifts
• Accommodation
• Food and beverage service activities
• Motion picture projection activities
• Renting and leasing of cars and light motor vehicles
• Renting and leasing of recreational and sports goods
• Renting and leasing of water transport equipment
• Travel agency activities
• Tour operator activities
• Other reservation service and related activities
• Organisation of conventions and trade shows
• Sports and recreation education
• Cultural education
• Specialist medical practice activities
• Performing arts
• Support activities to performing arts
• Operation of arts facilities
• Museums activities
• Botanical and zoological gardens and nature reserves activities
• Activities of casinos
• Operation of sports facilities
• Activities of sport clubs
• Fitness facilities
• Other sports activities
• Activities of amusement parks and theme parks
• Operation of ski hills
• Other amusement and recreation activities

Furthermore, companies must meet the following conditions:

• registered in the Slovenian Business Register before 31 May 2021;
• employ at least one full-time worker;
• Company is not a 'firm in difficulty', as defined in Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 and related documents (excluded are micro and small companies).
• is not a direct or indirect budget user;
• is having a 20% lower income in the comparative period;

The employer is obliged to pay the annual leave in the statutory due period. Requests must be made to the Financial Administration between 1 and 30 September 2021.

Use of measure

The estimated amount for subsidies is €23 million. The Financial Administration will pay subsidies on 20 October 2021. If a company a posteriori realizes that sales revenues have exceeded the threshold, the company must report it to the Financial Administration and return state support.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	Sector specific set of companies	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government	European Funds National funds

Social partners

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

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	No involvement	Consulted
Form	Not applicable	Direct consultation outside a formal body

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

• No involvement
• Main level of involvement: Peak or cross-sectoral level

Involvement

The ninth COVID-19 law was adopted without the Economic and Social Council (ESS) involvement. Trade unions left ESS on 14 May 2021, accusing the government of breaching the rules on tripartite social dialogue and sending laws to the parliament without prior negotiations in ESS. Apart from procedural breaches, tax reform was one of the content-related issues which drove trade unions into conflict with the government. They oppose the introduction of the social security cap and other ‘tax gifts’ on the ground that tax cuts would generate a hole in tax revenues and jeopardize social services. They announced the escalation of social conflicts in the following months.

Views and reactions

Employer organizations proposed a one-time grant for all companies, partially or fully prevented from operating their economic activities due to confinement measures. Their proposal was not accepted. Not accepted were also their proposals to extent temporary layoff scheme (see [Eurofound website, Case SI-2020-11/436] (https://static.eurofound.europa.eu/covid19db/cases/SI-2020-11_436.html)) and a €50 reimbursement of the minimum wage increase (see [Eurofound website, Case SI-2021-1/1781] (https://static.eurofound.europa.eu/covid19db/cases/SI-2021-1_1781.html) until 31 December 2021.

Sectors and occupations

This case is not occupation-specific.

Sources

• 01 July 2021: Representative employer organizations, Press Releas (www.zds.si)
• 07 July 2021: Zakon o interventnih ukrepih za pomoč gospodarstvu in turizmu pri omilitvi posledic epidemije COVID-19 (Act Determining Intervention Measures to Assist Economy and Tourism in Mitigating the Consequences of the COVID-19 Epidemic, ZIUPGT (www.iusinfo.si)