Eurofound's EU PolicyWatch collates information on the responses of government and social partners to the COVID-19 crisis, the war in Ukraine, rising inflation, as well as gathering examples of company practices aimed at mitigating the social and economic impacts.
Factsheet for measure SK-2001-32/2652 – Updated – measures in Slovakia
Country | Slovakia , applies nationwide |
Time period | Open ended, started on 08 August 2001 |
Context | Restructuring Support Instruments |
Type | Legislations or other statutory regulations |
Category |
Employment protection and retention
– Working time flexibility |
Author | Rastislav Bednarik, Daniela Keselova and Miroslava Kordosova (IVPR) and Eurofound |
Measure added | 23 June 2022 (updated 01 December 2022) |
Employers and employees can use three types of contract agreements in order to make employment and the organisation of working time more flexible. There are three types of agreements:
Work performance agreements may be concluded if the amount of work does not exceed 350 hours per calendar year.
There are three types of agreements: work performance agreements; agreements on work activities; agreements on temporary jobs for students.
The work performance agreements must be completed in writing, outlining specified work tasks, remuneration, work period, and the extent of work. An agreement on work activity can be concluded for work and occasional activities of up to 10 hours a week for a definite period.
In terms of agreements on temporary work for students, these may be concluded with a person who holds student status (upper age limit of 26 years) and shall not exceed half the weekly working time on average, which is 20 hours a week. Both agreements can be concluded for 12 months as a maximum.
Unemployed people registered at the labour office may also work on an agreement on work activity and work performance agreement for one employer. However, they may work only 40 days per year and their monthly wage must not be higher than the subsistence minimum amount for a single adult person.
The following updates to this measure have been made after it came into effect.
29 November 2022 |
In 2022 an agreement on work performed outside the employment relationship can also be concluded by a natural person who already has an employment relationship, either with a different employer or with the same employer. In the case of concluding an agreement on work activity, these same rules apply to agreements on the execution of work, or restrictions:
Remuneration for work on the agreement on the execution of work or on the agreement on work activity in 2022. Employees who are employed on the basis of an agreement on the performance of work or a contract on work activities are entitled to remuneration at least in the amount of the minimum wage per hour, which applies to the 1st degree of labour intensity. This means that in 2022, these employees will be paid at least €3,713 per hour of work. Employees working on the basis of an employment agreement, or agreements on the execution of work are not entitled to a minimum wage claim according to the level of work difficulty. Employees who work on the basis of an agreement to perform work or agreements on work activities are entitled to an additional payment for work on Saturdays, Sundays, and nights. They are also entitled to an additional payment for work on a holiday, namely for each hour of work in the amount of the agreed remuneration increased by at least €3.58, or the right to an additional payment for rugged work performance, in the amount of at least €0.72/hour. |
Familiarity with the concept – in contrast to job sharing, work performance agreements, agreements on work activity, and agreements on temporary work for students are popular and well-known forms of employment.
Among the three different types of agreements on work performed outside an employment relationship, agreements on work activity with regular income are the most common type, for instance, accounting for 207,089 contracts in November 2019. This is followed by work performance agreements with regular income. Among all types, contracts with regular income prevail.
Contract agreements on work performed outside an employment relationship allow employers as well as employees to use more flexible forms of employment and organization of working time also in cases of internal restructuring. Via higher flexibility of employment, employees can conclude more agreements with employers and earn additional income.
Advantages for affected workers: agreement contracts offer flexibility for employees who want to work extra hours in addition to their full-time/part-time position. These employees may be motivated by financial gain, professional aspirations or the additional job may be their hobby. Employees who want to work fewer hours can also benefit from greater flexibility since they do not need to coordinate their working time with another person, as is the case in the job-sharing arrangement.
Advantages for participating companies: employers do not need to increase the permanent staff and can hire workers who already have one full-time contract but who are willing to work more hours. This can be helpful in sectors where there is a significant lack of qualified professionals, such as the healthcare sector. After the expiration of agreement contracts, employers do not face issues with the termination of employment relationships. For instance, they are not obliged to pay redundancy pay to leave employees.
The responsible institutions should ensure better control of agreement contracts to prevent their misuse (as a substitution for employment contracts or as a way to get employees to work longer working hours than the standard weekly working time and overtime stipulated by the Labour code).
Although it remains true that agreement contracts may be less flexible than job-sharing arrangements, due to their nature and wide applicability (as opposed to job-sharing, which is for example excluded from civil service employment contracts), they widely replace other flexible forms of employment in Slovakia.
Workers | Businesses | Citizens |
---|---|---|
Employees in standard employment
Other groups of workers |
Applies to all businesses | Does not apply to citizens |
Actors | Funding |
---|---|
National government
|
Employer
|
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
Unknown
Citation
Eurofound (2022), Agreements on work performed outside the employment relationship, measure SK-2001-32/2652 (measures in Slovakia), EU PolicyWatch, Dublin, https://static.eurofound.europa.eu/covid19db/cases/SK-2001-32_2652.html
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