European Foundation
for the Improvement of
Living and Working Conditions

The tripartite EU agency providing knowledge to assist
in the development of better social, employment and
work-related policies

EU PolicyWatch

Database of national-level policy measures

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-2020-17/871 Updated – measures in Slovakia

Wage support for companies

Podpora mzdových výdavkov na zamestnancov - Prvá pomoc Opatrenie 3

Country Slovakia , applies nationwide
Time period Temporary, 21 April 2020 – 31 October 2021
Context COVID-19
Type Legislations or other statutory regulations
Category Employment protection and retention
– Income support for people in employment (e.g., short-time work)
Author Ludovit Cziria (IVPR) and Eurofound
Measure added 31 May 2020 (updated 07 February 2022)

Background information

To minimize the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the citizens, the government closed some facilities and adopted other related measures. These measures caused losses in sales of several firms and their business units. To retain employment in these firms and support self-employers, the government adopted a package of measures called the First aid for employees, employers and self-employers. One of the most important measure in the package is Measure 3.

Content of measure

The measure was adopted in order to maintain employment at the employers who were not closed compulsorily by the state but experienced losses in sales due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Employers and self-employers, who experienced at least 10% losses in sales from 13 to the end of March and 20% in April and in the next months of 2020, can apply to the employment services UPSVaR for a subsidy to replace the wage of employees in two forms:

  • 3A) 80% wage replacement of employees, who can't work due to the obstacle on the side of the employer (maximum €880 per employee).
  • 3B) a fixed sum for each employee based on the rate of sales losses. For instance, the minimum subsidy for April and the next months is €180 (20% - 39.99% losses) and the maximum is €540 for 80% and more losses.

Since 1 October 2020, a modified Measure 3 is available.

Updates

The following updates to this measure have been made after it came into effect.

01 September 2021

Due to the worsening situation in COVID-19 pandemic, in September and October 2021 the measure 3A was implemented countrywide and not by regions according to the COVID automat. The option 3B was not available.

01 July 2021

From 1 July to 31 December 2021, the measure will be again applied by regions according to results of Slovak alert system called COVID automat, which denotes individual regions/districts of the country by colours according to the 7-day incidence of COVID-19 disease and ratio of vaccination (burgundy colour and black means the highest level of threat, red means lower level of threat, orange means alertness level and green means only monitoring level).

The measure 3A will be implemented if the total number of regions/districts denoted by green is not more than 39 (3B is not applied). If it is 40 and more, the measure is not applied.

30 September 2020

Implementation of the measure was finished on 30 September 2020 and was replaced by modified measure SK-2020-40/1628 .

Use of measure

According to the Institute of Social Policy (ISP), the largest financial support to retain employees in the firms affected by the pandemic was provided via Measure 3A and 3B. By 10 June 2020, a subsidy was provided to more than 30,000 subjects and covered almost 588,000 employees and self-employed in March and April. The total amount of provided subsidies was more than €154 million. The average value of the 3A and 3B subsidy increased from €269 and €187 respectively in March to €427 and €324 in April.

In the following months, the subsidies have been decreasing. According to the ISP (data from 30 November), during July - September 2020, via form A and B around 12,100 employers received in average about €260 subsidy per employee. In October, the total number of supported employers significantly decreased to 667 with the average subsidy €337 per employee.

According to the ISP (December 2021), in August 2021 the measure was not applied. In September 2021, the Measure 3A was implemented at 4,353 employers and covered wage replacement of 51,306 employees in the total amount of €17.412 million. The average subsidy per employee was about €340. In October, support concerned 4,615 employers covering 49,767 employees and made in total €16.079 million with about €323 average per employee.

Target groups

Workers Businesses Citizens
Applies to all workers Applies to all businesses Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors Funding
National government
Company / Companies
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 Informed Informed
Form Not applicable Not applicable

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

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

Involvement

According to the peak organisations of employers AZZZ SR, APZ and KOZ SR, social partners were not involved via usual tripartite consultations and neither in cross-sector commenting procedures. Some social partners, e.g. the KOZ SR, tried to be involved and provided comments informally via media or exceptionally through individual consultations with representatives of the respective state administration body. In case of the measure, it was the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family.

Views and reactions

Trade unions as well as organisations of employers supported the measures included in the First aid to employees, employers and self-employers to support them when affected by the consequences of the corona crisis. According to the employers, implementation of the measure was delaying and administratively demanding. The maximum value of the subsidy €880 for an employees´ wages is not sufficient for some employers and the representatives of employers demand its increasing.

Sources

Citation

Eurofound (2020), Wage support for companies, measure SK-2020-17/871 (measures in Slovakia), EU PolicyWatch, Dublin, https://static.eurofound.europa.eu/covid19db/cases/SK-2020-17_871.html

Share

Eurofound publications based on EU PolicyWatch

30 January 2023

 

Measures to lessen the impact of the inflation and energy crisis on citizens

Governments across the EU continue to implement policies to support citizens and businesses in the face of rising food and energy prices caused by the COVID-19 crisis and intensified by the war in Ukraine. This article summarises the policy responses as reported in Eurofound's EU PolicyWatch database from January to September 2022.

Article

12 September 2022

 

First responses to cushion the impact of inflation on citizens

Although the worldwide pandemic situation had already disrupted supply chains and triggered increases in energy and food prices in 2021, the situation deteriorated in 2022 with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Article

12 September 2022

 

Policies to support EU companies affected by the war in Ukraine

This article summarises the first policy responses that governments across the EU have started to implement to support companies affected by the rising prices, and those with commercial ties to Ukraine, Russia or Belarus.

Article

5 July 2022

 

Policies to support refugees from Ukraine

This article summarises the first policy responses of EU Member States, including those of the social partners and other civil society actors, enabling refugees to exercise their rights under the Temporary Protection Directive.

Article

Disclaimer: This information has not been subject to the full Eurofound evaluation, editorial and publication process.