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Due to the large amount of changes happening during a short span of time, we decided to discontinue updating this page. If to have any questions, you can of course contact us anytime and we will gladly answer.
ORGANIZATION OF RELIGIOUS EVENTS, WEDDINGS, FUNERALS AND PUBLIC MEETINGS HAS BEEN ALLOWED – decision of the Public Health Authority of the Slovak Republic No. OLP/3796/2020, effective as of May 6, 2020 in connection with decision No. OLP/3881/2020, effective as of May 7, 2020.
ACTIVATION OF THE SECOND AND THIRD PHASE OF THE SEQUENTIAL OPENING OF OPERATIONS, CHANGE IN SENIORS’ DEDICATED SHOPPING HOURS – decision of the Public Health Authority of the Slovak Republic No. OLP/3796/2020, effective as of May 6, 2020.
POSTPONEMENT OF ENFORCEMENT PROCEEDING AGAINST NATURAL PERSONS, PROTECTION OF TENANTS – Act No. 92/2020 Coll. amending Act No. 62/2020 Coll. on extraordinary measures concerning the COVID-19 disease and in the judiciary, as amended, effective as of April 25,2020.
ABOLITION OF OBLIGATIONS TO PAY CERTAIN SOCIAL INSURANCE CHARGES – Act No. 95/2020 Coll. amending Act No. 461/2003 Coll. on social insurance as amended, effective as of April 25, 2020.
POSTPONEMENT OF DUE DATES WITH RESPECT TO ADVANCE INCOME TAX PAYMENTS, DEDUCTIBLE ACCUMULATED LOSSES – Act No. 96/2020 Coll. amending Act No. 67/2020 Coll. on extraordinary measures in the financial realm concerning the COVID-19 disease (as amended by Act No. 75/2020 Coll.), as amended, effective as of April 25, 2020.
CONTRIBUTIONS FOR SELF-EMPLOYED INDIVIDUALS AND NATURAL PERSONS WHO ARE SOLE SHAREHOLDERS OF LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANIES WITHOUT ANY INCOME – notice about the option to apply for state contributions, effective as of April 23, 2020
CONTRIBUTIONS FOR EMPLYOERS AND SELF-EMPLOYED INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE EMPLOYERS (“KURZARBEIT”) – notice about the option to apply for state contributions within the project “FIRST AID”, effective as of April 17, 2020
CONTRIBUTIONS FOR SELF-EMPLOYED INDIVIDUALS WITH SIGNIFICANT SALES DECLINES – notice about the option to apply for state contributions within the project “FIRST AID”, effective as of April 8, 2020
CONTRIBUTIONS FOR EMPLOYERS, IN CASE THEIR COMMERCIAL OPERATIONS HAVE BEEN ENTIRELY CLOSED DOWN – notice about the option to apply for state contributions within the project “FIRST AID”, effective as of April 6, 2020
The Government’s package „First aid for employees, firms and the self-employed“ includes the following measures towards the protection of the Slovak economy.The implementation of these measures has necessitated amendments to multiple acts, and further changes to legislation are expected in the near future.
Firstly, please note that based on information published on the Ministry of Labour, Social and Family Matters’ website, the contributions provided to freelancers will not be subject to income tax, to be paid based on the tax return for the year 2020.This statement is expected to be adopted in a form of valid and effective act during the coming days.
ADOPTED MEASURE: On March 31, 2020, the Government adopted its Resolution No. 178 governing the conditions of applying for state contributions in the amount of 80 % of employees’ average earnings. As of April 6, 2020, employers who have been forced to close their operations based on measures of public health authorities, may request state aid towards the payment of employees’ wages, up to 80% of each employee’s gross earnings (contributions Measure No. 1).
Who can apply for the contribution and when? Employers, including self-employed individuals (who are employers), in case their commercial operations have been entirely closed down by measures of the Public Health Office, causing obstacles to the performance of work by employees on the employer’s part, where the employer has an obligation to pay wage compensations to employees.
Who is not eligible to apply for the contribution? Employers that are public administration institutions (legal entities registered in the Statistics Registry of Organisations) and limited liability companies (hereinafter referred to as “LTD”) without employees.
Since when can you apply for the contribution? Since April 6, 2020.
Amount of the contribution? The contribution shall be provided in amount of 80 % of affected employees’ average earnings, up to the amount of EUR 1.100,00 per employee (Up to the amount of EUR 880,00 per employee, where their employer provided to them wage compensations under 80 % of average earnings due to an agreement with employee representatives).
If the employer provides to an employee wage compensations in an amount under EUR 1.100,00, the contribution will only be provided in the amount which was actually provided to the employee.
For which period(s) will the contribution be provided? As of March 13, 2020, when certain employers’ commercial operations were entirely closed down, to the end of mandatory closure.
To be eligible for this contribution the following conditions must be met:
As of July 15, 2020, employers – kindergartens who have been forced to close their operations based on measures of public health authorities and who did not terminate the corresponding employment relationship(s) during the COVID-19 state of emergency, may request state aid towards the payment of employees’ wages under the following conditions (contributions for kindergartens).
Who is eligible to apply for the contribution? Employers:
a) kindergartens with legal personality, or
b) founders of kindergartens without legal personality,
if they do not terminate any corresponding employment relationship(s) even when their operations are closed or their activity is discontinued due to measures of the Public Health Office.
The following nursery schools are eligible to ask for the contribution:
The primary condition is that the kindergarten must be classified within the Network of Schools and School Facilities of the Slovak Republic.
Who is not eligible to apply for the contribution: Entities whose:
Amount of the contribution? The contribution shall be provided in the amount of 80 % of affected employees’ gross earnings, up to the amount of EUR 1.100,00 per employee for one month.
For which period(s) will the contribution be provided? As of March 13, 2020, when certain employers’ commercial operations were entirely closed down, to June 30, 2020 at the latest.
To be eligible for this contribution the following conditions must be met:
Where or to whom is an application for the contribution to be addressed? The application must be submitted electronically via the Central Public Administration Portal “slovensko.sk” with a qualified electronic signature to the electronic box of the employment office (úrad práce) located where the employment relationships shall be maintained. The application includes a statement concerning the number and salaries of relevant employees.
Firstly, we would like to note that based on information published on the Ministry of Labour, Social and Family Matters’ website, the contributions provided to freelancers will not be subject to income tax, to be paid based on the tax return for the year 2020. This statement is expected to be adopted in a form of valid and effective act during the coming days.
The state contribution provided to self-employed individuals is not considered income to be included into the freelancer’s sales for the purposes of calculating his/her sales decline.
ADOPTED MEASURE: Due to the information published on the website of the Ministry of Labour, Social and Family Matters as of April 8, 2020, there is an option for (Who can apply?):
- the self-employed individuals
- who discontinued or reduced their activity due to measures of the Public Health Office, or
- if their sales declined due to the COVID-19 pandemic by at least 20 % (at least 10 % in March).
- to apply for a state contribution in amounts depending on the extent of the decline in their sales. (contributions Measure No. 2).
As per a directive of the Ministry of Labour, Social and Family Matters published on its website, a specification of self-employed individuals eligible to ask for this contribution has been adopted. The following self-employed individuals are eligible, established and conducting their business activities under:
Act No. 455/1991 Coll. the Trade Act (most businesses)
As stated above, service providers in the free professions and liberal arts such as actors, choreographers, dancers, musicians, journalists, sculptors, sportsmen, interpreters, architects, private doctors, surveyorspersonal assistants of persons with health difficulties, etc. will be eligible to apply for these contributions.
Who is not eligible to apply for the contribution? Limited liability companies (hereinafter referred to as “LTD”) without employees.
To be eligible for this contribution the following conditions must be met:
For which period shall be the contribution provided? Since March 13, 2020 until the end of mandatory closures of commercial operations.
The amount of the contribution?
The specific amount of this contribution will be in the amounts as follows:
- if sales declined by at least 20 %, EUR 180.00 per self-employed individual,
- if sales declined by at least 40 %, EUR 300.00 per self-employed individual,
- if sales declined by at least 60 %, EUR 420.00 per self-employed individual,
- if sales declined by 80 % or more, EUR 540.00 per self-employed individual.
The amount of the contribution for March 2020 will be in the amounts as follows:
- if sales declined less than 10%, EUR 00,00 per self-employed individual,
- if sales declined by at least 10%, EUR 90,00 per self-employed individual,
- if sales declined by at least 20%, EUR 150,00 per self-employed individual,
- if sales declined by at least 30%, EUR 210,00 per self-employed individual,
- if sales declined by at least 40%, EUR 270,00 per self-employed individual.
How to determine the sales decline? Several methods may be used:
Where or to whom may the self-employed address their applications for the contribution? To an employment office located where their official seat of business is registered, by electronic means. The application includes a written declaration that the conditions for the contribution are met, and a statement about how the sales declined etc.
As of April 17, 2020, employers impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic can apply for a state contribution in amounts according to one of 2 options also known as "KURZARBEIT" (contributions Measure No. 3), which will be provided pursuant to conditions described below.
Who can apply for the contribution?
Employers who will keep the corresponding employment relationship(s) in effect during the COVID-19 state of emergency, despite the closure or reduction of their commercial operations.
The distinguishing factor between Measure No. 1 and No. 3 is that the commercial operations of these employers (Measure No. 3) have not been entirely closed down or restricted by measures of the Public Health Office, but they are impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in a general sense.
Who is not eligible to apply for the contribution? Employers that are public administration institutions (legal entities registered in the Statistics Registry of Organisations) and limited liability companies (hereinafter referred to as “LTD”) without employees.
Amount of the contribution?
There are 2 options for these employers, and the one they choose will be applicable to them during the whole period of the contribution grant:
The amount of the contribution will be limited:
If the employer provides to an employee wage compensations in an amount under EUR 800,00, the contribution can only be provided in the amount which was actually provided to the employee.
To be eligible for the contribution, the following conditions must be met:
The contribution can be provided under the same conditions as the Measure No. 1, but certain additional special conditions must be met:
a) the employee is not drawing paid leave,
b) if the employer wants to draw these contributions (i.e. contributions depending on the extent of the decline in its sales due to the COVID-19 pandemic), the relevant employee may not be affected by obstacles to work on part of the employee and may not be drawing paid leave with respect to more than 50 % of his/her monthly distribution of working hours.
Since April 23, 2020 it is possible to apply for the contribution Measure No. 4 which is meant to help certain subjects who were not included in and eligible for state aid earlier.
Who is eligible to apply for this contribution?
Persons who do not have any income as of March 13, 2020 (including old-age pensions, early old-age pensions, disability pensions, partial disability pensions, state pensions) and who are:
Self-employed individuals are eligible to the contribution, if
Sole shareholders of LTDs are eligible for the contribution, if
The amount of the contribution?
The period during which contributions under Measures No. 3 and 4 shall be provided and the office, where an application for those contributions must be addressed, are the same as for the contributions under Measures No. 1 and 2. The main distinguishing factor between the application for contributions Measure No. 4 and the others is that this application does not include any company records/reports, only a written declaration that the conditions for the contribution are met.
In addition to selected eligible applicants stated above, there is an option for natural persons who do not perform any gainful activity due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but who worked before the crisis situation started, to ask for state support also known as the SOS GRANT.
Applicants for the SOS GRANT may not simultaneously apply for one of the contributions stated above (contribution Measures No. 1, 2, 3 or 4).
To be eligible for this contribution, the following conditions must be met:
- has all financial relations with the state settled,
- is not a subject of enforcement proceedings.
The applicant is obligated to communicate every change in the conditions stated above to the Ministry of Labour, Social and Family Matters, up to the end of the calendar month in which the change has settled. In May 2020, the applier is obligated to announce any change up to May 20, 2020, otherwise it is assumed that the applicant remains eligible to this grant.
The amount of the grant?
The grant will be provided for every month in which the conditions for the grant are met for at least 15 days (in March the conditions must be met at least for 10 days since March 12, 2020).
Where must an application for the grant be addressed?
The application must be addressed directly to the Ministry of Labour, Social and Family Matters. The application includes a declaration that the conditions for the grant are met. Approval or non-approval of the application will not be communicated to the applicants directly, but will be published on the website www.employment.sk.[/accordion_content]
ADOPTED MEASURE: Financial assistance may be sought by small and medium enterprises, provided by state institutions, as well as private banks based on state loans, mainly in the form of incentivized loans to keep the employees of those enterprises employed, as provided by two state banks: Exportno-importná banka SR (EXIMBANKA SR) and Slovenská záručná a rozvojová, a.s.
The state’s financial relief takes the form of:
a) Guarantees for provided loans – the Ministry of Finance will take up guarantees over and meet the liabilities of small or medium enterprises resulting from these bank loans, if those enterprises are unable to fulfil their obligations on their own;
b) Bonuses concerning interest if the debtors:
The Ministry of Finance specifies the conditions which must be met to provide subsidized bank loans to small and medium enterprises in specific agreements concluded with relevant banks.
These bank loans are intended for small and medium enterprises to support their operations and their employment rate, which has been affected by the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, and are known as:
Who is eligible to apply for these loans?
To be eligible to ask for the Loan No. 2, the enterprise must include at least some export activities in its business portfolio.
The purpose of the loans:
The maximum maturity period of these bank loans is 3 years, whereas a deferral of instalment due dates will apply over the first year.
Advantages of these loans:
The maximum total amount of such a loan provided to one enterprise is in the amount of 50% of its cumulative sales in the year 2019, whereas the maximum cap of the Loan No. 1 is EUR 350,000.00 and the minimum amount is EUR 10,000.00, and the Loan No. 2 is capped at EUR 500,000.00, with a minimum amount of EUR 100,000.00.
Bonuses (reductions) concerning interest may be provided if the enterprises:
- keep their employment rates at a level stated in the loan agreement,
- do not get into arrears with respect to social security and health insurance charges.
A new legal regulation has been adopted with effect as of April 9, 2020 which governs a further measure of financial assistance, available to citizens, self-employed individuals and small and medium enterprises in the form of an option to defer maturity deadlines on instalments of loans as opposed to the pre-agreed payment deadlines. The option to apply for the postponement of payment deadlines may be applied at any time during the pandemic. Banks will provide the option to defer due dates by up to 9 months; leasing companies and non-bank credit providers will allow for up to 3 months with the option to apply for 3 more months after the first postponement.
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SICKNESS BENEFITS
An employee to whom quarantine measures or isolation have been ordered, during the period of the state of emergency due to the COVID-19 outbreak, is acknowledged as temporarily incapacitated due to mandatory quarantine measures, and is entitled to sickness benefits as of the first day of his/her temporary incapacity, in an amount of 55 % of his/her daily assessment base, whereas these benefits will be paid by the Social Insurance Institution as of the first day.
Insured self-employed individuals and other insured persons enjoying voluntary health insurance, who were quarantined during this period, are likewise entitled to the same amount of sickness benefits.
In such situations, each employee is obligated to communicate to their employer that he/she is entitled to any sickness benefits.
Please note that this type of quarantine may only be ordered by the Public Health Office of the Slovak Republic or by its Regional Public Health Departments and the measure stated above is valid only for persons who are considered temporarily incapacitated due to such quarantine measures as of March 27, 2020 at the earliest (if you are temporarily incapacitated starting before this day, the Social Insurance Institution will only pay sickness benefits in an amount of 55 % of your daily assessment base as of the 11th day).
How to apply for sickness benefits? (as per information published on the website of the Social Insurance Institution):
NURSING BENEFITS
During the COVID-19 state of emergency, persons entitled to nursing benefits will receive such benefits as of the first day of a need on their part of full-time and personal attendance/care with respect to certain relatives, i.e. if the entitled person:
a) personally attends full-time to a child younger than 16 years of age, which based on its health conditions and pursuant to a medical confirmation requires attendance, or
b) cares for a child younger than 11 years of age (or a child younger than 18 years of age with long-term health difficulties), if:
d) has mandatory health insurance and personally cares full-time for a child, where, during the COVID-19 state of emergency, the month elapsed in which:
The persons stated above are also entitled to these nursing benefits if the conditions above were fulfilled before March 27, 2020 and still last.
The amount of nursing benefit? These nursing benefits are paid by the Social Insurance Institution in an amount of 55 % of the daily assessment base, and only one caretaker is entitled to these nursing benefits for the same period of time if more persons care/attend to one of the above dependents.
How to apply for the nursing benefit? (as per information published on the website of the Social Insurance Institution):
ADOPTED MEASURE: A new amendment to relevant legislation has been adopted with effect as of April 6, 2020:
if an employer’s or self-employed individual’s sales declined by at least 40 % due to the COVID-19 situation, the employer or health-insured self-employed person with social insurance are obligated to pay social security and health insurance charges with deferred deadlines, instead of the standard payment deadlines.
This measure is also applicable if the relevant employer or self-employed individual loses its status as an employer or the self-employed individual before those longer due dates.
Contributions to old-age pension savings and supplementary pension savings systems are also due in the abovementioned payment deadlines set for social security levies.
Relevant due dates have been set as separate, different deadlines as for health insurance charges and social security charges respectively:
Based on the Government Resolution No. 76/2020 Coll., effective as of April 10, 2020, several methods may be used to determine the sales declines:
If a business opts to defer payment of social security and health insurance charges to a later deadline (July 31, 2020), instead of the standard payment deadlines, this choice must be communicated to the Social Insurance Institution and to the relevant health insurance institution(s) by means of an application published on their websites, indicating the amount of relevant decline in sales. The application is to be sent to those institutions by post or e-mail.
A further deferral of the payment deadline with respect to health insurance and social security charges may yet be announced by the government, to a later date than stated above.
Under the bill adopted by the Parliament, employers and self-employed individuals with social insurance are not obligated to pay social security insurance payments, contributions to old-age pension savings and to supplementary pension savings for the month of April 2020 (the relevant period may be prolonged by the Government), if they were affected by the mandatory closures ordered by the Public Health Office for at least for 15 days in April 2020. To be relieved of those payments, they have to submit a written declaration to the Social Insurance Institution that the conditions for this relief are met in their case, up to the 8th day of the month following the relevant month (i.e. no later than May 8, 2020). Please note that this relief does not affect the duty to pay health insurance charges.[/accordion_content]
The act effective as of April 25, 2020 amends the rules of advance income tax payments.The amendment will, for the first time, apply with respect to payments with due dates at the end of May 2020.
This measure allows relevant taxpayers to postpone the due dates with respect to advance income tax payments to later dates if their sales declined by at least 40 % due to the COVID-19 pandemic, compared with their sales in the same month within the previous year. The condition is that these due dates occur during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic.
If the taxpayer is obligated to pay those advance payments quarterly, they must compare sales within the relevant quarter with the sales of the same quarter in the previous year.
Therefore, if a taxpayer should wish to defer payment of advance payments for May 2020 (due date: May 31, 2020), their sales in April 2020 must be compared with the sales in April 2019. In case of quarterly payments for the quarter May, June, July 2020 (due date: July 31, 2020), the taxpayer’s sales in February, March and April 2020 must be compared with their sales in February, March, April 2019.
The obligation to pay advance income tax payments must not be fulfilled immediately after the COVID-19 pandemic is over, but up until the next deadline to file a tax return.
Taxpayers wishing to defer such payments must file a written declaration to the tax authority that the conditions stated above are met, at least 15 days before the due date of the relevant advance income tax payment.[/accordion_content]
The act effective as of April 25, 2020 governs an option for business entities to include their accumulated loss from the period from the year 2015 to the year 2018 in their tax return as a deductible item.
The maximum amount of such deductible loss is limited to EUR 1 million.
If the taxpayers have losses from more years, first they must take the oldest loss into account, so if they have losses from 2015, 2016, 2017, they will be required to apply them as deductibles in that order.
The accumulated loss can only be included in the tax return concerning the annual period between January 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020.[/accordion_content]
The act governing the temporary protection will be effective as of May 12, 2020, and since this day the business entities may apply for that protection.
Who is eligible for the temporary protection?
Business entities (legal persons or freelancers):
Who is not eligible for the temporary protection?
Banks, institutions of electronic money, insurance companies, reinsurance companies, health insurance companies, asset management companies, securities traders and stock exchanges, depositories of securities, collective investment entities, payment services operators, pensions management companies, additional private pensions investment managers, payment institutions and creditors with a business license to provide consumer loans without restrictions.
What does the temporary protection entail?
How to apply for the temporary protection?
Any business entity may apply for the temporary protection at a relevant court by means of a special form published on the website of the Ministry of Justice. Legal entities will be required to file the application by electronic means with an authorized Qualified electronic signature; freelancers will also be able to file an application personally or by mail, but in this case they will be required to attach a copy of their identity card to the application.
The relevant court competent to handle such applications is the general court corresponding to the official seat of business of the applicant, as follows:
- the District Court in Trnava for the districts of the Regional Court in Trnava and in Bratislava,
- the District Court in Žilina for the districts of the Regional Court in Žilina and in Trenčín,
- the District Court in Banská Bystrica for the districts of the Regional Court in Banská Bystrica and in Nitra,
- the District Court in Prešov for the districts of the Regional Court in Prešov and in Košice.
Please note that any applications sent to the incorrect court will not be taken into consideration (will be summarily dismissed); additionally, the application may not be taken back. However, the option remains to apply for cancellation of the temporary protection after the temporary protection had been provided to the business entity, without the need to state reasons.
What must the application contain?
General information:
Specific information stated in the application in a form of declarations that the applicant:
How will the court decide on a grant of the temporary protection?
The relevant court will issue a confirmation on the providing of temporary protection to the applicant, and will publish information about the fact that the temporary protection has been provided, included the identification of the business entity in question, in the Commercial Bulletin. The temporary protection will be effective as of the day following the day when the information was published in the Commercial Bulletin.
After that the business entity will be considered a “business entity under temporary protection”.
How and when does the temporary protection expire?
Once the temporary protection is cancelled regardless of the reasons, there is no option to ask for this kind of protection again.
The court will publish information confirming the cancellation in the Commercial Bulletin, including the identification of the business entity. The cancellation will be effective as of the day following the day when the information was published in the Commercial Bulletin.
How can the business entity ask for cancellation?
A cancellation application must be filed the same way as the application for a grant of the protection, i.e. by means of a specific form published on the website of the Ministry of Justice.
How and when will the courts decide on a cancellation?
If the conditions for providing temporary protection were not met at the time of application or cease to be fulfilled, or if the business entity in question breached the obligations resulting from the temporary protection, the relevant court will issue a decision about the cancellation of the temporary protection:
Anyone will be entitled to file a motion to cancel another entity’s temporary protection. Such a qualified motion must be filed to the competent court in the form of a proposal containing the general formalities and information required of court filings, and the description of the reasons any of the conditions for the protection were not met, or are no longer met.
In regard to the recent developments of the COVID-19 pandemic and the high probability of the disease affecting a large portion of the population in the near future, the Slovak Republic has adopted several emergency measures to ensure that as many as possible avoid contact with others (social distancing) and possible infection.
- By the Government Resolution No. 111 dated March 11, 2020, a general state of emergency was declared on the territory of the Slovak Republic.
- By the Government Resolution No. 114 dated March 15, 2020 extended the emergency state with respect to the field of healthcare as of March 16, 2020.
- By the Measure of the Public Health Office No. OLP/2595/2020 as of March 16, 2020 and by the Measure of the Public Health Office No. OLP/2777/2020 as of March 31, 2020 many retail facilities and commercial operations providing services have been closed.
- By the Measure of the Public Health Office No. OLP/2640/2020 effective as of March 18, 2020, quarantine measures were adopted.
In consequence of these measures adopted by the state, significant doubts persist among employers and employees regarding the current and near-future state of matters during the COVID-19 situation. Therefore, we would like to provide as much information as possible to contribute towards dispersing the current uncertainty.
There is no doubt that Slovak employers are in very tight corner and many tough questions still need resolving. Moreover, some of the emergency legislation referenced above, especially with respect to government stimuli, has yet to be finally adopted. That is why we remain at your disposal to assist you with resolving any situation you may find yourself in, in these uncertain times.
One of the most effective measures which can be used by employers to protect their employees from infection by COVID-19 and to enable them to work even if they could not perform their work at the workplace under normal circumstances, is to simply allow them to work at home or at another place different from the usual place of performance of their work. This form of performance of work is called “home office” and isn’t specifically governed by the Labour Code.
Obviously, not every employer will be able to allow its employees to work at a “home office”, as not every type of work can be performed at home - that is why it is necessary to assess the suitability of such an arrangement individually.
According to the last amendment of the Labour Code adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic,
a) an employer is entitled to unilaterally order an employee to perform work at a “home office”, if the agreed type of work can be performed at home,
b) an employee is entitled to perform work at a “home office”, if the agreed type of work can be performed at home and there are no substantive operational reasons preventing the employee from working at home.
If an employee refuses to work from home, the employer remains entitled to use certain other measures based on the provisions of the Labour Code governing obstacles to the due performance work on part of the employer.
Please note that with respect to “home office”, we recommend employers to modify their employees’ rights and obligations, the health and safety measures, as well as personal data protection in internal policies and regulations.
The next option for an employer under the Labour Code is to order a collective drawing of paid vacation on part of employees for operational reasons. This measure must first be negotiated with employee representatives and only in case no employee representatives operate in the employer’s enterprise, may an employer act independently. This measure may not be imposed for a period exceeding 2 weeks.
The employer wishing to adopt this measure is obligated to announce the mandatory drawing of paid leave to the affected employees at least 7 days in advance. The mandatory drawing of paid leave transferred from previous years must instead be announced to the employees at least 2 days in advance. With an employee’s individual consent, this notification period may be reduced and the employee may start drawing their paid leave earlier.
As this kind of paid leave is for all intents and purposes equivalent to standard paid vacation, the employees in question will be entitled to wage compensations in the amount of (100% of) their average earnings.
We would like to note a recent change in legal regulations concerning the scope of paid vacation of employees who, at the end of the relevant calendar year, will have reached at least 33 years of age or are continuously caring for a child - such employees now have a claim to paid leave in the total amount of at least 5 weeks.[/accordion_content]
In connection with the spreading of COVID-19 employers have the option to reconsider the distribution of working hours and potential adjustments thereto, in which case this measure must be announced to each affected employee by the employer at least two days in advance, if a shorter period of advance notice has not been mutually agreed, and with effects lasting at least one week.
In the context of adjustment of the set weekly working time, an employer does, however, also have the obligation to allow an employee, if possible under the circumstances of the employer’s operation, an appropriate adjustment of the agreed weekly working time at the employee’s request, for health reasons or for other serious reasons on part of the employee, or to agree on such adjustments with the employee under the same conditions as set forth by the relevant employment agreement.[/accordion_content]
Exceptionally, in case it is necessary according to a medical opinion or a decision of public health authorities, an employee may be required to perform work of a different type or in a different place than that agreed in their employment agreement, and in these cases an employer has an obligation to transfer an employee to a different posting.
If the objective of this compulsory transfer cannot be achieved by transferring the employee within the type of work as per the employment agreement, the employer may transfer the employee, upon mutual agreement, to a different type of work. The transfer to different postings, the reasons behind it and the duration of the transfer must be negotiated with any employee representatives in advance, and if the transfer of an employee should result in amendments to relevant employment agreements, the employer is obliged to provide the employee(s) with a written notification of the reasons for the transfer and the duration thereof.
If an employee is transferred to other work for reasons of quarantine measures imposed on him/her pursuant to special regulations, and if after the transfer he/she attains, proportionate of the number of hours worked, wages lower than those earned for the performance of work pursuant to the original employment agreement, he/she shall be entitled to a supplementary compensation at least to match the level of the average earnings he/she received before the transfer.
The costs of the supplementary pay due to quarantine measures shall be reimbursed to the employer by the public health authority which ordered the measures in question, and any contributions to the pension and health insurance funds (mandatory charges) must also be paid on the supplementary compensations. Please note that the employer is obligated to claim repayment from the public health authority by means of a written application within 30 days as of the termination of quarantine measures.[/accordion_content]
The Labour Code governs, under Section 141 par. 1, certain important personal obstacles to the due performance of work on the employee’s part, which may include the currently very notable situations where an employee:
a) suffers from temporary incapacity to perform work due to disease or accident,
b) is in quarantine or isolation,
c) personally attends (full-time) to an ill family member pursuant to special regulations,
d) personally cares (full-time) for another person pursuant to special regulations,
e) personally cares for a child younger than 10 years of age and must undergo an examination or treatment in a medical facility, which infeasible to arrange outside of the employee’s working hours.
In the above cases, an employer is obligated to excuse the absence of an employee at work for periods of the employee’s temporary incapacity to work, regardless of the actual duration of these obstacles. During such periods, an employee is normally not entitled to wage compensations pursuant to the Labour Code. An employee who cannot perform work due to abovementioned material personal obstacles (see letters b) through d) above) is considered temporarily incapacitated for working purposes.
Please note, however, that under Act No. 462/2003 Coll. on income compensations for employees’ temporary incapacity, as amended, the employer provides income compensation for any employee’s temporary incapacity to work in the amount of:
a) 25 % of the daily assessment base of the employee as of the first day until the third day of temporary incapacity,
b) 55 % of the daily assessment base of the employee as of the fourth day until the tenth day of temporary incapacity.
Starting on the eleventh day of temporary incapacity to work, the employee is entitled to sickness benefits under the provisions of Act No. 461/2003 Coll. on Social Insurance (Social Security Act), which are paid by the Social Insurance Institution in the amount of 55 % of the employee’s daily assessment base (a figure based on and proportional to the employee’s average earnings).
QUARANTINE
Quarantine may be ordered to a person only by the Public Health Office of the Slovak Republic or by its Regional Public Health Departments. An employee to whom quarantine measures or isolation have been ordered, is entitled to sickness benefits and is considered temporarily incapacitated for working purposes, whereas this fact must be communicated to the employer by the employee and duly proven, for example by means of the relevant decision, an official confirmation of the employee’s temporary incapacity to work, or medical statement.
An employee quarantined during the period of the state of emergency due to the COVID-19 outbreak is acknowledged as temporarily incapacitated due to mandatory quarantine measures, and is entitled to sickness benefits as of the first day of his/her temporary incapacity, in an amount of 55 % of his/her daily assessment base, whereas these benefits will be paid by the Social Insurance Institution as of the first day.
NURSING BENEFITS
An employee is entitled to nursing benefits if he/she:
a) personally attends to an ill family member full-time, or
b) cares for a child younger than 11 years of age (or a child younger than 18 years of age with long-term health difficulties), if
The employee is obligated to communicate to the employer that he/she is entitled to any nursing benefits.
During the COVID-19 state of emergency, employees are entitled to nursing benefits as of the first day of a need on the employee’s part of full-time and personal attendance/care with respect to certain relatives, i.e. if the employee:
a) personally attends full-time to a child younger than 16 years of age, which based on its health conditions and pursuant to a medical confirmation requires attendance, or
b) has fulfilled conditions for a nursing benefit (except the cases when the employee personally attends to an ill family member full-time), or
c) cares for a relative in the direct line, sibling, spouse, or spouse’s parent(s), if the social service facility normally providing intermittent social services or full
accommodation to such dependents is closed by a decision of competent authorities, or in which quarantine measures have been ordered.
These nursing benefits are paid by the Social Insurance Institution in an amount of 55 % of the daily assessment base of the employee.[/accordion_content]
An employer may provide to its employee(s) additional leave with or without wage compensations in the following cases, upon an agreement with the employee(s):
a) for reasons other than those stated in the Labour Code, or upon request by the employee(s) concerned, with or without wage compensations,
b) always with wage compensations if the employee(s) undertake to perform additional work as a compensation.
”Obstacles to work on the employer’s part” can be described as each situation where an employee is unable to work due to the objective temporary inability of the employer to assign tasks, based on which the employee cannot perform the agreed type of work.
While such obstacles persist and prevent the employer from assigning work to any of its employees, the employer may provide to such employees paid leave from work with wage compensations in the amount of 80% of the employee’s average earnings, at least in the amount of the minimum wage. This option is not applicable for employees subject to mandatory economic mobilisation during the state of emergency and to whom a duty to remain at work was imposed (physicians, nurses etc.).
With respect to COVID-19 such obstacles can be caused by mandatory closing of retail and commercial operations, where the employers and employees have not agreed on any of the options stated above (to a sufficient extent). Especially in case an employee disagrees with the option to draw paid leave, or where an employee does not meet the conditions to draw paid leave, or where the employee is entirely unable to work under “home office” arrangements, etc.
An employer may enter into an agreement with employee representatives that the current situation is to be considered a substantive operational reason preventing the employer from assigning work to relevant employees, based on which the standard 100% wage compensations due to obstacles on the employer’s part may be reduced to (a minimum of) 60 % of average earnings.
Important note: If there are no employee representatives operating at the employer’s enterprise, this process may not be applied.
The contributions to the old-age pension savings and to supplementary pension savings systems are also due in abovementioned payment deadlines set for social security levies.
Please note that the postponed payment terms of abovementioned charges do not refer to payments that the employer is required to pay on behalf of employees (the deferral of payment deadlines only concerns the employer’s own contributions).
Employers are also not obligated to pay social security insurance payments for the month of April 2020 (the relevant period may be prolonged by the Government), if they were affected by the mandatory closures ordered by the Public Health Office for at least for 15 days in April 2020. To be relieved of those payments, they must submit a written declaration to the Social Insurance Institution that the conditions for this relief are met in their case, up to the 8th day of the month following the relevant month (for the month April 2020, it is required to submit a written declaration up to May 18, 2020 instead). Please note that this relief does not affect the duty to pay social security insurance payments on behalf of employees and to pay health insurance charges.[/accordion_content]
To be eligible for this contribution the conditions specified in section „FIRST AID FOR EMPLOYEES, FIRMS AND THE SELF-EMPLOYED“ in connection with COVID-19 - CONTRIBUTION IN AMOUNT OF 80 % OF EMPLOYEES’ WAGES, must be met:
Employers not directly affected by mandatory closures, but impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic can apply for a state contribution in amounts according to one of 2 options, also known as “KURZARBEIT”as follows:
- a contribution in the amount of 80 % of affected employees’ average earnings, up to the amount of EUR 880,00 per employee, where the employees are unable to work due to the objective temporary inability of the employer to assign tasks,
- a contribution in the amount depending on the extent of the decline in the employer’s sales due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as follows:
More information about conditions, which must be met to be eligible to apply for the contributions described above, please, is available in section „FIRST AID FOR EMPLOYEES, FIRMS AND THE SELF-EMPLOYED“ in connection with COVID-19 - CONTRIBUTIONS FOR OTHER EMPLOYERS (“KURZARBEIT”) AND THE SELF-EMPLOYED.
First, we would like to note employers’ liability regarding the health and safety of their employees at work. In this context, first of all, every employer has a general prevention obligation, i.e. an obligation to assess the risks and dangers facing their employees and upon such assessment, to adopt measures necessary towards securing the safety and health protection at the workplace.
If an employer fails to fulfil its duties as stated above, i.e. fails to adopt necessary measures to secure the safety and protection of its employees in work, such a breach of the employer’s legal duties counts among the more serious violations of labour regulations.
Under the Labour Code, the corresponding obligation for employees to mind their health and safety and the health and safety of persons affected by their activities exists.
In accordance with the above it is recommended to all entities within labour-law relations to try to solve the current situation primarily by an agreement between employer and employee, whereas an employer and employee may also agree on an amendment of their employment agreement. Thus, a shortening of working hours, a change of the place of work, a change of the type of work or posting, etc. may be achieved by mutual agreement. In this respect, please note that the employer is in all cases obligated to draft any amendment to an employment agreement in writing.
During the current extraordinary situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, employers’ obligations to provide employees with health and safety information immediately have been mitigated, if an employee takes up new work or is transferred to a different workplace/type of work during a crisis, where the employer is objectively unable to inform employees immediately. The non-performance of this duty on part of the employer may not, however, cause immediate and essential endangerment of life or health of employees, whereas the employer will be required to fulfil their obligations immediately after the crisis situation ends, one month after the state of emergency was cancelled at the latest.[/accordion_content]
The situation related to the COVID-19 pandemic is severe worldwide and the governments of most countries have been forced to adopt strict measures to prevent the spread of this disease. As Slovakia is no exemption in this respect and due to the fact that the state emergency was declared by the Slovak Government by Resolution No. 111 dated March 11, 2020, as well as the Decision of the Public Health Authority of the Slovak Republic No. OLP/2595/2020 dated March 15, 2020 and the Decision of the Public Health Authority of the Slovak Republic No. OLP/2777/2020 dated March 29, 2020 many retail operations and operations providing services were closed. Furthermore, by the Decision of the Public Health Authority of the Slovak Republic No. OLP/2640/2020 dated March 18, 2020, quarantine measures were adopted.
It may be expected that the measures adopted to prevent further spread of the disease will have significant effect on the commercial environment and it is probable that these measures will also affect, among others, the ability of businesses to perform their obligations arising from contractual relations established before the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic broke out.
In this respect we would like to provide Slovak entrepreneurs with answers to certain questions they may have as to what to expect should they become unable to perform their obligations due to the current emergency regulations adopted by relevant Slovak authorities.
In general, the claim to damages arises only if all of the following conditions are fulfilled:
The contracting party that performed an action causing damage to the other contracting party will not be liable for damages, however, if it proves that circumstances excluding its liability prevented this party from performing its obligations. Such circumstances are set forth and specified in Section 374 of the Commercial Code. The following requirements must be met in order to release the breaching party from its obligation to pay damages:
Preventive measures adopted due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular the closing of retail operations by which a selected scope of entrepreneurs are limited in performing their business activities, and therefore in achieving profits, may in all probability be considered circumstances excluding the liability of that contracting party which failed to perform its obligations duly and in time due to such restrictions.
The question whether in each particular case all of the above-mentioned conditions required towards the exclusion of liability were fulfilled, shall be reviewed individually in each single case, however. Please note, additionally, that the above circumstances excluding liability are limited only to the duration of the obstacles to which they relate, i.e. such circumstances do not have a permanent effect automatically and usually do not lead to the termination of the contract in question (see sections belows).
An obligation is considered rescinded if the performance of that obligation becomes permanently and objectively impossible after the contractual relationship in question was concluded. Such an impossibility of performance can, however, still cause damage to the creditor, which the debtor, being unable to perform its original obligation to the creditor, shall be obligated to compensate. Such a compensation shall include any damage arising to a creditor from the causal effects of rescission of any obligations, the performance of which has become impossible.
This liability is considered an objective liability with the possibility of liberation. The debtor therefore does have an opportunity to relieve itself of the ensuing liability for damages, if it is able to prove that the impossibility of performance was caused by circumstances excluding its liability for damages, whereas such situations are detailed in section 2.1 above concerning general compensation for damages.
It may be assumed with a high degree of probability that in the given situation, debtors will not be liable for damage caused to their creditors due to any actual impossibility of performance caused by the outbreak of COVID-19, as long as they prove that all the conditions required towards the exclusion of liability were fulfilled.
A withdrawal from a contract as a unilateral act of legal significance addressed to the other contracting party, which terminates the contract in question with effects as of the moment when the notice of withdrawal is served to the other party, constitutes a further sanction for delays on part of the debtor.
Any creditor is entitled to withdraw from a contract only in cases stipulated by law or pre-agreed by the parties. Presumably, many creditors will indeed exercise their right to withdraw from contracts in a situation where their debtors are unable to perform their obligations due to the current measures adopted in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
In this respect, it is to be noted that a contract terminates by withdrawal at the moment when the withdrawing party’s manifestation of will - notification of the withdrawal is delivered to the other party. Correspondingly, the parties shall be obliged to mutually return any consideration that has already been mutually rendered.
Any contracting party is obliged to notify its contracting partner regarding the breach of its obligations, i.e. each and every subject of commercial relations is obliged to notify its counterpart about the nature of any obstacles which prevent it, or will prevent it, from performing its obligations, and of the effects thereof. The notification obligation must be fulfilled without undue delay after the liable party has learned of such an obstacle, or could have learned of it if all due care had been taken. In the event that the liable party fails to fulfil this obligation, the other injured party shall be entitled to compensation for the damage caused due to the failure of the liable party to satisfy the notification obligation.
If a contracting party, due to the measures adopted with respect to the COVID-19 outbreak, is no longer able to perform its obligations and therefore the other party would be exposed to a risk of damage, it is necessary for the liable party to reach out to its contracting partner and to notify it about the situation, in order to provide the opportunity to take necessary measures in order to avert any damage or to mitigate it.
With respect to the above, we recommend to any businesses and other legal entities that may during this period of time become unable to perform their obligations, to immediately contact their counterpart and initiate negotiations so that existing contracts may be amended. This way the negative consequences of the current situation may be prevented, since there is a chance that a change of due date of receivables, partial performance, changes of the subject of obligations, changes in securing measures, and other modalities can be agreed upon by the parties to mutual satisfaction.
The following amendments have been adopted concerning the businesses’ tax obligations due to the COVID-19 pandemic:
In general the Tax Offices shall permit extensions of default time limits elapsed during the COVID-19 pandemic, if the taxable entity undertakes the delayed procedural action at latest by the end of the calendar month following the end of the pandemic. The only exemption is the obligation to file the tax return and pay taxes,to pay advance income tax payments and to file control and summary VAT reports.
Tax due for payment during the COVID-19 pandemic must be paid by the end of the calendar month following the end of the pandemic situation and delayed payments shall not be considered as a default of payment in such cases.
The tax return with respect to income tax must be filed by the end of the calendar month following the end of the pandemic situation and within the same period it is necessary to pay the corresponding income tax.
If a taxable entity files the tax return and pays income tax (due during the pandemic period) by the end of the calendar month following the end of the pandemic situation, the Tax Office will not levy default charges for the delay.
If a taxable entity applies for a return payment based on overpayment in its tax return, the return payment will be paid back to the taxable entity within 40 days as of the end of the calendar month, in which the tax return was filed. If the taxable entity filed an additional tax return for the year 2019 up to March 12, 2020, the return payment will be paid to it within 40 days as of March 31, 2020. We would like to note that in case the taxable entity applies a higher overpayment sum than its actual claim, a fine will be imposed in the amount of 100% of the difference between the right amount of the overpayment and the requested return payment.
Taxable entities may include their accumulated loss from the period from the year 2015 to the year 2018 in their tax returns as a deductible item. The accumulated loss can be included in the tax return concerning the annual period between January 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020. The maximum applicable deductible amount is EUR 1 million.
The obligation to pay advance income tax payments, due dates of which occur during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic, can be postponed to later dates if the taxable entity’s sales declined by at least 40 % due to the COVID-19 pandemic, compared with its sales in the same month in the previous year. The taxable entity will be required to submit a declaration to the Tax Office that the condition for the postponement are met, up to 15 days before the due dates of the respective advance income tax payments. The postponement may be applied for the first time with respect to payments with due dates at the end of May 2020.
The due dates to file a value added tax return (hereinafter referred to as “VAT”) and to pay VAT have not been amended during the pandemic, which means that VAT returns must be filed and VAT must be paid in standard due dates. If VAT is not paid in the standard deadlines, but will be paid by the end of the calendar month following the end of the pandemic situation, the delay shall not be considered a default of payment, but the relevant Tax Office will levy default charges for the delay.
If the taxable entity is not able to file a VAT return or to pay VAT within the statutory term, it may still apply for annulment of consequences of the delay. The Tax Office is only obligated to excuse and annul delays for serious reasons, under the conditions that the taxable entity applies for annulment up to 30 days after the reasons for the delay expired, where the delayed VAT payment is paid within the same deadline. The serious reasons for the delay must be specified in the relevant annulment application (e.g. illness, hospitalization). The period of the COVID-19 pandemic in itself is not a relevant reason to excuse and annul the delay. In case the VAT return was not filed in statutory period and the delay is annulled by the Tax Office, fines will not be imposed to the taxable entity and if the relevant VAT amounts are paid simultaneously with filing the VAT return, default charges will likewise not accrue for the period of the delay.
If a taxable entity repeatedly does not file a VAT return, does not pay VAT or does not file a control report in the statutory period during the pandemic, the Tax Office will not publish this entity in the registry of VAT registered subjects which fulfil conditions for cancellation of their VAT payer status. The condition is that the delayed obligations must be fulfilled by the end of the month following the end of the pandemic period.
Taxable entities are not obligated to pay advance vehicle tax payments with due dates occurring during the COVID-19 pandemic, as of April 2020. These payments will be the subject of a following tax return.[/accordion_content]
Due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and in order to restrict social contact between people to the maximum possible extent the Decision of the Public Health Authority of the Slovak Republic was adopted, based on which several hygiene measures for customers must be followed by all operations as of September 01, 2020 and until further notice, in particular:
Operators are obligated to demand from employees or self-employed individuals, who came back from high-risk countries:
If the person is unable to prove they are COVID-19 negative in one of the ways stated above, the operator will be eligible to notify the relevant regional public health authority and deny that person entry into the operation. However the operators will only be obligated to require one of the above confirmations if they have knowledge or reasonable suspicion (commencement of employment, days-off, business trip, etc.) that they have such an obligation.
To ensure fresh air and its good quality in the operation, following measures are recommended:
Retail operations providing meals must follow measures specified as follows:
Taxi operations may provide simultaneous transport under the condition that driver’s upper respiratory orifices are covered. A recommendation is in place to separate the passenger area from the driver’s area in a suitable manner and to arrange passenger seating on the back seats only. Taxi drivers must disinfect the passenger area after every passenger.
Body care facilities must follow measures specified as follows:
Wellness Body care facilities are obligated to follow additional measures specified as follows:
Fitness centres must follow measures specified as:
Driving schools and operations of other entities authorized to provide courses of elementary qualification and regular training are obligated to:
Theatres and musical venues, cinemas and other types of artistic performances may provide their services under conditions specified below:
Swimming pools (and natural pools) are obligated to follow these requirements:
Waterparks and outdoor pools are at the same time obligated to:
Shopping centres are obligated to:
[/accordion_content]
[/accordion]Since April 6, 2020 the sale or another means of supply of particular types of personal protective equipment is permitted only to buyers/recipients explicitly listed by law, whereas this measure only applies during crisis situations.
The ban on sales concerns personal protective equipment – FFP2 and FFP3 respirators (also designated as KN95 in other jurisdictions).
FFP2 and FFP3 respirators may, as of April 4, 2020 only be sold and supplied to the following recipients:
Until this day the Ministry of Healthcare of the Slovak Republic has not published any decrees regulating the list of specific diagnoses and sales conditions with respect to persons with associated medical conditions (see section 8 above): it may be assumed, therefore, that the sale or supply of the designated respirators will be permitted under those conditions only after such specific regulation is adopted, which is expected in the following days.
The use of respirators in order to protect health and life according to section 4 above is required during the following types of work:
Since September 02, 2020 until September 14, 2020, a duty is in place for all persons to use a face mask or to cover upper respiratory orifices with another type of protection (scarfs, bandannas, etc., hereinafter referred to as “face mask”) when they go out and move in public in the interiors of buildings and in public transportation, except:
Since March 16, 2020 compulsory labour obligations and a nationwide ban on strike have been declared with respect to employees of providers of the institutional healthcare, such as:
Effective as of March 19, 2020 the mandatory labour obligations and the ban to go on strike have been extended to the following subjects:
and with effect as of April 18, 2020, the obligations and the ban have also been extended to providers of ambulant medical healthcare, specifically:
Since March 28, 2020, the above labour obligations and strike ban have been in effect, in order to ensure continuous nursing care, with respect to employees of social facilities, such as:
- social facilities for seniors,
- facilities providing nursing services,
- facilities providing social care services,
- specialized facilities,
The mandatory labour has been declared in order to ensure the proper and continuous provision of heathcare to endangered groups who need it the most.
As of April 25, 2020, natural persons are eligible to apply for the postponement of the enforcement proceedings being conducted against them.
Only a natural person against whom enforcement proceedings are currently in progress is entitled to apply. The application for postponement must be filed directly to the respective bailiff / official enforcer.
An application will be taken into consideration if:
If the conditions stated above are not met, the bailiff will not take an application into account and he/she will inform the applicant about the relevant reasons.
The application must contain a declaration of the applicant that due to the COVID-19 pandemic his/her salary declined and continued enforcement may cause especially unfavourable consequences to him/her or to his/her family members. A summary of the applicant’s property must be annexed to the application.
After the application is filed, the bailiff will issue a notification of postponement of the enforcement proceeding, upon which the notification will be sent directly to all parties to that proceeding, the payer(s) of the applicant’s salary, bank(s), applicant’s debtors and/or other concerned parties.
The postponement will last 6 months as of the day the notification of postponement was filed, but no longer than until December 1, 2020.
Despite the postponement, the relevant bailiff may continue actions necessary towards finding and securing the applicant’s property, which may be subject to the enforcement proceeding, and if such actions were executed before the postponement, their effects remain valid.
As of April 25, 2020 an act has been instituted, governing the protection of tenants from unilateral termination of their lease by their landlord because of the tenant’s delay with payment of rent (including all other payments related to the lease) with due dates between April 1, 2020 and June 30, 2020.
The protection only applies under the condition that the payment delay was caused by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, whereas this reason must be duly demonstrable by the tenant.
Other reasons for the delay in payments of rent and related claims are not valid.
The protection is applicable up to December 31, 2020.
The protection applies to leases of:
In this context, we would like to note that the landlord's right to rent does not expire in this case and the tenant remains obligated to pay it, including applicable interest.
With respect to the latest deliberations of the Slovak Government, we expect a measure alleviating tenants’ rent expenses to be adopted in the near future.
Such a measure should take the form of subsidy payments towards tenants’ rent by the state and apply to entities that were forced to close down their operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The state is expected to refund a part of relevant rent payments in the amount equal to the amount of any discounts provided by the landlord to relevant tenants. Where the landlord does not provide to any discount of rent payments to tenants, the tenant has a right to pay its rent in installments over the next 4 years. This measure is intended to convince landlords to provide at least some discount from rent payments in order to receive payments earlier. Several model situations come into consideration for how this measure may actually work:
1. if the landlord waives 50 % of relevant rent, 50 % is to be refunded by the state,
2. if the landlord waives less than 50 %, the state will refund the amount corresponding to the amount of the discount provided by the landlord and the rest of rent is paid by the tenant in installments spread over the next 48 months (for example, where a landlord provides a 40 % discount, the state pays 40 % of the tenant’s rent and 20 % is paid by the tenant over the next 3 years), or
3. if the landlord does not provide any discount, the rent will be paid by the tenant in full, but with option to pay it in installments over the next 48 months, during which the landlord is not allowed to terminate the lease or increase the amount of rent.
At the same time, the government intends to provide protection to those tenants who have already paid the relevant rent payments, for example if they have already paid the rent for 6 weeks, they will have option to apply for the abovementioned measures within 6 weeks as of the effective day of the act (which has not been adopted yet).
Sports, cultural, social or other mass events or gatherings over 1000 persons in the exterior and over 500 persons in the interior are prohibited,.
In the case of sports and cultural mass events, only audience members are counted towards the above limits.
Currently, a ban on organization of cultural, entertainment, social or other mass events (disco, night clubs, pubs, etc.) is likewise in place, except weddings and funeral events and christening parties up to 150 attendees. The organizer of such mass events, among the exceptions stated above, must be prepared to prove that the event in question qualifies for the exception. The ban does not, however, apply to regular serving of meals in restaurants and other retail operations providing meals.
An exception from the ban applies to mass events, all visitors of which have negative COVID-19 test results not older than 12 hours at their disposal at the starting time of the mass event.
The above events may be organized only under the following conditions :(also applicable for mass events organized in the exterior):
Sports campsites and workshops may be organized under the conditions stated above and at the same time under the following conditions:
Meetings and sessions of state and local administration bodies and meetings organized by law may be organized under the following conditions:
The ban on gatherings and events is also no longer valid for religious services, first holy communions, confirmations, weddings (civil or church) and the organization of funerals. These may be organized under the following conditions:
[accordion_title]FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS[/accordion_title]
[accordion_content]Firstly, we consider it is important to note that the Labour Code distinguishes two types of work at home. The first type is the long-term performance of work at home, also called tele-work, which has an inherent long-term nature and this type of work must be directly agreed in the employment agreement. In this case some provisions of the Labour Code do not apply to the employee and need not be followed, for example the provisions on weekly distribution of working hours, or concerning regular daily or weekly rest periods (so the employee is able to distribute his/her work during working hours as it is convenient for him/her). The employee is likewise not eligible for wage compensations or other wage advantages due to work on certain occasions such as public holidays, if such wage compensations are not included in an agreement concluded with the employer. In this case the employer is obligated to ensure for the employee all technical and software equipment (except where the employee uses his/her own equipment under a specific agreement with the employer). The employer is also obligated to adopt measures to prevent isolation of the employee from contact with other employees and which enable the employee to meet with other employees on a regular basis.
The employee is eligible to perform work as a work at home (tele-work) only under a mutual agreement with the employer included in the employment agreement, in an amendment thereto or in another type of written mutual agreement concluded between the employee and the employer.
In case that the employee works at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, such a situation is not considered work at home governed by the Labour Code per se, but another kind of arrangement. Several differences between these two options must be noted. The main difference is that this kind of “home-office” only has a temporary character. The employee works under the same arrangements as when he/she performed work at the workplace, which means that he/she works in the same working hours, and he/she is eligible for wage compensations and other wage advantages under the Labour Code (for work at night, on holidays etc.). In this case the employer is not obligated to ensure for the employee any special technical and software equipment, or to adopt measures preventing the employee’s social isolation. “Home-office” can be agreed by and between the employee and employer in a mutual agreement or, in the current emergency situation it may be unilaterally ordered to the employee by the employer, under the condition that the type of work permits such arrangements. There is no legal regulation prescribing the form of such an agreement or consent, but we recommend to conclude any such agreements concerning “home-office” in writing, or at least by e-mail.
This form of the state support is intended to protect employees from termination of their employment relationships and will be provided to employers as a wage compensation. ”KURZARBEIT” is well known in many countries, but in the Slovak Republic it has been adopted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, as many employers must reduce or suspend their productivity even if they were not directly affected by mandatory closures ordered by the Public health Office. Due to the reduction or suspension of their activity, they are temporarily unable to assign tasks to their employees, however, under previously applicable legislation, they would still be forced to pay substantial wage compensations to affected employees.
The consequences of the reduction and suspension of these employers’ activity is normally such a burden on their financial stability that they are forced to terminate employment relationships. To avoid termination of relevant employees’ contracts, the state has adopted the “KURZARBEIT” measure based on a state refund to employers in the amounts which they are obligated to pay to their employees due to the abovementioned obstacles. The contributions will be provided in the amount of 80 % of affected employees’ average earnings, up to the amount of EUR 800,00 per employee.
To be eligible for the contribution, the employer must meet several conditions, especially it must undertake not to terminate the corresponding employment relationship(s) by notice of dismissal or by agreement with the employee earlier that 2 months after the state contribution was provided. Relevant employees must also not be subject to a termination period already, i.e. already dismissed with later effect.
The Government Office of the Slovak Republic
The Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic
The Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic
The Ministry of finance of the Slovak Repubic
The Public Health Authority of the Slovak Republic
Financial Administration Slovak Republic
Contributions for employers and self-employed
Actual information