On 25 March 2020, the Slovak parliament approved relevant changes in the fields of social security and employment to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. This new piece of legislation shall come into force immediately upon its publication in the Collection of Laws of the Slovak Republic.
Allowance to Maintain Job Positions
Under the current law, certain employers may apply with the office for labour, social affairs and family for an allowance to maintain job positions. We have addressed this topic in one of our previous legal alerts. We have also informed readers about the plans to simplify the procedure regarding the allowance to maintain job positions, with the aim to make it available to a broader group of employers adversely affected by the current situation.
The recently passed law does not yet contain the details concerning the proposed new regulations on the allowance to maintain job positions. The government of the SR shall further elaborate on the details and criteria under which the allowance will be provided. However, it is clear that the (new type of) allowance shall be provided to every employer that meets the relevant conditions for the allowance (to be stipulated); i.e. the allowance will not be discretionary (as is the case with respect to the currently available allowance to maintain job positions). The new scheme will be coordinated by the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family, and the allowances shall be approved and paid out by offices for labour, social affairs and family. It is expected that the allowances will be financed by the European Social Fund and the state budget, but the total budget or the amount of allowances is not known at this time.
Payments to Employees Due to Quarantine or Isolation of Employee
Currently, if an employee is in (home) quarantine or isolation (e.g. because he/she returned from abroad after 13 March 2020, or because the employee lives with such person in the same household), the employee is deemed to be on sick leave. As such, during the first ten days of this sick leave, the employer must pay a salary compensation of a certain amount to the employee (and the Social Insurance company pays the sick-leave allowance from the 11th day onward). This provisions shall stand changed now and, under the new rules, the Social Insurance company shall pay the sick leave allowance from the first day of the mandated quarantine or isolation. This applies only to employees considered on sick leave due to the mandated quarantine or isolation during the current crisis situation in relation to COVID-19, and not to employees that are on the sick leave due to other medical condition(s) (in cases of sick leave due to other medical conditions, the employer shall continue to pay the salary compensation to the employees during the first ten days, as is presently the case).
In any case, the employee is not entitled to payments from both the employer and the Social Insurance company – i.e. the employee can either receive salary compensation from the employer OR the sick-leave allowance from the Social Insurance company, but not both.
Taking Care of Children Due to Closure of Schools and Similar Facilities
The amendment to the Act on Social Insurance[1] has also confirmed the plans of the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family announced earlier, to extend the coverage of the social care allowance to individuals responsible for providing care to children who have to stay at home due to the closure of schools and similar facilities (kindergartens). The allowance will be provided to insured individuals who are, in person and the whole day,-
a) taking care of a child up to up to 11 years of age; and/or
b) taking care of a child up to 18 years of age if the child suffers from a long-term bad health condition; provided that one or more of the following conditions is fulfilled:
- a quarantine or isolation is ordered for the child;
- the school, or similar educational facility (such as kindergarten) that the child usually attends, has been closed due to quarantine or isolation ordered for them;
- the person who usually provides care to the child (e.g. a mother or father) is ill, has been ordered into quarantine or isolation, or is in a health care facility, and is hence unable to provide care to the child.
In addition, during the crisis situation in relation to COVID-19, the allowance shall be also provided if the respective (insured) individual:
a) nurses, in person and the whole day, to a child up to 16 years of age, provided that the respective physician has issued a confirmation that due to the health condition of the child, someone must necessarily take care of the child; and/or
b) provides care to a direct relative, sibling, spouse, a parent of a spouse; if the social care facility in which these persons usually stay or attend has been closed due to
The allowance for providing care shall be paid only to one person with respect to taking care of children or other persons. That means, for example, that only one of the parents shall be entitled to claim the allowance in relation to taking care of the children– and this shall be the parent that actually provided care to the children during the relevant time period. However, the parents are permitted to take turns in providing care to the children (or other persons).
Generally, the social “care” allowance is provided only for a period of up to ten days with respect to each case requiring the provision of care (or nursing) to the respective person. Pursuant to the new legal regulation, during the crisis situation in relation to COVID-19, the allowance shall be provided for the entire period during which there is the need to provide care (or nurse) in person and for the whole day of the respective person(s).
Absence at Work – Taking Care of Children or Other Persons
In our previous legal alert on the labour-law matters in the current situation of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have highlighted the discrepancy between the legal regulation contained in the Labour Code and the new approach of the Social Insurance company in relation to taking care of children, more specifically the obligation of the employer to excuse the absence of the employee taking care of a healthy child only up to ten years of age. The recently passed law also amends the Labour Code with the aim to align the absence of employees taking care of (healthy) children or other persons, with the new legal regulation pertaining to the social “care” allowance.
Based on the new amended Labour Code, the employer must now also excuse the absence at work of an employee who personally and for the whole day takes care of an “individual according to a special legal regulation”. Whilst we believe that this wording of the new law (without any reference to the “special legal regulation”) is a little unfortunate, the intention, in our view, was to stipulate that in all cases where the employee is entitled to receive the social “care” allowance for providing care to another person (regardless of whether it is a child or another person, and regardless of the age of the child) pursuant to the Act on Social Insurance, the employer must excuse absence at work of such employee.
Additionally, the employer will also be required to excuse the absence of an employee who provides care to a child up to ten years of age, if, the person who normally provides care to the child (e.g. the other spouse) is required to attend a medical check or medical care in a health care facility provided that it was not possible to attend to such medical check or medical care outside of the employee’s working hours.
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This contribution was prepared on 26 March 2020. It does not provide comprehensive legal advice, but only a summary of selected legislative changes.
[1] Act No. 461/2003 Coll. on Social Insurance, as amended.