European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
Eurofound's ERM database on restructuring-related legal regulations provides information on regulations in the Member States of the European Union and Norway which are explicitly or implicitly linked to anticipating and managing change.
Article 217 of the Employment Relationships Act (ZDR-1); Article 196 of the Criminal Code (KZ-1)
A fine of between €3,000 and €20,000 shall be imposed on an employer – a legal person, a sole proprietor or a self-employed person – if the employer carries out the procedure of giving notice to a larger number of workers for business reasons contrary to statutory provisions regarding collective dismissals (within 30 days, dismissal of at least 10 workers in companies with 21-99 employees, at least 10% in companies with 100-299 employees and 30 dismissals in larger firms).
Employees can take action through the labour inspectorate.
Violation of workers' rights in the process of collective dismissal constitutes a criminal offence in the following circumstances. Whoever acts contrary to regulations governing the conclusion and termination of employment contracts, thereby depriving or restraining the labour rights of one or more workers, is punished by a fine and sentenced to imprisonment for a maximum of three years. If this action results in unlawful termination of the employment relationship of at least 20 workers, the perpetrator is sentenced to imprisonment for a maximum of five years and ordered to pay a fine.
Cases of non-compliance are only infrequently brought forward. The labour inspectorate did not report on any violations regarding collective dismissals in its annual reports for 2021 and 2022.
However, labour inspectors detected 273 irregularities involving the termination of employment contracts in 2022. Infringements involving severance pay (91 cases) were the most common. There were 50 fixed-term workers and 41 workers whose employment contracts were ended owing to the employer's dismissal for business or incompetent reasons.
The second most common breach was infringements concerning the form and content of the termination: 56 employers failed to provide the termination of employment contract in writing, explain the reason for the termination, or inform the employee of legal protection and unemployment insurance rights, as well as the obligation to register in the jobseeker register (Labour Inspectorate, 2023, p. 64).
Eurofound (2015), Slovenia: Effects of non-compliance with dismissal regulations, Restructuring legislation database, Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/legislationdb/effects-of-non-compliance-with-dismissal-regulations/slovenia
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