Phase
Labour Code
Native name
Zákonník práce
Type
Employers obligation to provide skill development plans or training
Added to database
08 May 2015

Article

140, 153-155


Description

Act No. 311/2001 Coll. of the Labour Code provides a 'general background' for skill development and training of employees. It includes:

  • increasing/deepening the qualification of employees needed for the employees' work performance agreed in their employment contract, and
  • participation in additional education (lifelong learning) particularly required by law.

As these activities limit workers' availability to work, employers may provide employees with time off from work and wage compensation (in amount of the employee's average monthly wage) if the skill development and training is compliant with the needs of the employer. The Labour Code specifies the length of time off provided for individual education and training activities usually by the number of days. For instance, two days for each partial exam, five days for a final exam.

An employer is obliged to retrain an employee who is to be transferred to a new workplace or to a new type of work or manner of working, if such is necessary, particularly with regard to changes in work organisation or to other rationalising measures. The Labour Code only regulates conditions for increasing and development of qualifications regardless of whether it is long-term or short-term training; it does not regulate long-term training directly.

There is no legal regulation that would expressly state employers’ obligations to plan the development of their employees’ skills and competencies whether on a permanent or occasional basis.


Commentary

It is not common for companies to provide long-term training in Slovakia (short-term training is more common). Planning of some kind of training in the case of restructuring (especially for redundant employees) is mainly typical for international companies or big enterprises (training for such employees could be provided by the Labour Office – public employment service). Most of such plans are done for individual employees (mainly based on internal rules). To keep the employment relationship with the employer, the employee concerned should undertake the required training or retraining. It is not particularly common in Slovakia to discuss and cooperate with employees' representatives regarding training plans. The employers only inform the employees' representatives of such plans. Few collective agreements (especially at company level) contain only general rules regarding training.


Additional metadata

Cost covered by
Employer
Involved actors other than national government
National government
Involvement (others)
None
Thresholds
Affected employees: No, applicable in all circumstances
Company size: No, applicable in all circumstances
Additional information: No, applicable in all circumstances

Sources

Citation

Eurofound (2015), Slovakia: Employers obligation to provide skill development plans or training, Restructuring legislation database, Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/legislationdb/employers-obligation-to-provide-skill-development-plans-or-training/slovakia

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