Slovakia: collective redundancy

Employers wishing to dismiss more than 20 employees in a 90-day period for organisational reasons or because it is closing or relocating all or any part of its business must have finished consulting employee representatives at least one month before the first dismissal takes effect.

The key requirements of the consultations are:

• they must always be performed by the immediate employer
• they must be carried out with a view to reaching an agreement with the employee representatives about measures to prevent or restrict the dismissals
• their purpose is to identify ways to provide the employees with suitable alternative positions (with training, where required) at another place of work of the employer, and to discuss ways of mitigating any adverse consequences of the dismissals
• during the consultation process (preferably at the beginning, at the same time as requesting a meeting), the employer has to give written notice to the employee representatives of :
  • the reasons for the dismissals
  • how many dismissal are proposed, and
  • the number and types of employee who are to be dismissed
  • the number and types of employee employed at the same lace of work
  • the period over which the dismissals are to take effect
  • the criteria for selecting the employees to be dismissed
• the employer should deliver the written notice to the National Labour Office, with whom it has to negotiate terms for maintaining employment ratio and the potential for re-training and re-employing the employees with other employers. Employees’ representatives may submit their comments to the National Labour Office
• every notice and agreement must contain all the required particulars
• the employer must inform the National Labour Office and employees’ representatives in writing on the outcome of such consultations, once they are concluded. This should ideally be done in writing with a delivery receipt because the employer cannot start to effect the dismissals until a month after this date
• during the one-month period between consultation and dismissal, the National Labour Office must seek solutions to the issues incidental to the collective redundancies
• employers who do not comply with their obligations must pay compensation to the dismissed employees of double their average pay
• these procedures do not apply to:
  • employment ending on expiry of a fixed term
  • dismissal of crew members of ship sailing under the flag of the Slovak Republic
  • dismissal of employees whose employer is subject to a court bankruptcy order

Law: Directive 77/129/EEC