10.6092/issn.1561-8048/10944
Slovenia declared Covid-19 an epidemic on 12 March 2020. Social distancing measures have been introduced, schools and kindergartens were closed, as well as most of the businesses. Tele/home-working has been widely promoted, distant schooling organised. The Government introduced different job-saving and income support measures, including partial reimbursement of wage compensations for temporarily laid-off workers due to the entreprise closures, deferral of tax and social contribution payments, temporary basic income for the self-employed etc.
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Barbara Kresal
Italian Labour Law e-Journal
State-funded compensations
COVID-19 and Labour Law: Slovenia
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National Reports
2020-05-11
2020-05-08
2020-04-15
2020-09-15
ILLeJ
Barbara Kresal
2020/05/11
10.6092/issn.1561-8048/10944
University of Ljubljana
1561-8048
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State-funded compensations
en
COVID-19 and Labour Law: Slovenia
https://illej.unibo.it/article/download/10944/10819
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COVID-19 and Labour Law: Slovenia                                                  Italian Labour Law e-Journal
Barbara Kresal                                                                    Special Issue 1, Vol. 13 (2020)
barbara.kresal@fsd.uni-lj.si                                        Covid-19 and Labour Law. A Global Review
                                                                                                ISSN 1561-8048
                                                                 https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1561-8048/10944




                 COVID-19 and Labour Law: Slovenia
                         Barbara Kresal*


                                                   Abstract

     Slovenia declared Covid-19 an epidemic on 12 March 2020. Social distancing measures
     have been introduced, schools and kindergartens were closed, as well as most of the
     businesses. Tele/home-working has been widely promoted, distant schooling organised.
     The Government introduced different job-saving and income support measures,
     including partial reimbursement of wage compensations for temporarily laid-off workers
     due to the entreprise closures, deferral of tax and social contribution payments,
     temporary basic income for the self-employed etc.


     Keywords: Covid-19; Labour Law; Teleworking; Homeworking; Health and safety; Job-saving
     measures; Income support measures; State-funded compensations.




 1. General Framework

    Following the declaration of a pandemic by the World Health Organisation and on the
 basis of the opinion of the National Institute of Public Health, the Minister of Health
 declared an epidemic in Slovenia on 12 March 20201.
    Strict measures aimed at preventing the spread of the virus were introduced, including the
 temporary closure of schools, kindergartens, universities and a significant part of the
 economy, the closure of the borders (with certain exceptions) and the Ljubljana airport, as
 well as the suspension of all air traffic and public bus and railway transport, etc. Social
 distancing measures were imposed. The Government decided to temporarily prohibit all
 movement and gathering of people in public spaces and access to such places as of 20 March
 2020, with only few exemptions, related to the operation of essential services and minimum
 outdoor activities (such as going to the grocery store, for a short walk individually or with

 *
   Associate Professor of Labour Law and Social Security, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.
 1 Decree on declaration of contagious disease SARS-Cov-2 (COVID-19) ('Odredba o razglasitvi epidemije nalezljive
 bolezni SARS-Cov-2 (COVID-19) na območju Republike Slovenije'), Official Journal No 19/2020, 12.3.2020
 (http://www.pisrs.si/Pis.web/pregledPredpisa?id=ODRE2550).
 The Decree was issued on the basis of Art 7 of the Contageous Diseases Act ('Zakon o nalezljivih boleznih'),
 Official Journal No 69/95, as later amended (http://www.pisrs.si/Pis.web/pregledPredpisa?id=ZAKO433).
    Barbara Kresal                                                              Italian Labour Law e-Journal
                                                                               Special Issue 1, Vol. 13 (2020)
                                                                  Covid-19 and Labour Law. A Global Review
                                                                                    Section: National Reports




family members living together). Facial masks and disinfection of hands are obligatory in the
shops. Restaurants, hotels, bars and other venues and facilities have been closed down. In
general, the supply and sale of goods and services directly to consumers has been temporarily
banned since 16 March 2020, only remote provision and sale of goods and services,
pharmacies and stores with food were allowed.
    Citizens were required to stay at home as much as possible and were allowed to go out
only if necessary and only individually or with their family members living together and under
strict conditions; from 30 March until 30 April all travelling between municipalities was
prohibited as well (with certain exceptions, such as travelling to/from work, essential services
etc.).
    Tele-/home-working has been promoted widely since the beginning of the coronavirus
outbreak in early March, while for the children, the remote schooling has been organised at
all levels since 16 March 2020 (primary and secondary schools as well as the universities). On
the other hand, for those workers who continued working at their regular places of work
(hospitals, essential services, certain industries etc.), stricter coronavirus specific health and
safety measures are being applied.
    Since the end of April/beginning of May, Slovenia has been experiencing the gradual
easing of anti-coronavirus measures. Gradual and very cautious reopening of services and
shops as well as cultural and other facilities and public venues has been going on, with gradual
partial reopening of schools and other educational institutions being announced for 18 May
2020 (starting with kindergartens and the first-triad pupils of the primary school and the last-
grade secondary school children, then after a week also the last-grade primary school
children; the rest will continue with remote schooling until the end of this school year). Bus
and railway public transport is planned to gradually start to operate – under the strict
conditions with necessary preventive measures – as of 11 May 2020.
    The impact of the pandemic and of the Government responses to it on the economy,
employment and social situation in general has been, as all over the world, dramatic and it is
expected to be such not just on a short term but also on a long run2. Therefore, already in
early March, the Government announced different job-saving and income support measures
as well as comprehensive financial support for the businesses.


2. Income Support and Job-saving Measures

   Already on 20 March 2020, the first intervention measures were enacted, i.e. the Act on
the Intervention Measures as regards Wages and Contributions3 was passed by the

2 According to the data of the Employment Service of Slovenia, the unemployment has been growing since
March 2020.
(https://www.ess.gov.si/obvestila/obvestilo/marca-izrazit-porast-novoprijavljenih-brezposelnih).
Instiute of Macroeconomc Analysis and Development continously monitors the economic and soical trends
and the impact of the coronavirus epidemic on economic activity, employment and other relevant indicators
(https://www.umar.gov.si/en/?no_cache=1).
3 ‘Zakon o interventnih ukrepih na področju plač in prispevkov’, Official Journal No 36/2020, 28.3.2020

(http://www.pisrs.si/Pis.web/pregledPredpisa?id=ZAKO8181), as later amended.

    https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1561-8048/10944                                                             2
    Barbara Kresal                                                                    Italian Labour Law e-Journal
                                                                                     Special Issue 1, Vol. 13 (2020)
                                                                        Covid-19 and Labour Law. A Global Review
                                                                                          Section: National Reports




Parliament in a fast-track procedure and entered into force on 29 March 2020. It introduced
one of the most important measures for the workers during the coronavirus epidemic, i.e. a
partial reimbursement of wage compensation by the State for those workers who are unable
to work due to the coronavirus measures, laid-off workers etc., with an estimated value of
the State intervention of around 1 billion EUR (approx. 2.1% of the GDP).
   In addition, the comprehensive package of measures was prepared and adopted by the
Government on 29 March 2020. Following the fast-track legislative procedure, the so-called
First Anti-Coronavirus Package Act4 was passed by the Parliament on 4 April, published on
10 April 2020 and entered into force on 11 April 2020, however, with the retrospective effect
of certain provision granting the entitlement to different financial compensations as of 13
March 2020.
   The first package of measures mainly focused on the provision of rapid financial
assistance to citizens and businesses to mitigate the negative consequences of the nearly total
closing-down of the society due to the epidemic. The package has been estimated to around
3 billion EUR.
   The second comprehensive package of measures was announced already during the
preparation of the first package. While the first one was focused on the immediate emergency
support and rapid response to the most urgent needs, the second package is focused on the
measures providing liquidity for the businesses and comprehensive financial support
measures for the entire economy aimed at avoiding redundancies as much as possible and
enabling closed-down companies to restart their activities.
   The so-called Second Anti-Coronavirus Act5 was passed by the Parliament on 28 April
and entered into force on 1 May 2020. Certain amendments to the First Anti-Coronavirus
Act were enacted at the same time, as a correction of and response to the most criticised
deficiencies of the first package.
   The third package of measures has already been announced and is supposed to be focused
mainly on the industries and sectors that are among the worst hit by the effects of the
coronavirus pandemic, such as tourism and similar (sector-specific, targeted measures).
   Within these packages, various measures have been foreseen with different purposes6:
   - Measures to preserve jobs (a scheme for co-financing wage compensations, providing
        for the rewarding of persons employed and activated in critical sectors during the
        epidemic, sick pay and additional funds for already subsidised employments).
   - Measures to improve the social situation of people (waiving the payment of fees for
        public services that are not provided, solidarity bonuses for pensioners and others
        etc.).

4 Act on the Intervention Measures to Mitigate the Consequences of the Communicable Disease SARS-CoV-
2 (COVID-19) for Citizens and the Economy ('Zakon o interventnih ukrepih za zajezitev epidemije COVID-19 in
omilitev njenih posledic za državljane in gospodarstvo’), Official Journal No 49/2020, 10.4.2020
(http://www.pisrs.si/Pis.web/pregledPredpisa?id=ZAKO8190), as later amended.
5 Act on Additional Liquidity to the Economy to Mitigate the Effects of the COVID-19 Infectious Disease

Epidemic ('Zakon o zagotovitvi dodatne likvidnosti gospodarstvu za omilitev posledic epidemije COVID-19’), Official
Journal No 61/20, 30.4.2020 (http://www.pisrs.si/Pis.web/pregledPredpisa?id=ZAKO8197).
6.https://www.gov.si/en/topics/coronavirus-disease-covid-19/measures-to-mitigate-the-consequences-of-

the-epidemic/

    https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1561-8048/10944                                                                   3
    Barbara Kresal                                                            Italian Labour Law e-Journal
                                                                             Special Issue 1, Vol. 13 (2020)
                                                                Covid-19 and Labour Law. A Global Review
                                                                                  Section: National Reports




     - Measures to provide emergency assistance to self-employed persons (emergency
       assistance, basic monthly income, writing off contributions while maintaining rights,
       suspending the prepayment of income tax).
   - Measures to keep businesses in operation (all contributions for pension insurance of
       employees who work to be covered by the State).
   - Measures to improve the liquidity of businesses and provide assistance to scientific
       research projects aimed at fighting the epidemic.
   Among the most important intervention measures for the workers are the state-funded
wage compensations in cases of temporary lay-offs, cases when workers are not available for
work and cannot perform their work because of the caring responsibilities due to the closures
of the kindergartens and schools, as well as the tax and loan payment deferrals, bonuses for
essential staff, co-financing or deferral of social contributions payment, temporary basic
income for the self-employed, allowances for large families and students and other vulnerable
groups.


3. Health and Safety at Work

   National Institute of Public Health issued detailed sector-specific guidelines and
recommendations for the employers during the coronavirus outbreak7. Risk assessment has
to take into account these new risks and adequate measures must be introduced by the
employers. The Labour Inspectorate has been supervising whether health and safety
measures are respected by the employers also as regards these new coronavirus related risks
at work8.
   Workers in hospitals, in health care sector, care workers in homes for the elderly, shop-
assistants, cleaners etc., who have to work at their regular workplaces also during the
coronavirus epidemic and are exposed to a higher risk of infection, are entitled to the wage
supplement according to the existing labour legislation and collective agreements in force,
up to a 100%, depending on the sector of activity.
   An allowance for performing hazardous work and for higher workloads during the
coronavirus epidemic has also been introduced by the temporary intervention measures –
this allowance being publicly funded (employers are exempt from paying the pension
insurance contributions during the epidemic and this new allowance will be funded from the
funds based on the contributions exemptions): workers in the private sector with their wage
below the triple Slovenian gross minimum wage who are exposed to higher health risks or
have higher workloads due to the coronavirus epidemic are entitled to an allowance in the
amount of 200 EUR.
   In practice, the trade unions and some non-governmental organisations warned that
certain employers violate the health safety rules and that the workers – especially construction
workers – are not adequately protected against the risk of infection with the new coronavirus.

7 https://www.nijz.si/sl/navodila-za-delovne-organizacije-v-zvezi-z-novim-koronavirusom-sars-cov-2
8 Labour Inspectorate of the Republic of Slovenia (https://www.gov.si/novice/2020-04-10-delodajalci-so-
tudi-v-casu-epidemije-dolzni-izvajati-vse-ukrepe-za-varnost-in-zdravje-delavcev/).

    https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1561-8048/10944                                                           4
    Barbara Kresal                                                             Italian Labour Law e-Journal
                                                                              Special Issue 1, Vol. 13 (2020)
                                                                 Covid-19 and Labour Law. A Global Review
                                                                                   Section: National Reports




4. School Closures and Work-life Balance

   Working parents have been faced with quite a challenge when the schools and
kindergartens closed due to the epidemic and every organised group childcare was prohibited
as of 16 March 2020. An increased care burden of the working parents due to the closure of
schools and all childcare facilities had to be combined with teleworking at home. Besides,
there are workers that have to work at their regular workplaces. If a workers was not able to
organise childcare at home (for example, another parent working at home), he or she was
entitled, according to the existing labour law rules, to stay at home with the compensation of
50% of the previous salary, but not less than 70% of the national minimum wage, this
compensation being paid by the employer.
   The intervention measures of the anti-coronavirus package introduced the right of such
working parents to the compensation of 80% of their previous salary during the time they
are not available to work because they have to care for their children at home (wage
compensation in the same amount as in case the workers are staying at home on a temporary
lay-off due to the closure of the enterprise or lack of work); besides, this compensation is
now partially subsidised by the State in the same manner as the compensation in case of the
temporary lay-off (40% funded by the Stare, 60% by the employer).



5. Special Measures for the Self-Employed and Other Vulnerable Groups

    The self-employed are particularly vulnerable group hit hard by the coronavirus epidemic
crisis. The anti-coronavirus package introduced different measures specifically for the self-
employed, as well as for certain other vulnerable groups.
    One of the most important measures from the package is the emergency assistance. The
self-employed who declare themselves affected by the crisis (their income has declined by at
least certain percent in comparison to the previous year and/or previous months) can apply
for the temporary basic income during the crisis, in the amount of 350 EUR for March, 700
EUR for April and May 2020. Besides, their social security contributions are covered by the
State.
    However, the trade unions and some non-governmental organisations have warned that
not all vulnerable groups were covered by these special government measures and that certain
groups have been left out9.




9   https://www.zsss.si/korona-virus/javni-pozivi-apeli-pisma/

    https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1561-8048/10944                                                            5
     Barbara Kresal                                                                Italian Labour Law e-Journal
                                                                                  Special Issue 1, Vol. 13 (2020)
                                                                     Covid-19 and Labour Law. A Global Review
                                                                                       Section: National Reports




6. The Lack of Social Dialogue

    It is interesting to note, that the first intervention measures were prepared and introduced
by the Government in the absence of any social dialogue. Trade unions and employers’
associations presented their views, their proposals and suggestions for improvements,
however, the classical social dialogue was missing. Certain proposals of the social partners
were later taken into account by the Government.
    It is worth to note that in some areas, the Government amended the initial package
adhering to the trade unions demands; for instance, after the trade unions critiques that all
workers have to be covered by the intervention measures, also the workers who had lost
their jobs due to the coronavirus outbreak before entering into force of the new law
(introducing the substantial state-funded wage subsidies and other measures), the respective
law was amended in a way that certain measures applied retroactively since the day the
epidemic had been declared10. Also, certain vulnerable groups were additionally covered by
the measures after the trade-unions interventions.


      7. Conclusion

   Already the existing labour legislation11 offered the legal basis for certain measures as an
adequate response to the impact of the coronavirus epidemic on employment and workers’
rights. For example, the existing labour legislation regulates the home-/teleworking and
corresponding workers’ rights and therefore, the wide immediate introduction of teleworking
arrangements for lots of workers already at the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak did
not face any major obstacles. As a result, lots of people work from home with their labour
rights not being threatened. The existing labour legislation also regulates temporary lay-offs
and the right of the workers to the compensation during this time in the amount of 80% of
their previous salary12. Workers with family responsibilities who were faced with closures of
schools and needed to stay at home for taking care of their children are also – already on the
basis of the existing labour legislation – entitled to the wage compensation at least in the
amount of 50% of their previous salary, but not less than 70% of the national minimum wage
(in Slovenia, the minimum wage amounts to approx. 940 EUR gross and 700 EUR net in
2020)13. Workers exposed to higher health and safety risks at work during the coronavirus
outbreak (for example in hospitals etc.) are entitled to a special wage supplement for

10   ILO, Country policy responses: Slovenia (https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/coronavirus/country-
responses/lang--en/index.htm#SI).
11 Employment Relationships Act ('Zakon o delovnih razmerjih'), Official Journal No 21/2013, as later amended

(http://www.pisrs.si/Pis.web/pregledPredpisa?id=ZAKO5944).
12 The anti-coronavirus intervention package additionally introduced partial State-funded reimbursement of

employer's costs in this respect, thus preventing the dismissals and promoting the introduction of this measure
or the introduction of short-time work by the employers.
13 The anti-coronavirus intervention package additionally introduced equal treatment of those workers with the

workers who stayed at home without work due to the lack of work or closure of the entreprise, i.e. due to the
economic reasons (80% wage compensaton instead of only 50%) with the same partial State-funded
reimbursement of employer's costs in this respect.

     https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1561-8048/10944                                                               6
     Barbara Kresal                                                                      Italian Labour Law e-Journal
                                                                                        Special Issue 1, Vol. 13 (2020)
                                                                           Covid-19 and Labour Law. A Global Review
                                                                                             Section: National Reports




hazardous circumstances already on the basis of the existing sectoral collective agreements.
And so on. Nevertheless, specific measures were needed and the measures in the anti-
coronavirus packages offer certain additional support for the employment and workers’
rights in times of coronavirus epidemic. However, there are still deficiencies. Not all
vulnerable workers are covered, the supervision by labour inspectorates seems to be
insufficient in practice, the long-term measures are still lacking, because certain sectors will
not recover very easily.
    The major problem, nevertheless, seems to be the precarisation of labour that has been
going on already since the decades14. A lot of people work outside the regular employment
relationship and thus without adequate labour law protection. The current coronavirus only
revealed the already existing fundamental problems in the world of work and the need to
change the paradigms, to strengthen solidarity, equality and social-ecological sustainable
development, and to guarantee adequate protection also to the most vulnerable in our
societies.




Copyright © 2020 Barbara Kresal. This article is released under a Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 International License




14On precarious work in Slovenia see, for example, Senčur Peček, D., Franca, V., From student work to false self-
employment: how to combat precarious work in Slovenia?, in Kenner, J. et al. (eds), Precarious Work – The Challenge for
Labour Law in Europe. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham 2019, 114–132; and Kresal Šoltes, K., Strban, G.Domadenik,
P. (eds.), Prekarno delo : multidisciplinarna analiza (‘Precarious Work : Multidisciplinary Analsysis’), Pravna
fakulteta/Ekonomska fakulteta, Ljubljana, 2020.


     https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1561-8048/10944                                                                     7
