Work and Wages
Minimum Wage
Workers cannot be paid less than the minimum wage, which is the lowest remuneration that an employer should pay to the employee according to the degree of work difficulty of the relevant job. The minimum wage in Slovakia is determined by the Economic and Social Council of the Slovak Republic, created under an Act of 2007 (103/2007), to consult on important issues of interest for workers and employers, mainly to economic, social, working and wage conditions, employment conditions and business conditions. The social partners (with seven representatives each from the Government, workers and employers’ side) have to come up with a recommendation about the minimum wage level in the country. If the social partners cannot agree on the level, the government decides the level of minimum wage in the country unilaterally by considering the growth rate of the average monthly minimum wage in the previous year. Wages of an employee can also be set through a collective agreement or an employment contract, provided that these are not less than the minimum wage.
Minimum wage is determined by taking into account the needs of workers and their families (subsistence level), cost of living (consumer prices), level of wages and incomes in the country (average wages), economic development (socio-economic situation) and level of employment for the last two years.
If the minimum wage of a worker is not determined through a collective bargaining agreement, the employer is required to pay the employee the minimum wage that is determined in accordance with the difficulty of the position. The scale of job difficulty ranges from level 01, the basic minimum wage, to level 4 (1.6 times the minimum wage) to level 6 (double the minimum wage). Employer is required to assign each job to a degree (1-6) according to the characteristics of job difficulty. Employers are also required to provide a wage supplement to the workers to make up the difference between the agreed wages and the wage claim.
The hourly minimum wage is one 174th of the monthly minimum wage and is rounded to three decimal places. For part-time work, or where the employee does not work all working days in the month, the monthly minimum wage is reduced in proportion to the time worked and rounded to the nearest EUR 0.10. The hourly minimum wage is tied to a 40-hour working week; where weekly working time is shorter than 40 hours, the hourly rate is adjusted proportionately and rounded to three decimal places.
If an employee works the full working time set by the employer and the wage paid for that month still falls below the minimum wage, the employer must pay a supplement equal to the shortfall. In checking whether the minimum wage has been reached, the law leaves out specified wage elements and periods, including overtime pay, certain wage premiums and inactive on-call time.
The minimum wage is negotiated each year under statutory deadlines. If no agreement is reached between employer and employee representatives, the matter goes to the Economic and Social Council. Any agreement is submitted to the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family, and the annual amount must then be published in the Collection of Laws within the statutory deadline. If there is no agreement, the monthly minimum wage for the following calendar year is set by law at 60% of the average nominal monthly wage in the Slovak economy for two years earlier, rounded up to whole euros. The Ministry must also review the adequacy of the minimum wage at least once every four years. Act No. 289/2024 Coll., transposes EU Directive 2022/2041 on adequate minimum wages. It increases the automatic minimum-wage formula from 57% to 60% of the average wage (applying from 2026 onward).
Compliance with provisions of the Labour Code, including minimum wage, is ensured by the National Labour Inspectorate, which is a body under the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic. A worker may contract a trade union at the workplace or send a direct complaint to the Labour Inspectorate. The labour inspectorate is authorised to impose a fine for violation of obligations (as defined in the scope of the Inspectorate), including wages and working conditions, and for violations of obligations implied by collective agreements. The amount of fine may be up to €100,000.
Source: §119 & 120 of the Labour Code No. 311/2001; §6-8 of the Minimum Wage Act (Regulation No. 663/2007); §2 and 19 of the Labour Inspection Act No. 125/2006 Coll.
For updated minimum wage rates, kindly refer to the section on minimum wage.
For updated minimum wage rates, kindly refer to the section on minimum wage.
Regular Pay
The Labour Code allows employers to pay wages in kind except in the case of minimum wages. The wages in kind may be provided only with the consent of the employee and under conditions agreed with the worker.
The wage period in the Slovak Republic is one month, and employers are required to pay wages to their workers no later than the end of the following calendar month unless otherwise agreed in the collective agreement or individual employment contract. If a wage is due while the worker is on leave, the employer should pay this wage to the worker before the commencement of leave, if requested by the employee. Wages have to be paid in monetary form. Wages are paid on agreed payment days; however, the employer may provide a wage advance prior to the wage payment day. Wages have to be paid during working hours and at the workplace.
Employees are also eligible for wage compensation for work in difficult conditions if a competent public health body has placed such activities in the third or fourth categories, and where the intensity of environmental factors requires that the employee use personal protective equipment. Employees are entitled to wage compensation (of at least 20% of the minimum wage in Euros per hour) if their work is affected by chemical, carcinogenic & mutagenic, biological, dust and physical factors, which include sound, vibration and ionising radiation.
The employer must first make the mandatory deductions: social insurance, health insurance advances and any annual health-insurance shortfall, employee supplementary pension contributions where applicable, and income tax deductions, including tax advances and arrears. After that, deductions are limited to the items listed in the Labour Code, such as repayable wage advances, enforcement deductions, enforceable fines or compensation, recoverable benefit overpayments, unaccounted travel advances, certain repayable wage compensations, repayable severance, and unaccounted meal contributions. Any other deduction requires either a written wage-deduction agreement or a duty imposed by special legislation, and all deductions must remain within statutory limits.
Source: §124-132 of the Labour Code No. 311/2001
Regulations on Work and Wages
- Zákonník práce č. 311/2001 Z. z. / Labour Code No. 311/2001
- Zákon o minimálnej mzde (Nariadenie č. 663/2007) / Minimum Wage Act (Regulation No. 663/2007)
- Zákon o inšpekcii práce č. 125/2006 Z. z. / Labour Inspection Act No. 125/2006 Coll.
