SLOVENIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Jernej Jeraj and Katja Triller Vrtovec, PFP Law
years. Several exceptions apply. If the fixed-term agreement was concluded or extended contrary to the law, the employee has the right to seek its conver - sion into an indefinite-term employment. Special Types of Employment Agreements ZDR-1 also regulates some other specific types of contracts, such as: • those for the employment of agency workers; • agreements with self-employed, economically dependent persons who are personally perform - ing work for the contracting entity based on a civil law agreement (and receiving 80% of their annual income from the same contracting entity); • those relating to student work and work of children above the age of 15 (work under this age limit is permitted only exceptionally); and • special regimes that apply to posted workers. The law states that an employment relationship is considered to exist between parties if their relation - ship has all the necessary elements of an employment relationship, even if neither party intends to estab - lish such a relationship. This often applies to student work (where students work under comparable circum - stances to employed workers) and civil law contracts between self-employed persons and companies, as the parties often opt for such arrangements for tax reasons. 1.3 Working Hours Full-Time Work Full-time working hours must not exceed 40 hours per week. Exceptions apply to employment agree - ments with legal representatives and executives (see 1.1 Employee Status ). Specific laws or collective bargaining agreements can also determine shorter full working hours for individual industries or positions, but not less than 36 hours per week, except for positions with higher risks of injury or health impairments. Distribution of Working Hours As a rule, the working hours are evenly distributed, with the “national standard” still being five days per week and eight hours per day (including a paid break
of 30 minutes per eight hours). The parties can agree on a different distribution of working hours. In an even distribution of working hours (meaning that the regular number of working hours is the same every week), the working hours cannot be distributed to fewer than four or more than six days a week. The law also sets forth conditions under which the working hours can be unevenly distributed or tem - porarily redistributed (and limitations concerning daily and weekly breaks, which need to be consid - ered). In an uneven distribution of working hours, the weekly total must not exceed 56 hours. Employers are required to ensure that these working hours are balanced over a designated reference period, which cannot exceed six months unless extended by a col - lective bargaining agreement. The employer must determine the annual schedule of working hours (annual calendar) and notify employees (and workers’ unions if they exist on the employer’s level) in writing beforehand. The parties can also agree that the specific monthly/weekly working hours will be determined by periodic calendars, determined by the employer (under all applicable agreements and limitations). Even if the working hours are distributed unevenly, this does not mean that the employer can determine the working hours/schedules ad hoc, as the employees have the right to foreseeability of working hours in order to be able to plan their private lives. Special categories of workers (disabled workers, older employees, certain categories of parents, etc) enjoy protection, which prevents the employer from ordering them to work more than 40 hours per week (mean - ing that uneven distribution of their working hours is not possible if they are employed full-time) or to work overtime hours. ZDR-1 further regulates the right of employees to pro - pose a different allocation of working hours to bal - ance their professional and private lives. The employer must reply to such a request in writing and justify their refusal. Overtime Work Overtime work is viewed as an “extreme measure” by ZDR-1, and may be requested only in cases when the
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