SLOVENIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Jernej Jeraj and Katja Triller Vrtovec, PFP Law
of arranging protection, legal and other procedures, and addressing the consequences of domestic vio - lence. Confidentiality and Non-disparagement Requirements An employee has a general obligation to refrain from any actions that materially or morally harm or could harm the business interests of the employer, given the nature of the work performed for the employer. In addition, the employee must not use for personal purposes or disclose to a third party the employer’s trade secrets, which are designated as such by the employer, and which were entrusted to the employee or became known to the employee in another way. There are no specific statutory limitations for confi - dentiality and non-disparagement agreements in this regard. Slovenian labour law recognises statutory non-com - pete prohibition and contractual non-compete claus - es. The first apply to the duration of the employment agreement and prohibit the employee from engag - ing in any activities that might be competitive to the employer’s business during the employment (excep - tions are subject to employer’s explicit approval), while the latter apply only if they have been explicitly and validly agreed upon in the employment contract and apply to the post-employment period. 2. Restrictive Covenants 2.1 Non-Competes If an employee breaches a statutory prohibition against competitive activities during their employment, the employer may seek compensation for damages caused by the employee’s actions. This claim must be filed within three months of the day the employer becomes aware of the violation, but it cannot be later than three years after the employment ends or the transaction is completed. A (post-)contractual non-compete clause may be agreed upon in writing for a period not exceeding two years after the termination of the employment con - tract, and only for cases of termination of the employ - ment contract by mutual agreement between the par -
ties, due to regular termination by the employee or termination for cause by the employer. If compliance with the non-compete clause prevents the employee from earning an income comparable to their previous salary, the employer must pay the employee a monthly monetary compensation for the entire duration of the prohibition. The monetary compensation for compliance with the non-compete clause must be stipulated in the employment contract and must amount to at least one-third of the employ - ee’s average monthly salary in the last three months before the termination of the employment contract. If the monetary compensation for compliance with the non-compete clause is not stipulated in the employ - ment contract, the non-compete clause is not valid. The employer and the employee may mutually agree to terminate the validity of the non-compete clause. If an employee terminates their employment contract due to a serious breach by the employer, the non- compete clause will no longer be valid. To ensure this, the employee must provide written notice to the former employer within one month of terminating the employment contract, stating that the non-compete clause does not bind them. The legal representatives of the employer may be sub - ject to additional non-compete obligations in accord - ance with the provisions of Slovenian corporate law. These restrictions are separate from the non-compete obligations under employment law and are not dis - cussed here. 2.2 Non-Solicits Non-solicitation clauses aim to prevent employees from actively recruiting their colleagues from their (former) employers. Such contractual clauses are relatively rare in employment contracts and are usu - ally agreed upon only with managerial workers and executives. It is questionable whether they would be enforceable in case of dispute, as Slovenian employ - ment law allows for a rather limited number of restric - tions pertaining to the post-contractual obligations of an employee. Such clauses might also be agreed upon with an employer’s business partners (customers). As they
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