SLOVENIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Jernej Jeraj and Katja Triller Vrtovec, PFP Law
period and severance pay as in the case of termina - tion for business reasons. Termination because of employee’s fault For termination due to the employee’s fault (material breach of contractual obligations), the employer must first issue a written warning within 60 days of dis - covering the violation, and no later than six months after the violation occurred, informing the employee that their employment contract can be terminated if they conduct similar or other material violations of the employment agreement within six months after receiv - ing the warning letter. This period can be extended to up to 18 months by collective bargaining agreements for the respective sector. The written warning needs to be justified (in the same way as the termination). After receiving the written warning, the employee can request the employer to allow them to present their arguments in a hearing, and the employer must schedule a hearing within 30 days from receiving such a request (but not sooner than three working days afterwards). Based on such a hearing, the employer adopts a final decision on the warning letter. An issued (and justified) warning letter is a precondi - tion for a later ordinary termination of the employee’s employment agreement due to the employee’s fault. Conversely, the later material violation must be com - mitted within a “probation period” stated in the warn - ing letter. For the termination, the employer must issue a separate written accusation and invite the employee to a hearing where the employee can present argu - ments and evidence in their favour. After the hearing, the employer decides whether to proceed with issuing the termination notice. The same 60-day/six-month deadline applies as for the warning letter. Extraordinary dismissal In the case of extraordinary dismissal due to fault reasons (described in more detail in 7.3 Dismissal for (Serious) Cause ), no previous warning letter is required. This termination ground is reserved for the most material violations only. In such cases, the employer must act very quickly, as the termination must be issued within 30 days after the competent representatives of the employer learn of the termina -
tion reasons and not later than six months after the respective violations occurred. Also in this proceeding, the employee has a right to a hearing (based on previ - ous confrontation with the accusations against them), except where the nature of the violations is such that the employer cannot reasonably be expected to grant the employee a hearing (in cases of personal assaults, longer absences from work without cause, etc). In the case of termination due to the employee’s fault, the employee is not entitled to severance pay. A 15-day notice period applies in the case of ordinary termination for fault reasons. Termination for ordinary reasons In the case of an employee’s termination for ordinary reasons (without cause), no special formal require - ments apply. The termination needs to be in writing and served to the employer. The notice period cannot be longer than 60 days, except in the termination of an employer’s legal representatives, for which different notice periods can be agreed upon. Employment contract In the employment contract, the worker and the employer may agree on a probationary period of six months at most, during which time the worker may terminate the employment contract with seven days’ notice. If the employer determines during or at the end of the probationary period that the worker has not successfully completed the probation, the employer may terminate the employment contract with seven days’ notice. Termination by Operation of Law The employment contract terminates by operation of law in the following two circumstances: • on the date the worker is served with a decision confirming a Category I disability or the decision granting the right to a disability pension becomes final; or • on the date of expiration of the single permit or the seasonal work permit, if a foreigner or a stateless person concludes the employment contract.
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