SLOVENIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Jernej Jeraj and Katja Triller Vrtovec, PFP Law
together by several workers filing independent law - suits in individual labour disputes. Court Representation In proceedings before the courts of first and sec - ond instance, only attorneys or individuals who have passed the state bar exam may act as authorised representatives. In cases involving extraordinary legal remedies before the Supreme Court, a party may also be represented by a trade union representative, an association of insured persons or an employer’s rep - resentative, provided that the organisation employs the representative to represent its members and has passed the state bar exam. 9.2 Alternative Dispute Resolution In Slovenia, mediation is a common method for resolv - ing individual disputes between workers and employ - ers, and is actively encouraged by the courts. In indi - vidual disputes, the parties can voluntarily enter into a mediation process at the start of the court procedure, and have a maximum of three months to reach an ami - cable solution before the judicial procedure continues.
Arbitration is less popular due to its expense, so it is mostly used in collective disputes and conflicts between employers and works councils. The proce - dure is regulated by ZKolT, with two possible types of disputes: • an interest dispute, when a collective labour dispute arises from differing interests of the par - ties regarding the conclusion, supplementation or amendment of a collective agreement; or • a rights dispute, when the parties disagree on the interpretation or implementation of the provisions of an existing collective agreement, or when one of the parties claims a violation of the agreement. A list of conciliation experts for individual cases is established by the Minister for Labour, based on rec - ommendations from unions and employer associa - tions. 9.3 Costs A special rule applies to legal costs in labour and social disputes. The courts usually require the employer to cover all costs associated with presenting evidence, even if the employee does not entirely prevail in the litigation and has not incurred any special costs as a result.
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