Slovakia: The end of trust-based working hours in Slovakia?

The Slovak Labour Code explicitly stipulates the employer's obligation to maintain evidence of working hours, overtime, night work, and active and inactive times of on-call time for all employees. The evidence must record the start and end of the period in which the employee performed work or had an ordered or agreed on-call service. During temporary assignments, the employer keeps evidence at the workplace of the temporarily assigned employee.

The evidence of the statutory work breaks within the framework of the shift performed is not explicitly prescribed.

The precise form of recording working hours is not established by law, but the evidence must be clear and verifiable. The evidence is used for processing wages and salaries in particular. The supervisory bodies may review the manner of recording working hours and impose sanctions in the event of defects.

According to the decision of the Federal Labour Court dated 13/09/2022, we do not see any need for adjustment for the national legal system in Slovakia because the obligation imposed by the ECJ in the judgment of 14 May 2019 in the legal case C 55/18 (Federación de Servicios de Comisiones Obreras v. Deutsche Bank SAE) was fulfilled with regard to the recording of working hours.

Autor: Gabriela Janíková