Do you post workers abroad? Do you employ posted workers? Watch out, you have new obligations.
In November 2015, the Slovak Parliament adopted Act No. 351/2015 Coll. on cross-border cooperation in the posting of workers in the framework of the provision of services (“Act”), thus implementing Directive 2014/67/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council. The Act aims to deepen cooperation between EU authorities on providing information and control during cross-border posting of workers and to set administrative requirements for employers in order to ensure an adequate level of protection of posted workers’ rights under the law of the member state where they are posted. The overview below covers changes which need to be considered from 18 June 2016.
Are you an employer posting workers?
You are an employer posting workers if you post workers as a so-called foreign employer or domestic employer. A foreign employer is an employer from the EU (but not from Slovakia) who is posting a worker to Slovakia. A domestic employer is a Slovak employer who is posting a worker to another EU member state.
Foreign employer
A foreign employer must report to the Slovak National Labour Inspectorate (“NLI”) no later than the day of posting the worker to Slovakia the legally specified information (such as estimated number of posted workers, duration of posting, place and type of work or identification data of the contact person for delivery of documents who must be present in Slovakia during the posting period).
Foreign employers must also archive a posted worker’s employment contract at their workplace, keep and archive records on their working hours and pay slips during the posting period. These documents must be delivered upon request to the Labour Inspectorate together with a translation into Slovak.
The final requirement is to verify upon request to the service provider that the worker has been paid at least a wage that corresponds to minimum wage in the state of posting.
Domestic employer
A domestic employer must inform the NLI of facts related to the posting of a worker abroad. With this information the NLI should be able to cooperate more flexibly with the control authorities of the state of posting of the worker.
A posting agreement with a worker must comply at least with the minimum requirements on contents specified in the Act.
However, check if you have any further obligations in the EU member state where you are posting your worker. The chances are that local legislation will specify even more duties.
For more information on the changes introduced by the Act, see our upcoming newsletter.