What Severance Pay Rules Must Employers Follow in Slovakia?

Which Employees Qualify for Severance Pay?

• Employees whose employment is terminated by you for organizational reasons, such as redundancy or relocation, after at least two years of continuous service.
• Employees whose employment is terminated by you because they can no longer perform their work due to a work-related injury, occupational disease, or long-term health incapacity confirmed by a doctor.
• Employees who agree to terminate employment by mutual agreement for organizational or health reasons, where the agreement explicitly states the qualifying reason.
• Employees dismissed with notice for statutory reasons where the Labour Code links severance to length of service and the specific ground for termination.
• Employees whose fixed-term contracts are ended early by the employer for qualifying reasons, rather than simply expiring on the agreed date.
• Employees who do not resign voluntarily or are not dismissed for serious misconduct, as these situations generally do not trigger a right to statutory severance.

What Are the Legal Timelines for Paying Severance?

Under the Slovak Labour Code, severance must generally be paid at the latest on the regular payday following the termination of employment, unless you and the employee agree in writing on an earlier date. In practice, most employers pay severance together with the employee’s final salary and unused holiday compensation. You should calculate the amount based on the employee’s average earnings for the relevant period and confirm it in writing in the termination notice or agreement. Make sure payroll, HR, and finance teams coordinate so that all statutory and contractual severance is processed in the same pay cycle. Late or partial payment can expose your company to wage-claim disputes and labour inspectorate scrutiny.

What Penalties Apply if Severance Is Not Paid Correctly?

If your company fails to pay severance correctly in Slovakia, you risk both financial and reputational damage. Employees can challenge the termination, claim unpaid severance plus interest, and seek court enforcement. The labour inspectorate may also investigate and impose administrative fines for breaches of wage and termination rules. Non-compliance can complicate future restructurings and damage trust with your workforce and unions.

• The labour inspectorate can impose administrative fines for violations of Labour Code wage and severance provisions.
• Courts can order payment of outstanding severance plus statutory default interest.
• Improper termination may be ruled invalid, potentially leading to reinstatement and back pay.
• Disputes can trigger audits of your broader HR and payroll practices.
• Repeated breaches can harm your company’s reputation with regulators, employees, and candidates.

Does Outsourcing Employment via an EOR Change Severance Liability?

Using an Employer of Record (https://www.playroll.com/employer-of-record) in Slovakia does not remove the need to follow Slovak Labour Code severance rules, but it can shift day-to-day compliance work to the EOR provider. Legally, the EOR is the formal employer and is responsible for calculating, documenting, and paying severance when a qualifying termination occurs. Your company, as the client, typically decides when and why to end an assignment, so you still carry commercial and ethical responsibility. A well-drafted EOR agreement should clearly allocate who funds severance, how amounts are calculated, and how disputes are handled. You should review these terms carefully before any restructuring or large-scale termination.

Be 100 Percent Compliant in Offering Severance with Playroll

Managing Slovak severance correctly means tracking each employee’s length of service, reason for termination, and average earnings, then mapping those to the exact thresholds in the Labour Code. Playroll helps your team operationalize this by standardizing data collection, flagging when statutory severance is triggered, and aligning termination workflows with local legal requirements. That reduces the risk of underpayments, missed deadlines, or inconsistent treatment across your Slovak workforce.

With Playroll, you can also centralize documentation, from termination notices and mutual agreements to final payslips and severance calculations. Our platform and in-country experts keep pace with legislative changes, so your policies and templates stay current without constant manual updates. That lets your HR and finance teams focus on strategy while staying confident that severance and other end-of-employment obligations in Slovakia are handled compliantly.