Slovakia to extend higher collective agreements

Higher Collective Agreements

The extension of industry and sector level collective agreements to all employers in the same industry or sector is the common way for regulating collective employment conditions. This is used regularly in many European countries, although specifics differ within the EU.

As opposed to a company collective agreement (applicable to a single employer and its employees), a higher collective agreement (HCA) covers the employment conditions of more employers and employees in the same industry or sector (e.g. construction, automotive, financing, transport). The purpose of the extension is to ensure that working conditions from an already concluded HCA apply to a third party, which was not originally a party to such an agreement. Usually, an HCA or its parties must be representative enough (e.g. by the percentage of the employees covered) to justify an extension to other employers in the same industry.

In Slovakia, the implementation of this method is a never-ending story of changes, amendments, re-amendments. The possibility of the extension of HCA was first introduce in 1991. Since then, the law was amended several times, changing from a pro-employer (i.e. no automatic extension) to a pro-trade union approach (i.e. automatic extension). On three occasions the HCA extension was the subject of a proceeding before the Slovak Constitutional Court.

The option of automatic extension of HCAs was once more reintroduced in January 2017, only to be cancelled in March 2021.

Draft law

The proposed legislation that the Ministry of Labour announced in March 2024  is drafted based on the concept of a “representative” HCA. The law is expected to set clear criteria when a collective agreement is considered representative. After a HCA is concluded, the Ministry of Labour and a tripartite committee will check to determine if all conditions are fulfilled.

If the criteria are met, the HCA will be automatically binding on the other employers in the same industry or sector after its publication in the Collection of Laws. Based on submissions from a relevant party, a court may review if the procedure was done correctly.

As in the past, certain groups of employers will be protected against the HCA extension (e.g. employers with less than 20 employees, newly established companies). While the draft of law is still in the preparation phase, the Ministry presumes that the law should be effective from January 2025.

For more information on this draft legislation and HCAs in Slovakia, contact your CMS client partner or these CMS experts.