How do you terminate an employee in Slovakia in 2026?
Agree the exit and you pay more, not less. A Slovakia employee with 20 years of service gets 5 months average earnings when both sides sign, against 4 months on a dismissal with notice. The severance schedule sits in the Labour Code, and so does the agreement bonus.
· Slovakia guide
Illustration · Bratislava, Slovakia
Slovakia ties notice to service. The floor is 1 month. It rises to 2 months after one year and 3 months after five.
Severance is owed when you dismiss for redundancy or long-term ill health. It runs from 1 month of average earnings at two years up to 4 months past twenty years. End it by agreement and each band pays one step more.
Get the dismissal wrong and a court can order back pay. Where the employee insists on staying, the bill reaches 36 months of wages. (Labour Code, s.79)
What counts as a valid reason to dismiss in Slovakia?
You need a reason that the Labour Code lists. You cannot end a permanent contract at will. The grounds include redundancy, an organisational change, long-term ill health, poor performance, and serious misconduct.
The reason has to be stated in writing in the notice. A vague notice fails. Pick the wrong ground and a later dismissal claim becomes much harder to defend. (Labour Code, s.63)
Slovakia runs on the Labour Code, Act No. 311/2001 Coll. A permanent employee can only be dismissed for one of the grounds set out in Section 63, and the employer must put that ground in writing when it serves the notice.
Grounds a Slovak employer can use
- Redundancy or organisational change, where the role or the workplace is genuinely closing or restructuring
- Long-term loss of health capacity, confirmed by a medical assessment
- Failure to meet job requirements, including unsatisfactory work results after a written warning to improve
- Serious breach of work discipline, which can support immediate dismissal in the worst cases
- Conduct that no longer meets the conditions for the role, for example loss of a licence the job needs
The ground you choose drives the money. Severance under Section 76 is owed when you dismiss for redundancy, organisational change, or long-term health loss. A dismissal for misconduct or poor performance carries notice but no statutory severance. Dismissal for pregnancy, trade-union activity, or whistleblowing is illegal whatever the stated ground. Slovakia kept its whistleblower protection office in place after an EU funding dispute in March 2026, so retaliation claims remain live.
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Pick a valid ground
Anchor the dismissal to a Section 63 ground: redundancy, organisational change, long-term health loss, poor performance, or serious misconduct. The ground drives whether severance is owed.
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Warn before performance dismissals
For unsatisfactory work results, give a written warning to improve first. Skip it and a poor-performance dismissal is hard to defend later.
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Consult representatives where required
Where a works council or union represents the staff, consult them before serving notice. Group redundancies add a Labour Office notification.
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Serve written notice with the reason
Deliver the notice in writing and state the ground inside it. Notice runs from the first day of the next calendar month.
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Settle severance and final pay
Calculate the severance multiple, add accrued leave, and run it through the final-month payroll. Consider an agreement where the enhanced rate fits.
How much notice must you give a Slovakia employee?
Notice scales with length of service. The minimum is 1 month. It becomes 2 months once the employee has worked at least one year. Past five years it is 3 months.
Notice runs from the first day of the calendar month after you deliver it. Hand the letter over on the 20th and the clock starts on the 1st. (Labour Code, s.62)
| Length of service at the dismissal date | Minimum employer notice |
|---|---|
| Less than one year | 1 month |
| One year to under five years | 2 months |
| Five years or more | 3 months |
These are the floors in Section 62 of the Labour Code. A contract or collective agreement can set longer notice, never shorter. The longer bands apply to dismissals for redundancy, organisational change, or long-term health loss; other grounds still carry the 1 month minimum.
Notice during probation
The notice rules above do not apply during the trial period. Either side can end the contract during probation in writing, with no statutory notice and no reason required, ideally three days before the last day. The trial period runs to a maximum of 3 months for a standard employee and 6 months for an executive who reports to the statutory body. It cannot be prolonged once agreed.
How is Slovakia severance calculated?
Severance is owed when you dismiss for redundancy, organisational change, or long-term ill health. It is paid as a multiple of average monthly earnings, set by length of service.
The schedule starts at 1 month of average earnings after two years and reaches 4 months past twenty years. Dismissals for misconduct or poor performance carry no statutory severance.
Section 76 of the Labour Code sets the severance allowance for dismissals on redundancy, organisational change, or long-term health grounds. The figure is a multiple of the employee's average monthly earnings, and the multiple climbs with completed years of service.
Severance on a dismissal with notice
| Length of service | Severance, dismissal with notice |
|---|---|
| Two years to under five years | 1 month average earnings |
| Five years to under ten years | 2 months average earnings |
| Ten years to under twenty years | 3 months average earnings |
| Twenty years or more | 4 months average earnings |
Less than two years of service means no statutory severance on a dismissal with notice. Severance is on top of the pay due across the notice period itself, so a five-year employee works through 3 months of notice and then collects 2 months of average earnings as severance.
The agreement bonus
End the contract by written agreement on the same grounds and every band pays one step higher. A twenty-year employee who signs an agreement receives 5 months of average earnings, against 4 months on a dismissal with notice. Slovakia is unusual here: the negotiated exit is the more expensive one, because the extra month buys you out of the notice period and the dismissal-claim risk that comes with it.
Are there extra rules for group redundancies in Slovakia?
Yes. A redundancy that hits a set number of people inside thirty days triggers a collective process. You must inform and consult employee representatives before any notice goes out.
You also notify the Labour Office. Skip the consultation and the dismissals can be ruled invalid, which reopens the wage-compensation exposure.
Before a collective redundancy, the employer must consult employee representatives and notify the Labour Office in writing. Each affected employee dismissed for redundancy with notice is still owed the Section 76 severance, from 1 month of average earnings at two years up to 4 months past twenty.
The collective-redundancy duties under the Labour Code sit on top of the individual severance and notice rules. They apply when the number of dismissals over a thirty-day window crosses the statutory headcount thresholds, which step up with the size of the workforce.
Where a works council or a trade union represents your staff, you consult them on the reasons, the numbers, the selection method, and the steps that might reduce the impact. The consultation has to be genuine and it has to happen before notices are served, not after the decision is final.
What the consultation must cover
- The reasons for the planned redundancies
- The number and categories of employees affected
- The criteria used to select who goes
- The measures considered to avoid or limit the redundancies
- The way severance and other entitlements will be settled
The Labour Office notification is a hard step. Employers who serve notices without it risk a finding that the dismissals are invalid, which carries the same wage-compensation exposure as any other unlawful dismissal.
Can you agree a mutual exit in Slovakia?
Yes, and on redundancy or health grounds it pays more than a dismissal. A written termination agreement under Section 76 lifts each severance band by one step.
Both sides sign a dated agreement. It records the leaving date, the reason, and the final payments. A clean agreement closes off a later dismissal claim.
Termination by agreement is the route most Slovak employers reach for when the relationship has run its course. Both parties sign a written agreement that fixes the end date and the terms. Where the underlying reason is redundancy, organisational change, or long-term health loss, the agreement carries the enhanced severance under Section 76 of the Labour Code.
What a Slovakia mutual exit usually settles:
- The leaving date, agreed rather than driven by the 3 months notice clock
- Severance, at the enhanced agreement rate, reaching 5 months of average earnings at twenty years of service
- Accrued annual leave, paid out for the days not taken
- Any agreed extra payment, where the parties want to settle above the legal minimum
- Reference wording, agreed in advance and attached to the agreement
The reason matters. If the agreement does not state a Section 76 ground, it is treated as an ordinary mutual exit and the enhanced severance does not apply. State the redundancy or health ground in the agreement where it is the real cause, so the employee gets the band they are due and the exit holds up.
On final pay timing, Slovakia pays wages monthly in arrears, due by the end of the calendar month after the one worked. Severance and the final salary fall into that same cycle. Get the agreement signed before the last working day so the payroll run settles everything cleanly.
How Teamed runs Slovakia terminations
Teamed is your legal employer of record in Slovakia. The cost is from $599 per employee per month, with zero FX mark-up in any currency. Every Slovakia termination runs through Teamed's operations team.
You decide who leaves and why. We handle the ground selection, the notice maths, the severance multiple, the Labour Office step, and the final payroll. It all runs on one platform.
Real HR and legal experts handle your Slovakia hires, from the first contract through every monthly payroll run and statutory deduction. An actual person, not a chatbot or a pooled queue. There is no setup fee and no exit fee, and employer cost passes through at cost, itemised on every invoice.
The split of responsibilities under EOR for Slovakia terminations:
| What Teamed handles | What you decide |
|---|---|
| Notice from 1 month up to 3 months, set by service | Whether to dismiss, on what ground, and on what timeline |
| Section 63 ground selection and the written notice record | Performance standards and what counts as misconduct |
| Severance maths from 1 month to 4 months of average earnings | Whether to offer an agreement at the enhanced rate |
| Collective consultation and the Labour Office notification | Communication with the wider team |
| Accrued annual leave payout and final-month payroll | Reference wording and any extra settlement payment |
| Wage compensation exposure tracking up to 36 months of pay | The commercial terms of any mutual exit |
The agreement bonus is easy to miss. A dismissal with notice at twenty years pays 4 months of average earnings, while the same exit by agreement pays 5 months. We model both before you commit, so the cheaper route is a choice and not an accident.
EOR, contractors, and entity employees all live on one platform. A Slovakia hire through Teamed's network can graduate to your own Slovak entity when headcount makes that the right call, until it isn't. Run the Crossover Calculator to see when the model flips. Start from the Slovakia hiring overview.
Key sources: Labour Code Act No. 311/2001 Coll. and the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic.
Frequently asked questions
How much notice must you give a Slovakia employee in 2026?
Notice depends on length of service. The minimum is 1 month. It rises to 2 months once the employee has at least one year of service, and to 3 months from five years. Notice runs from the first day of the calendar month after you deliver it, under Section 62 of the Labour Code. A contract can set longer notice but never shorter.
Is severance pay mandatory in Slovakia?
For dismissals on redundancy, organisational change, or long-term health grounds, yes. Section 76 of the Labour Code pays 1 month of average earnings at two to five years of service, 2 months at five to ten, 3 months at ten to twenty, and 4 months past twenty. Dismissals for misconduct or poor performance carry no statutory severance.
Why does a mutual agreement pay more severance in Slovakia?
The Labour Code adds one band to the severance figure when employment ends by written agreement on redundancy or health grounds. A twenty-year employee who signs an agreement gets 5 months of average earnings, against 4 months on a dismissal with notice. The extra month buys the employer out of the notice period and the risk of a dismissal claim.
What is the maximum probation period in Slovakia?
The trial period runs to a maximum of 3 months for a standard employee and 6 months for an executive who reports directly to the statutory body. It cannot be prolonged once agreed. During probation either side can end the contract in writing with no statutory notice and no reason required.
What happens if a Slovakia dismissal is ruled invalid?
A court can find the dismissal invalid where the ground is wrong or the procedure failed. Where the employee insists on keeping the job, Section 79 of the Labour Code allows wage compensation for up to 36 months, though a court may reduce the part above twelve months. That is on top of any severance still owed, which is why getting the ground and the procedure right matters.
The Slovakia mistake we see most is forcing a dismissal when an agreement would have been cleaner and cheaper to defend. On redundancy and health grounds the agreement pays one band higher, and that extra month buys out the notice period and the dismissal-claim risk. Model both before you serve any notice.
In Slovakia the friendly exit costs more on paper and less in practice.
A twenty-year employee gets 5 months of pay by agreement, against 4 months on a dismissal with notice.
The extra month buys out the notice clock and the risk of a claim worth up to 36 months of wages.
Know which route is cheaper before you start the conversation.
