Slovakia: State of Emergency from 25 November 2021
29.11.2021Company: Eversheds Sutherland, advokátní kancelář, s.r.o.
By a Government Decree no. 695 / 2021 a state of emergency has been declared. Imposed curfew applicable from 5:00 AM till 1:00 AM of the next day, effective from 25 November 2021 is restricting freedom of movement and residence.
Commute to work of an employee who due to nature of work cannot perform work from home is considered to be an exception, however employee needs a confirmation issued by the employer specifying the working hours and place of work.
Employer is entitled to unilaterally order home office, as well as employee is entitled to opt working from home, unless there are serious operational reasons.
Applicable from 29 November 2021 – Employers and Covid Pass Control
I. Obligation of the employer to inspect compliance with OTP regime
Public Health Office by issuing decree no. 264 / 2021 conditioned entry to the workplace with presenting of the COVID pass, therefore employer is obligated to inspect whether employee:
- is fully vaccinated or
- has overcame COVID-19 in the last 180 days or
- is tested.
Employee is considered tested in case of – negative result of COVID-19 test not older than 7 days from the collection.
In particular, the employer must accept the RT-PCR test, LAMP test, antigen test, nasal test.
If the employee refuses to provide the vaccination certificate or certificate that he overcame Covid-19 or refuses the option of free testing offered by the employer, the employer must not allow him to enter the workplace and perform work. This is considered as an obstacle to work on the part of the employee without entitlement to wage compensation, unless the emlployer and employee agree otherwise.
Employees performing work as well as person performing a work activity based on a contract according to the Commercial Code are for these purposes considered to be employees.
Exception from obligation to comply with OTP regime has a person, who does not come into contact with another person at the employer´s workplace.
II. Manual for Employee Testing issued by Ministry of Economy of the Slovak republic – in processing
Employer is obligated to provide a sufficient number of antigen self-tests, space for testing and entrusts an authorized person with the supervision of self-testing of employees.
An authorized person:
- is a person authorized by the employer and does not have to meet any other requirements,
- have to keep keeps records of tested employees in the range of name, surname, birth number, test date and test result.
Testing can be performed via COVID-19 antigen self-tests or via MOM (mobile antigen testing side).
A list of accepted diagnostic tests for COVID-19 is available on the European Commission's website:
https://covid-19-diagnostics.jrc.ec.europa.eu/Waste disposal is provided by the employer at his own expense.
Ministry of Economy should contribute to the employers with amount of 6 EUR for each tested employee (5 EUR test + 1 Euro for handling and control). The contribution should be paid out in January 2022.
The employees should be tested once in 7 days until the end of 2021.
For more information please contact
Counsel, Eversheds Sutherland | Bratislava
Tags: Law | Health |
