In practice, we find that employers in Slovenia do not always have all HR matters properly regulated, which may give rise to issues in the event of inspections by the competent authorities from an employment-law perspective. For this reason, we would like to draw your attention to the mandatory or recommended internal HR policies and acts for your company in Slovenia. The HR internal acts are obligatory for all contractual agreements based on Slovene labour law.

SAFETY STATEMENT WITH RISK ASSESSMENT

The Safety Statement with Risk Assessment is a mandatory internal act that the employer must prepare and adopt after carrying out an occupational safety and health risk assessment. 

It requires the employer to assess risks in writing and, on that basis, prepare a written statement containing in particular:

  • a plan for implementing measures,
  • procedures for action in the event of imminent danger, and
  • a definition of the duties and responsibilities of the persons responsible.

The employer must amend and supplement it whenever the existing preventive measures are no longer sufficient. An update is therefore required when there are changes to jobs, equipment, technology, premises, work organisation, or when new risks are identified.

The employer is required to provide employees with a pre-employment preventive medical examination by an authorised physician, followed by targeted periodic preventive medical examinations at intervals determined by the employer based on the risk assessment and the recommendation of the authorised physician, usually every 3-5 years.

When preparing the statement, the employer must take into account the professional assessment of the occupational health service provider, which serves as the basis for determining employees’ specific health requirements.

In addition, the Employment Relationships Act (ZDR-1) provides for fines for offences committed by employers that fail to ensure safe working conditions, which also includes failure to prepare the required risk assessments.

WORKPLACE HEALTH PROMOTION PLAN 

The Workplace Health Promotion Plan is a mandatory written arrangement through which the employer plans activities and measures aimed at maintaining and improving employees’ physical and mental health.

It requires the employer to demonstrate that workplace health promotion has been:

  • planned,
  • provided with the necessary resources, and
  • provided with a method for monitoring its implementation.

A written plan is the most appropriate way of fulfilling this obligation. It should preferably specify: identified employee needs, objectives, specific measures and activities, responsible persons, deadlines, required resources, and the method for monitoring and evaluating results.

The employer must monitor its implementation and update it when employees’ needs, risks or work organisation change, or the measures are no longer appropriate.

It is advisable to review the plan at least once a year and, on that basis, determine specific activities for the following period.

The obligation applies to all employers regardless of their size or business activity. The scope and complexity of the plan may, however, be adapted to the number of employees, the business activity, the jobs concerned and the identified needs.

INTERNAL ACT ON DETERMINING ALCOHOL INTOXICATION AND THE INFLUENCE OF DRUGS AND OTHER PROHIBITED SUBSTANCES

The Internal Act on Determining Alcohol Intoxication and the Influence of Drugs and Other Prohibited Substances is a mandatory internal arrangement under which the employer lays down the prohibition on working or being present at the workplace under the influence of such substances, the procedure for determining such a condition, and the removal of an employee from the work process where a violation is established.

The employer should regulate this area by means of a stand-alone policy, instructions, or another appropriate general act.

The act must clearly define in particular: 

the grounds for initiating the procedure, the persons responsible, the method of testing, the contents of the written record, the procedure in the event of refusal to undergo testing, personal data protection, and removal of the employee from the work process.

The second paragraph of Article 51 of ZVZD-1 also specifically regulates medicinal products that may affect psychophysical abilities. The prohibition on working under the influence of such medicinal products applies to jobs for which, due to an increased risk of accidents, this is stipulated in the Safety Statement with Risk Assessment.

The employer may prepare and adopt the act itself; however, given the interference with privacy, the processing of sensitive personal data and the potential employment-law consequences, a professional/legal review of the act is recommended. Employees must be informed of its contents in advance.

POLICY AND THE PROHIBITION OF SEXUAL AND OTHER HARASSMENT AND WORKPLACE BULLYING (MOBBING)

The Policy on the Prohibition of Sexual and Other Harassment and Workplace Bullying is an internal act by which the employer lays down measures to protect employees’ dignity and the procedure for preventing and addressing prohibited conduct.

Article 47 of ZDR-1 provides that the employer must:

  • ensure a working environment in which employees are not exposed to harassment or workplace bullying;
  • adopt appropriate measures to protect employees; and
  • inform employees in writing of the measures adopted, in the manner customary with the employer.

A stand-alone policy is recommended and represents the clearest way of fulfilling and demonstrating compliance with the employer’s obligations.

The policy generally includes:

definitions of prohibited conduct, preventive measures, the method and contents of a complaint, the person or body responsible for receiving complaints, the complaint-handling procedure, the conduct of a confidential and impartial process, protection of the complainant against retaliation, and possible measures where a violation is established.

The employer may also appoint a confidential adviser and define their powers.

The employer may prepare and adopt the policy or another written arrangement of the measures itself. However, a legal review is recommended in order to ensure confidentiality, an impartial procedure, personal data protection and appropriate handling of potential employment-law consequences.

RIGHT TO DISCONNECT POLICY

The right to disconnect means that an employee is not required to be available to the employer during rest periods and authorised absences from work. Article 142a of the Employment Relationships Act (ZDR-1) provides that the employer must:

  • ensure employees’ right to disconnect;
  • adopt appropriate measures for its implementation; and
  • inform employees in writing of the measures adopted, in the customary manner.

The measures are to be determined first by a collective agreement at sectoral level. If that collective agreement does not regulate the measures, they are to be determined by a collective agreement at a lower level or at employer level. The employer may incorporate them into an existing general act or regulate them in a stand-alone policy, while observing the applicable collective agreement and the prescribed employee-participation procedure.

The employer must review the measures and update them as necessary when there are changes to the collective agreement, working time, work organisation, working from home or the use of digital communication tools, or when the existing measures prove ineffective.

The measures may specify in particular:

time/periods during which an employee is not required to respond to work-related calls and emails, the use of automatic replies and scheduled sending of messages, managers’ obligations, arrangements during annual leave, and justified exceptions related to on-call duty or standby duty

We provide support in preparing all of the above policies and internal acts in accordance with the legislation in force.