Slovakia temporary work agencies: permit and foreign staff

A temporary work agency needs a permit from the Central Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family and files an electronic activity report by 31 March every year. If it does not, the Central Office revokes the permit under section 31(2) of Act No. 5/2004 Coll., and the labour office cancels vacancy confirmations for its assigned foreign workers.

What a missed report sets off

If the agency files its report for the previous year after 31 March, the Central Office revokes its permit under section 31(2)(b). The labour office then cancels, under section 21b(14)(d), the vacancy confirmation for every third country national the agency has assigned. The user employer loses at once the workers it had planned around for the whole year.

Section 31(2) also allows revocation for false data in the report, for an illegal employment fine, and where the agency assigned no one for one year. The permit is issued for an unlimited period under section 29(4), so losing it is not a matter of renewal but of a new application.

Permit conditions under section 29

The Central Office of Labour issues the permit under section 29(3). The conditions are assessed on issue, and the agency must keep meeting them for as long as it operates.

The agency may not charge the temporary agency worker any fee for an assignment. Under section 29(2) only the user employer pays the agreed fee. The agency notifies the Central Office in writing of any change affecting permit conditions within 30 days under section 31(1)(j).

The activity report and the register

Under section 31(1)(g) every agency files its activity report for the previous year, with register data, electronically by 31 March. Annex 1 letter K sets out what the register records for each temporary agency worker: nationality, user employer, occupation code and assignment period.

The register is the source from which the report is built, and its data must match the facts. False data in the report is a separate ground for revoking the permit.

Assigning a third country national

Section 21(4) sets the rule that no employer or agency may assign a third country national hired under section 21(1)(a) to (h) to user employers. Under section 21(2) such a worker may work only under an employment contract.

The exception covers an agency that has operated for at least three years. It may assign such a worker only to an occupation with a regional labour shortage, as described in the guide to the shortage occupation list. After the first assignment ends, it may reassign the worker once, on at least equally favourable pay, on a new vacancy confirmation. That procedure is set out in the guide to the labour market test and vacancy confirmation.

Checklist for the agency and the user employer

The agency should have the following in place:

• a valid permit and a record of its conditions, including the capital or bank guarantee,
• a register with nationality, user employer, occupation code and assignment period,
• the 31 March date in the internal calendar, with time for electronic filing,
• notice of changes to the Central Office within 30 days,
• for foreign workers, a check that the agency has operated for at least three years and the occupation has a regional labour shortage.

Before signing an agreement, the user employer should check that the agency holds a permit and meets section 21(4). The loss of the agency's permit affects it directly. Open vacancies are listed on the job board, and the full text of the Act is published at Slov-Lex.