Social welfare
Social welfare in
§ Social insurance
§ Social assistance
§ State social support
The Social Insurance Agency (“Sociálna poisťovňa“ www.socpoist.sk, only in Slovak) and Centre Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family are executive bodies.
General structure of support
The basic role of the social insurance system is the protection of the economically active population in the event of life contingencies. Social insurance is financed with contributions, it is administered by the Social Insurance Agency (SIA) and includes the following types of insurance: Sickness insurance, Old-age insurance, Old-age pension saving, Invalidity insurance, Reserve Solidarity Fund, Injury insurance, Guarantee insurance, Unemployment insurance, Health insurance.
The system of social assistance allows citizens below the statutory subsistence minimum to receive substitute resources from the State in the form of benefits. The three main types of benefits are: Health care allowance, Protective allowance, Activation allowance.
The system of State Social Support is devised to address particular life contingencies, including the birth of a child, child maintenance and education, death of a family member and others. These benefits are financed directly from the State Budget. These include: Child allowance, Parental allowance, Child birth allowance, Allowance to parents, Maintenance allowance, Funeral allowance, Foster care allowances, Foster caregiver's fee.
Foreigners working in
Foreigners working on the territory of the
When living and working in different Member States (EU, EEA) each person is subject to the legislation of only one
When moving especially for short or medium term periods, mobile workers often prefer keeping their home country pension regimes. Hence, there exists an exception when an undertaking (university, research organisation, company) posts a worker to a different
In the case of workers carrying out work in more than 1 state, the appropriate Social insurance company should issue an E101 to determine the applicable legislation, i.e., all contributions to social insurance will go only to one of the states where the occupational activity is performed.
For more information on common European Union/ European Economic Area provisions safeguarding social security when being mobile throughout the Member States see:
http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/social_security_schemes/index_en.htm
http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/free_movement/index_en.htm
http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social
Major applicable legislation:
· Council Regulation No 1408/71 on the application of social security schemes to employed persons and their families moving within the Community *
· Council Regulation No 574/72 laying down the procedure for implementing Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 *
· Act No. 461/2003 on social insurance
· Act No. 43/2004 on old-age pension saving
· Act No. 280/2002 on parental allowance
· Act No. 600/2003 on child benefit
Social Insurance and Benefits in the SR
Levies into the compulsory social insurance funds of emloyees
Contributions are a percentage of the basis for the assessment which is usually the gross wage, while the minimum and maximum amounts of the basis of the assessment are set.
|
Type of social insurance |
Insurance charges of employee (%) |
Insurance charges of employer on behalf of an employee (%) |
Basis of assessment (SKK) |
|
|
minimum ** |
maximum*** |
|||
|
Sickness insurance |
1,4 |
1,4 |
7600 |
25 911 |
|
Old-age insurance |
4 |
14 |
7600 |
51 822 |
|
Invalidity insurance |
3 |
3 |
7600 |
51 822 |
|
Unemployment insurance |
1 |
1 |
7600 |
51 822 |
|
Guarantee insurance |
|
0,25 |
7600 |
25 911 |
|
Injury insurance (occupational accidents, diseases) |
|
0,8 |
|
|
|
Solidarity reserve fund |
|
4,75 |
7600 |
51 822 |
** Minimum basis of the assessment is equal to the minimum wage, and it is modified after the modification of the minimum wage
*** Maximum basis of the assessment is always modified as of July, 1st; regarding sickness insurance it represents a 1,5 -multiple and concerning the other types of insurances it represents a treble of the average wage from the previous year.
An employer is obliged to register an employee at the appropriate office of Social insurance agency at least a day before commencing the employment relation (regardless whether the relation is in the form of an employment contract – full or part-time or in the form of an agreement on the performance of work, agreement on part-time work of students). The Social insurance agency assigns the insured person a social security identification number (in case of Slovak nationals it is the birth identification number, this applies also to Czech nationals due to the same original system of birth identification number assignment).
Special status - Agreement on the performance of work, agreement on part-time work of students
Neither employees nor employers pay any of the above mentioned contributions to social insurance, except for accident insurance paid by the employer, amounting to 0.8 % of remuneration.
Sickness insurance
Sickness insurance is an insurance in case of loss or decrease in income due to temporary incapacity to work, pregnancy, maternity. The following benefits are paid from the system of sickness insurance:
sickness cash benefit, benefit for nursing a sick relative, equalization allowance, maternity benefit.
Sickness cash benefit - income during sick leave
During sick leave an employee does not receive any salary, but he/she, after being certified as temporarily unfit to work due to illness or injury, or due to quarantine by an authorised doctor, is entitled to sick pay. It is at the rate of 25% of the employee’s basis of assessment for the first 3 days, then at the rate of 55% of the employee’s basis of assessment. During the period of first 10 days of the sick leave the benefits are paid by his/her employer; from the 11th day the sick pay is paid by the Social Insurance Agency (at the rate of 55% of the employee’s basis of assessment).
(The daily assessment base for the determination of sickness benefits is the quotient of the sum of the assessment bases, based on which the insured person paid sickness insurance in the relevant period, and the number of days in the relevant period.)
Conditions of entitlement
- valid sickness insurance
- after termination of sickness insurance – being in the period of entitlement to sickness benefits or within the duration of the protective period. The duration of the protective period is 42 days. If the period of sickness insurance was shorter than 42 days, the duration of the protective period is equal to the duration of sickness insurance. The duration of the protective period for a female insured person, whose sickness insurance terminated at the time of her pregnancy, is six months
- persons with voluntary sickness insurance are entitled to sickness benefits if, during the last two years preceding temporary incapacity to work, they were covered by sickness insurance for not less than 270 days
- employees, who are at the same time granted an old-age pension, early retirement pension or invalidity benefits due to a decrease in work capacity by more than 70%, are not entitled to draw sickness benefits
- entitlement to sickness benefits ceases on the day following the last day of temporary incapacity to work, not later than with the lapse of the 52nd week from the beginning of temporary incapacity to work (support period), or on the day of conceding the old-age pension, early retirement pension or invalidity benefits due to a decrease of work capacity by more than 70%
- employees are entitled to sickness benefits if they do not receive income that may be considered as an assessment base
Filing the claim
- using a form of the Social Insurance Company – Certificate of Temporary Work Incapacity issued by the medical practitioner of a health establishment, submitted by means of the employer
Obligations of the recipients of benefits
- to present proof of the facts that are relevant for granting or terminating the entitlement to sickness benefits, their payments, or their amount,
- to comply with the treatment regime prescribed by the attending physician at the time of the temporary incapacity to work,
- to stay at the address reported in the certificate at the time of temporary incapacity to work,
- to state the birth identification number in the application,
- to notify the Social Insurance Company of the termination of temporary incapacity to work within three days of its termination, if temporary incapacity for work lasted more than ten days (by means of the employer).
Commercial insurance companies offer the possibility of health insurance during sickness leave since the income of an employee is being reduced.
Maternity benefit
Insured women are entitled to maternity benefits from the beginning of the sixth week preceding the expected date of delivery (childbirth) as determined by a doctor, but not before the beginning of the eighth week preceding the expected delivery date, or from the date of birth if it comes earlier than the aforesaid dates. As a rule, 28 weeks are provided for from the commencement of entitlement. In case that a woman gives birth to two or more children at the same time, and takes care at least of two of these children, or if they are single mothers, her entitlement to maternity benefits terminates at the end of the 37th week from the commencement of entitlement to the maternity benefit. The period of entitlement to maternity benefits for an insured person who gave birth to a child may not be shorter than 14 weeks from the commencement of entitlement to maternity benefits and may not be terminated earlier than six weeks from the date of birth. If another insured person is taking care of a child, such a person shall be entitled to maternity benefits as from the date of assuming the care of the child for a period of 22 weeks from the commencement of entitlement to maternity benefit (or, if assuming care of two or more children, until the end of the 31st week from the commencement of the entitlement to maternity benefits)
The maternity benefits are at the rate of 55 % of the daily assessment base, or of the probable daily assessment base, they are provided from the 1st day of entitlement, for the same period only once and only to one insured person.
Conditions of entitlement
- pregnancy or the care for a newborn child
- valid sickness insurance
- after termination of sickness insurance – being in the period of entitlement to sickness benefits or within the duration of the protective period. The duration of the protective period is 42 days. If the period of sickness insurance was shorter than 42 days, the duration of the protective period is equal to the duration of sickness insurance. The duration of the protective period for a female insured person, whose sickness insurance terminated at the time of her pregnancy, is six months
- being covered by sickness insurance for not less than 270 days during the last two years preceding childbirth (delivery)
- employees are entitled to sickness benefits if they do not receive income that may be considered as an assessment base
Filing the claim
- using the form of Social Insurance Company – Maternity Benefit Application, certified by a medical practitioner of a health establishment.
Obligations of a recipient of benefits
- to present the proof of the facts relevant for the awarding or withdrawing of the entitlement to maternity benefits, entitlement to their payments, and their amount
- to state his/her birth identification number in the application, to notify the Social Insurance Agency of the birth identification number of the child
Parental allowance
Parental allowance is a state social benefit whereby the state makes a contribution towards enabling the parent to take proper care of a child of up to three years of age, or up to six years of age in case of a child with long-term poor health, or up to six years of a child placed in substitute parental care, not longer than three years from the date on which the decision of the court to place the child in substitute care became final.
Those eligible to claim parental allowances are the parents of the child (i.e. its father or its mother) or persons providing substitute parental care.
Entitlement criteria: 1. Proper care by the parent of at least one child; 2. permanent or temporary residence of the eligible person in the
The amount of parental allowance is SKK 4 440 per calendar month (as of September 1st, 2006).
If a parent is granted a maternity benefit higher than the amount of the parental allowance, this state social benefit is not provided, however, if the maternity benefit is lower than parental allowance, the difference is paid out.
The parental allowance is provided to neither of the parents if one of them is entitled to maternity benefit or sickness benefit of a similar kind abroad.
Eligible persons may claim a parental allowance by filing a written application with the office of labour, social affairs and family having the competence for that person’s place of permanent or temporary residence.
Child benefit
Child benefit is a state social benefit whereby the state contributes to the upbringing and maintenance of dependent children by eligible persons.
Persons eligible to claim the allowance are: parents of a dependent child, persons providing substitute parental care, dependent child of full age that does not have parents or adoptive parents. Only one person is entitled to the allowance for the same child.
Entitlement to child allowance arises upon the fulfilment of the following conditions: care of the child by the eligible person, permanent or temporary residence of the eligible person in the
The amount of allowance is SKK 540/month.
Eligible persons may claim child allowances by filing a written application with the office of labour, social affairs and family having competence for the eligible person’s place of permanent or temporary residence.
Benefit for nursing a sick relative
Sickness insurance entitles an insured person for an income to be paid during the nursing of a sick child, sick husband/wife, sick parent or sick husband’s/wife’s parent or taking care of a child under 10 years of age that placed under quarantine, pre-school or school establishments, that the child normally attends, were dissolved or placed under quarantine, or in case of sickness or quarantine of the person who otherwise takes care of the child or in the case of hospitalisation of that person due to expected delivery.
Benefits for nursing a sick relative are at the rate of 55 % of the daily assessment base, or of the probable daily assessment base, they are provided from the 1st day of the care to the end of the care, at maximum for 10 days. It is provided for the same case only once and only to one insured person.
Filing the claim
- using the form of the Social Insurance Company – Maternity Benefit Application, certified/issued by a medical practitioner of a health establishment, submitted by means of the employer
Old-age insurance
An employee pays old-age insurance in the amount of 4% of the basis of assessment (usually equal to the gross wage). The employer on behalf of the employee pays the old-age insurance of 14% of the basis of the assessment of the employer. As of January 1, 2005 there are two “forms” of mandatory insurance scheme – 1st pillar/tier (contributions to the state social insurance agency, concurrent regime) and 2nd pillar (old-age pension saving in pension management companies, capitalising regime). The total of 18% of old-age insurance is equally distributed to both the pillars. Participation in the 2nd pillar is mandatory for persons who did not contribute to old-age pension funds before January 1, 2005. Persons paying old-age insurance before this date should have decided on participation in the 2nd pillar by June 30, 2006. Joining the 2nd pillar pension regime is binding, the person will contribute to both the pillars until he/she becomes entitled to draw old-age benefits.
Moreover, there exists a 3rd pillar pension regime, which is completely voluntary and is meant as an additional old-age pension saving. Some employers might opt to partly contribute to these savings on behalf of an employee.
Old-age insurance entitles the insured person for the following benefits: old-age pension, early retirement pension, survivor’s benefits (widow’s, widower‘s, orphan’s pension)
Old-age pension
An insured person is entitled to an old-age pension if he/she has been insured for an old-age pension for at least 10 years and has reached the minimum age required for entitlement to an old-age pension (the so called retirement age). The retirement age in the SR is at present 62 years both for men and women. It applies to men born after 1946 (1946 including) and women born in and after 1962 (in case of women the retirement age is also dependent on the number of children she has brought up). (Act no. 461/2003). Before (according to Act 100/1988), the retirement age used to be 60 years for men and from 53 up to 57 years for women depending on number of children they brought up. The latter retirement age (past one) is still considered for the age-group born before the mentioned limits, however some extension (of several months) of their productive age applies.
If a mobile worker has contributed to insurance schemes of various Member States (EU, EEA, Switzerland) during his/her period of occupation all records of his/her contributions are held in each separate Member State. Upon reaching retirement age, the periods of insurance in individual States are aggregated and he/she is entitled to draw the appropriate proportion of old-age pension from each Member State in which he/she has worked for a period of more than 12 months (a vesting period – unless otherwise provided by national legislation). The proportion is given by the ratio of years of insurance in the given state to the total insurance period of the worker before reaching the retirement age. An insurance period of less than 12 months will be taken over by his/her final country of employment.
Different legal framework applies to workers who have contributed to pension schemes of states with which there exists a bilateral agreement on social security. (Slovak Republic has concluded international agreement with the following states outside EEA: Bulgaria, Yugoslavian Republic (as of 1957), Croatia, Cyprus, Canada, Quebec, Romania, Switzerland, Ukraine, Soviet Union (as of 1960)). The principle of territoriality is exercised here, i.e. the old-age pension is paid off by the state, on the territory of which the insured person permanently resides. List of bilateral treaties can be found at: http://www.socpoist.sk/index/index.php?ids=1550, only in Slovak).
The application for drawing the old-age pension is submitted through the authorised social insurance body based on the permanent residence. (If having permanent residence in the SR, the application shall be submitted to the appropriate office of Social Insurance Agency to draw benefits also from other states of EEA and
Invalidity pension
Invalidity insurance entitles the insured person for the following benefits: invalidity pension, survivor’s benefits (widow, widower, orphan pensions)
An insured person is entitled to invalidity benefit if he/she becomes disabled, has accumulated the correct number of years of the superannuation scheme* and on the day on which the invalidity occurs does not qualify for entitlement to an old-age pension or early retirement pension.
For an insured person who has become disabled as a result of an occupational accident or disease, the condition regarding the number of years in the superannuation scheme* is automatically deemed to have been satisfied.
An insured person is considered to be disabled if, due to long-term poor health, his or her capacity for work is reduced by more than 40 % in comparison with healthy natural persons; long-term poor health means the health condition that causes the reduction in work capacity and that, according to the knowledge of medical science, is expected to last longer than one year.
If a mobile worker is considered to be disabled by the legal regulations of the SR, but has not accumulated the correct number of years of the superannuation scheme to be entitled for the invalidity benefit in the SR, the periods of insurance in individual States (EU, EEA, Switzerland; states with which there exists a bilateral agreement on social security) are taken into consideration and are aggregated. The insurance periods are figured in only on the basis of an official confirmation by the relevant national authority (e.g. Social insurance agency); where European coordination regulations apply, E205 form is required.
In general, the entitlement to invalidity benefit under the regulations of the SR arises only upon completion of one year of old-age insurance at least.
*(supperannuation scheme – any period of compulsory insurance and any period of voluntary insurance, provided that the contributions have been paid for this period in accordance with the Social Insurance Act and that act does not stipulate otherwise).
Injury insurance for occupational accidents and diseases
If an employee has suffered health damage or died during the performance of work or in direct connection therewith as a result of an accident (industrial accident), the liability for damage thus incurred lies with the employer with whom the employee had an employment relationship at the time of the industrial accident.
The employer is obliged to compensate an employee who suffers harm at least to the extent to which he is liable for the harm.
An employee who, as a result of an industrial accident or occupational disease, is acknowledged as being temporarily unfit for work is entitled to an accident supplement from the first day of temporary incapacity for work, if he or she receives sickness benefits under a sickness insurance scheme. The accident supplement is paid in respect of individual days. The employee who sustains an injury is entitled to injury annuity payments if, as a result of industrial accident or occupational disease, his or her capacity to perform the work that he or she had performed before the injury has been diminished by more than 40%. The injured employee is entitled to a lump-sum compensation if, as a result of an industrial accident or occupational disease, his or her capacity to work has been reduced by not more than 40%, but more than 10 %, even if the entitlement to injury annuity has lapsed, provided that the reduction of capacity for work is at least 10%.
Employers must take out compulsory accident insurance (as from the date on which they start employing at least one employee), but insurance benefits go to the employee concerned or an authorised person.
Further information is available at: http://europa.eu.int/eures
* Apart from a few exceptions the provisions of Regulations 1408/71 and 574/72 which apply between EU Member States and EEA Member States also apply in relation to Switzerland.