The main new provisions can be summarised as follows.

-      Content of employment contracts: employees will have the right not only to fair and satisfactory working conditions but also to transparency and predictability of working conditions. The essential elements of an employment contract have not changed. Still, a wider range of working conditions must be demonstrably notified to the employee if these are not part of the employment contract. The main conditions are the method for determining the place of work, the weekly work schedule, the method and rules for organising the work schedule, breaks and rests, rules for overtime work, the duration of annual leave or the method for its determination, the payment of wages and its payment date, the rules on the termination of employment, the length of the notice period or method for its determination, the deadline for claiming the invalidity of employment termination and the right to receive training. 

The Amendment also introduces new rules on the minimum predictability of work so that the employer may not require the employee to work outside the announced schedule and to be notified no less than 24 hours before the start of work. 

For employees hired before 1 November 2022, that information must be served within one month of receiving the request. 

This extended information duty also applies to agreements on work performed outside the employment relationship if the average weekly working time exceeds three hours in four consecutive weeks.

-      Duration of employment: The probationary period in cases of fixed-term employment should be proportionate to the expected employment term and may not exceed half of the agreed employment term. Employers must also respond in writing to an employee's request to change their employment from fixed-term to indefinite-term or from shorter working time to regular weekly working time.

-      Paternity leave: The amendment also introduces paternity leave, during which the employer cannot dismiss the on-leave father. There are 28 weeks of paid leave (from the date of birth of the child), extended to 31 weeks for single fathers and 37 weeks in case of two or more newborns. The employer is also obliged to grant fathers a leave of absence of 14 consecutive calendar days, no later than six weeks after the child's birth.

With these amendments, Slovakia followed other European countries that had already implemented European directives, as we previously reported on Netherlands and Germany. 

For an updated overview of the implementation of both European directives, consult here and here the interactive maps, with all the information regarding the single countries.