The minimum wage in Slovakia increased by EUR 60 from 1 January 2020 | News Flash

Increased minimum wage for 2020 was set by the Regulation of the Slovak Government No. 324/2019 Coll. The minimum wage was increased by EUR 60 to EUR 120 per month, depending on the degree of work difficulty.

An increase in the minimum wage in practice also means, for example, an increase in bonuses for night shifts or on-call duty.

Download it as a PDF or read more below.

The minimum wage will be EUR 580

The amount of minimum wage is increased from 1 January 2020 from the current EUR 520 to the amount of EUR 580. The hourly minimum wage increases from EUR 2.989 to EUR 3.333 per hour.

Sample Calculation of Minimum Wage for Work with Difficulty Degree 1:

	Calculation of minimum wage in 2019 in EUR	Calculation of minimum wage in 2020 in EUR	Difference 2019 vs. 2020 in EUR
Minimum wage amount	520	580	60.00
Social insurance – employee	48.88	54.52	5.64
Health insurance – employee *	16.8	23.2	6.4
Social insurance – employer	131.04	146.16	15.12
Health insurance – employer	52	58	6
Tax (applying the non-taxable part of the tax base)	23.98	25.54	1.56
Labour cost	703.04	784.16	81.12
Net Wage	430.34	476.74	46.40

*When calculating in 2019, it was assumed that the employee applies a deductible item to the health insurance upon his written request; where the deduction in case of wage of EUR 570 is equal to zero.

Increase in the minimum wage claim

We would also like to inform you that the increase in the minimum wage also means an increase in the minimum wage claim – depending on the degree of work difficulty (the characteristics of individual degrees of work difficulty are provided in Annex 1 of the Labour Code).

The employee’s wage also depends on the work complexity, responsibility and difficulty. For example, if an employee has material responsibility, he is entitled to a wage in the amount of at least 1.2 times the minimum wage, i.e. from 1 January 2020 a minimum of EUR 696.

For example, in the case of employees with the Difficulty Degree 6, where the minimum wage claim is calculated as 2 times the minimum wage, the minimum wage is increased from EUR 1,040 to EUR 1,160, i.e. an increase of EUR 120 per month.

Work Difficulty Degree	Minimum wage coeficient	Minimum wage claim 2018 in EUR	Minimum wage claim 2019 in EUR	Minimum wage claim 2020 in EUR	Increase in 2020 in EUR	Minimum hourly wage in 2020 in EUR
1	1	480	520	580	60	3.3333
2	1.2	576	624	696	72	3.9999
3	1.4	672	728	812	84	4.6666
4	1.6	768	832	928	96	5.3333
5	1.8	864	936	1044	108	5.9999
6	2	960	1040	1160	120	6.6666

Increase in bonuses

Increase in the minimum wage will also affect the amount of wage benefits for night shifts, on-call duty, Saturday work and Sunday work.

Overview of bonuses:

Bonus type	Rate	2020	From minimum hourly wage
Night shifts	40%	1.33 EUR	3.3333 EUR
Saturday work	50%	1.67 EUR	3.3333 EUR
Sunday work	100%	3.33 EUR	3.3333 EUR
On-call duty (outside the workplace)	20%	0.67 EUR	3.3333 EUR

* The Labour Code provides for exceptions

Increase in the minimum wage and its impact on bonuses in practice

Your employee works at an agreed hourly wage of EUR 5. If his regular planned shift for example lasts 7.5 hours, because he/she is working on shifts, it is Friday 3 July 2020, the employee earns a gross 5 x 7.5 hours = 37.50.

If his regular planned shift for example lasts 7.5 hours and it is Sunday 5 July 2020, the employer is obliged to pay him also the following bonuses:

Bonus for Sunday work in the amount of: 100% x 3.3333 x 7.5 hours = EUR 25

Bonus for holiday work in the amount of: 100% of the average hourly wage. This is determined from the previous quarter, so in our example, we will only estimate it at EUR 5.30 and grant a bonus of 100% x 5.30 x 7.5 hours = EUR 39.75

This means that if the employee works a proper shift on both Sunday and holiday, he/she shall earn more than EUR 102 (37.5 + 25 + 39.75), which is more by about EUR 65

For example, if an employee works in a shop and on Sunday, 5 July 2020, did not have a scheduled shift and works overtime because the employer decided to take an inventory, you need to pay an additional 25% of his average hourly wage for each hour worked as an overtime bonus, in this case it would be 25% x 5.30 x 7.5 = EUR 9.94, and therefore there will be by around EUR 75 more on his gross payslip (37.5 + 25 + 39.75 + 9.94).

Therefore, the employer’s contributions (taxes) of 35,2% must be added to the total labour costs, meaning the employer’s costs (of course, there may be exceptions in the amount of levies).

Tax bonus for dependent child

The increase in the minimum wage also affects the taxable income threshold for applying a tax bonus for dependent child. It is 6 times the minimum wage per year, therefore for 2020 it will be in the amount of EUR 3,480.

If an employee does not apply the tax bonus monthly but once a year in the annual accounts or tax return and will be temporarily incapable of work for such a period that he will not have the taxable income of at least EUR 3,480 in 2020, he/she will not be entitled to the tax bonus.

However, if the employee applies the tax bonus on a monthly basis, he/she will be entitled to a tax bonus in each month when he/she receives taxable income of more than EUR 290 and even if the taxable income does not reach EUR 3,480 for the entire taxation period, he does not have to refund the tax bonus.