Payroll alert: Paternity leave as of 1 November 2022

From 1.11. 2022, an employee who is a father of a new-born child is entitled to paternity leave. This amendment to the Labour Code brings the legislation of the Slovak Republic into line with the EU directive on work-life balance for parents and carers.

The paternity leave will be paid by the Social Insurance Agency from sickness insurance – the father will be entitled to paternity allowance.

The father (employee) is thus entitled to paternity allowance for two weeks (14 calendar days) within six weeks of the child's birth, irrespective of whether the child's mother receives maternity pay or parental allowance for the same period. The father will be able to apply for paternity allowance no later than 6 weeks after the birth of the child.

The entire 28-week period of maternity allowance (for care of one child) will thus be divided into two periods for the father – 2 weeks for paternity allowance and 26 weeks for maternity allowance (for a single man, a 31-week period will be divided into 2 weeks for paternity allowance and 29 weeks for maternity allowance; and for the care of two or more children born, a 37-week period will be divided into 2 weeks for paternity allowance and 35 weeks for maternity allowance.

Conditions of entitlement

Conditions of entitlement to paternity allowance during paternity leave:

The father is insured for sickness or is within the protection period on the date from which he claims paternity allowance;
The father has obtained 270 days of sickness insurance in the two years preceding the application (the previous period of any other sickness insurance completed within the reference period may be counted towards the 270 days of sickness insurance condition);
Childcare;
If the employee is claiming paternity allowance, he cannot receive any income during the period of receipt of paternity allowance.

The amount of the paternity allowance shall be 75% of the insured person's/father's daily assessment base or likely daily assessment base (for one calendar day).

The father of the child may claim the paternity allowance by submitting an Application for Maternity Benefit by Another Insured Person, which will be available on the Social Insurance Agency's website from 1 November 2022. The child's father will complete Part A of this application when claiming 'paternity allowance'. The form, completed, signed, and certified by the employer (if the father is an employee), will need to be delivered to the relevant branch of the Social Insurance Agency.