1. Service time, break at work, civil service overtime and leave
2. Meals for civil servants
3. Pay of a civil servant
4. Certain restrictions applicable to civil servants

1. Service time, break, overtime and leave

Service time

‘Service time’ is a period of time in which an employee is available to the employer, carries out work and complies with obligations under the employment contract. The service time of the servants is a maximum of 40 hours per week.

Breaks at work

Civil servants who work for more than 6 hours are entitled to a 30-minute break for rest and refreshment. These breaks are not included in their working hours.

Civil service overtime

Civil service overtime is work performed by a civil servant on the order of the service office or with his consent over a specified weekly service time. For civil service overtime, a civil servant is entitled to compensatory leave. If the service office does not provide the civil servant with compensatory leave within two months, the civil servant is entitled to overtime pay for the civil service.

Leave

The standard minimum leave is 4 weeks. There is a minimum of 5 weeks’ leave for employees who are at least 33 years old by the end of the current calendar year or who have a child in their permanent care.

2. Meals for civil servants

A civil-service authority provides its civil servants with meals in its own catering facility or in the catering facility of another authority, or commissions an individual or a legal entity licensed to provide catering services. Civil servants who work for more than 4 hours are entitled to be provided with a meal.

3. Pay of a civil servant

Civil servants receive a salary for their work.

The salary is the sum of:

• graded pay; and
• allowances (e.g. for management and representation, or a personal allowance).

Graded pay consists of:

• a pay grade according to the civil servant’s pay class, as set out in Annex 3 to the Civil Service Act or special regulations (applicable, for example, to civil servants working for the Chancellery of the National Council of the Slovak Republic or the Office of the President of the Slovak Republic);
• an experience-based increase in the pay grade (a 1% rise for each year of experience).

In response to the sectoral collective agreement agreed for the current calendar year, the government issues a regulation increasing the amounts of pay grades in the civil service. Existing pay grades listed in Annex 3 to the Civil Service Act expire when increased pay grades are set.

Civil servants in positions of special significance are entitled to a special allowance set by the government.

An additional personal allowance may be provided to a civil servant performing particularly important or extremely demanding tasks. 

4. Certain restrictions applicable to civil servants

Civil servants must not:

• engage in business;
• engage in other gainful activity that is identical or similar to the tasks listed in their job description;
• be a member of the management, controlling or supervisory bodies of legal entities engaging in business activities, but may attend their general meetings.

The Civil Service Act sets out those cases where civil servants are not subject to restrictions on:

• engaging in other gainful activity (e.g. training, teaching, literary or scientific activities);
• being a member of the bodies of legal entities (e.g. if their civil-service authority gives prior written consent to such membership).