Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2011, published 101st ILC session (2012)

Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1952 (No. 102) - Slovenia (Ratification: 1992)

Part III (Sickness benefit), Article 18, in conjunction with Article 69 of the Convention. The Government’s report states that, according to section 35 of the Health Care and Health Insurance Act, payment of the sickness benefit is withheld, inter alia, if without due cause an insured person does not report that he/she is ill to the employer or personal doctor within three days of the start of the illness. Please explain how this rule is applied in practice and what will happen if the person concerned reports his/her illness on the fourth day.

Part IV (Unemployment benefit), Article 24(1), in conjunction with Article 69. The report states that, in accordance with section 63 of the Labour Market Regulation Act which has entered into force on 1 January 2011, the rights to unemployment cash benefit shall not be exercised by an insured person who became unemployed through his/her own fault or volition, including cases where the employment contract was terminated:

• -due to the employer’s ordinary termination submitted to the worker on fault based grounds (culpability);
• -due to the employer’s ordinary termination for reasons which are explicitly determined as unsubstantiated for termination by the law regulating employment relationships, with the worker not requesting arbitration or judicial protection to safeguard his/her rights;
• -due to the employer’s ordinary termination contrary to the provisions of the law regulating employment relationships which determine special protection of workers from termination, with the worker not requesting arbitration or judicial protection to safeguard his/her rights;
• -due to the cessation of the position (office) or nomination of the holder of a public or other position in legislative, executive or judicial bodies in the Republic of Slovenia or in self-government bodies, with the worker failing to enforce his/her right to return to work pursuant to regulations enabling this.

The Committee would like the Government to assess the compatibility of these grounds for refusal of unemployment benefit with Article 69 (e) and (f) of the Convention, which authorizes suspension of the benefit only when unemployment has been caused by a criminal offence or wilful misconduct of the person concerned.

Part VI (Employment injury benefit), Article 36, in conjunction with Article 69. According to section 93 of the Pension and Disability Insurance Act (PDIA), an insured person afflicted with disability of category III, if he/she is no longer capable of working full-time or without occupational rehabilitation, or an insured person with disability of category II who has reached age of 50 years and has remaining working capacity, is entitled to part-time work and to partial disability pension. Partial disability pension is assessed as the percentage corresponding to the shortening of full working time of the disability pension the insured person would be entitled to on the day of occurrence of disability. Partial disability pension may be increased by 40 per cent, if the insured person has lost the job against his will and without his fault, or reduced by 30 per cent, if the insured person has terminated his employment of his own will or through his own fault. Considering that these grounds for the reduction of the employment injury pension in case of partial incapacity are not foreseen by the Convention, the Committee asks the Government to specify whether partial disability pension provided under section 93 of the PDIA is given in addition to the disability pension paid to the insured persons with disability of category II or III.

Part XIII (Common provisions), Article 69. According to section 15(1)(22) of the Health Care and Health Insurance Act (HCHIA), persons covered by the compulsory health insurance include detainees who were not otherwise ensured before the detention or whose insurance is suspended during the period of detention, sentenced persons serving the sentence of imprisonment in penal institutions and correction homes, minors undergoing re-education in a juvenile correction facility, persons in protective detention in health institutes in connection with psychiatric disorders and persons sentenced to compulsory psychiatric treatment for alcoholism and drug dependence. The report indicates that these persons are insured against employment injury and occupational diseases if they are actually included in work. Section 23 of the HCHIA however stipulates that these persons are not entitled to sickness benefit during temporary absence from work even if they work in public utility units. This may mean that they are also not entitled to the employment injury benefit in case of temporary incapacity for work resulting from a morbid condition. Taking into account that withholding the entitlement to benefits in such cases might be contrary to the Convention, the Committee would like the Government to explain in detail the insurance status, contribution requirements and benefits to which are entitled the abovementioned categories of insured persons and their family members under each of the accepted Parts of the Convention. Please explain also how Article 69(b) of the Convention is applied in their respect.

Article 71(2). According to the calculations given in the report, the total of the insurance contributions borne by the employees protected amounts to 35.6 per cent of the total of the financial resources allocated to the protection of employees and their wives and children. As the report refers also to the insurance contributions borne by the self-employed and farmers, the Government should specify whether these sums were included into the above calculation.