Slovenia/ 5.1 General legislation  

5.1.6 Labour laws

Employment relationships in the field of culture are regulated by general legislation; some special provisions regarding public servants are also included in the Act on Enforcing Public Interest in the Field of Culture (2002). In Slovenia, the Civil Servants Act mainly regulates the status of state employees and only its initial principles and articles apply to public servants. The Law allows for separate questions to be regulated by special laws which regulate separate areas of public sector.

Otherwise the employment relationships with public servants are regulated by the same law that applies to the overall economy, i.e. the Employment Relationship Act (Official Gazette No. 42/2002 and 79/2006). This kind of system is possible only because all public institutions in Slovenia are independent legal persons, entered in the register of companies together with enterprises and they conduct activities in the same way regardless of their public financing (sometimes entirely). The main consequences for the field of culture are:

• that the employer is a public institution and not the state; and
• that no transfer is possible within the system of public servants.

Otherwise there are no essential differences since the salaries and the manner of promotion are uniformly regulated by the Salary System in the Public Sector Act (Official Gazette No. 56/2002, 72/2003, 126/2003, 70/2004, 53/2005, 14/2006, 27/2006 and 68/2006). This uniformity has also a positive aspect. Due to equalising measures between the salaries of different public sectors, those of the public culture workers should be raised in 2007.

The Employment Relationship Act (2006 last amendment) is based on non fixed-duration employment and allows for fixed-duration employment only as an exception. Therefore, the Act on Enforcing Public Interest in the Field of Culture (2002) enacted special provisions which would allow for more flexible working relationships in the cultural field. Fixed-duration employment also makes it possible to receive a higher wage within an otherwise uniform system of salaries. The law also introduces reasons for hiring people on fixed-term contracts: because otherwise workers would be made redundant or when the work exceeds the needs identified in the work plan of the public institution. These provisions are extremely important because the Slovenian cultural field is over institutionalised and all employees are public servants. As one would expect, there is a strong resistance to the law. At the moment, only new comers / young generation are engaged on temporary contracts. However, resistance is also felt on the governmental side. The provision related to the higher payment of temporary employed staff has not yet been implemented.

The Ministry of Culture has, on behalf of employers with representative trade unions in culture, concluded a Collective Agreement for Cultural Activities in Slovenia. This agreement regulates separate legal questions and includes provisions intended to regulate the issues on which both sides have reached an agreement.

From the point of view of the cultural field, Slovenia has neither special legal provisions nor experience concerning the inclusion of volunteers into working relationships.

See also comparative information provided in the Compendium "Themes!" section under "Status of Artists".

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