Employer Contributions to Employees

QUESTION
How will the amendment to the Labour Code affect the contribution for a child’s sports activity from 2025?

ANSWER:
On 27 November, an amendment to Act No. 311/2001 Coll., the Labour Code (hereinafter “LC”), was published in the Collection of Laws of the Slovak Republic, entering into force on 1 January 2025.

The amendment changes the wording of Section 152b(1) LC (contribution for a child’s sports activity), which currently reads as follows:

“An employer may provide an employee whose employment with the employer has lasted continuously for at least 24 months, upon the employee’s request, with a contribution for a child’s sports activity in the amount of 55% of eligible expenses, but not exceeding EUR 275 per calendar year in total for all of the employee’s children. For an employee whose employment is agreed on a part-time basis, the maximum amount of the contribution for a child’s sports activity per calendar year under the first sentence shall be reduced proportionally to the shorter working time. The contribution for a child’s sports activity shall be rounded up to the nearest euro cent.”

From 1 January, however, the cited provision will read as follows:

“An employer employing more than 49 employees shall provide an employee whose employment with the employer has lasted continuously for at least 24 months, upon the employee’s request, with a contribution for a child’s sports activity in the amount of 55% of eligible expenses, but not exceeding EUR 275 per calendar year in total for all of the employee’s children. For an employee whose employment is agreed on a part-time basis, the maximum amount of the contribution for a child’s sports activity per calendar year under the first sentence shall be reduced proportionally to the shorter working time.

An employer employing fewer than 50 employees may, under the same conditions and to the same extent, also provide the contribution for a child’s sports activity to an employee. The number of employees employed is the average registered number of employees for the previous calendar year.

The contribution for a child’s sports activity shall be rounded up to the nearest euro cent.”

Thus, the amendment primarily changes the employer’s entitlement to provide the contribution for a child’s sports activity into an obligation for employers with more than 49 employees. The declared aim of the amendment is to increase the number of children participating in regular sports activities, positively influence the healthy lifestyle of children and youth, and act preventively against the emergence and spread of lifestyle diseases (source: explanatory report).