Unemployment insurance

The system of social insurance also includes the system of unemployment insurance. The insured person is entitled to unemployment benefit under the condition that he/she had unemployment insurance for at least 2 years (i.e. 730 days) within the past 3 years before being included in the registry of unemployed job seekers.

The unemployment insurance benefit is provided for a maximum of six months. The entitlement to receive it also ceases as of the day of being granted the old‑age pension, the early old‑age pension, the invalidity pension due to the incapacity to perform a gainful activity by more than 70 % and of being deleted from the registry of unemployed job seekers.

The unemployment benefit is assessed on a daily basis. The amount of unemployment benefit equals 50 % of the daily assessment multiplied by the number of days in the month. The daily assessment basis to determine the unemployment benefit depends on a number of unemployment insurance contributions completed by the person in past 2 years.

The insured person is not entitled to unemployment benefit disbursement in the period when being granted: sickness benefit, nursing benefit, maternity benefit or parental allowance.

The unemployment insurance is mandatory for an employee having compulsory sickness insurance.

An employee for the purpose of sickness, pension and unemployment insurance, shall be an individual in a legal relationship with a right to a regular or irregular monthly income and also a person performing activities on the basis of agreements on work performance besides work contract with a regular monthly income, except for a person:

• performing activities on the basis of a Contract for part-time work of students and
• performing activities on the basis of an agreement on the performance of work or contract for services, if the person is granted the old-age, disability, retirement pension and has reached the old-age, disability, retirement age.

A person with a permanent or temporary residence in Slovakia can be voluntarily insured after reaching 16 years of age, in case he/she has not been granted an old‑age pension, an early old‑age pension or a disability pension due to the capacity to perform a gainful activity being reduced by more than 70 %.

A person can only have voluntary unemployment insurance in case he/she has voluntary health and pension insurance at the same time (the so‑called package of voluntary insurance).