There is no mandatory statutory selection order for dismissals under Slovenian law. However, the law sets out suggested criteria that should be considered by the employer. The criteria are the following:
- the employee’s professional education and/or qualifications and any additional knowledge and skills needed for work;
- the employee’s work experience;
- the employee’s performance;
- the employee’s years of service with the employer;
- the employee’s state of health;
- the employee’s social status;
- whether the employee is a parent of three or more minor children or the sole breadwinner in a family with minor children.
A collective agreement may also set out a selection order or selection criteria for dismissals. With the consent of the trade union, the employer may formulate its own criteria for determining redundant workers, instead of the criteria from the collective agreement.
The law requires that employees with lower social status must be given priority in determining the selection order. Temporary absence from work due to illness or injury, care for a family member or a severely disabled person, or parental or maternity leave must not be used as a criterion in determining redundancy.
Slovenian law also offers protection to certain categories of employees (both for individual and collective dismissals), including the following:
- employee representatives;
- employees who have either reached the age of 58 or have no more than five years left to qualify for their pension;
- female employees who are pregnant or breastfeeding a child up to one year of age;
- parents who are on parental leave in the form of full absence from work, and for one month after the end of such leave;
- disabled employees; and
- employees absent from work due to illness.
