Unemployment Benefit
Learn when you are entitled to unemployment benefit in Slovenia, how you can exercise the right to unemployment benefit and the deadlines to be observed.
Citizens of EU Member States, EEA and Switzerland
If you are a citizen of a European Union Member State, the European Economic Area – EEA (Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein) or a citizen of the Swiss Confederation, you are entitled to unemployment benefit in accordance with the EU legislation on coordination of social security systems.
Non-EU citizens
As a foreign national, you are entitled to unemployment benefit under a social insurance agreement between Slovenia and your home country.
If there is no such agreement with your country, you can exercise your right to unemployment benefit under the same conditions as Slovenian citizens.
When are you entitled to unemployment benefit?
You will be entitled to unemployment benefit if:
- you were insured against unemployment for at least 10 months before unemployment arose in the past 24 months,
- you are younger than 30 years and you were insured before unemployment arose for at least 6 months in the past 24 months,
- unemployment insurance contributions were paid (the exception to this is persons who were included in insurance on the basis of employment, but the employer liable for payment did not pay the contributions),
- you are unemployed and your employment has not been terminated through your own will or fault and you fulfil other legal requirements and you fulfil other conditions laid down by law and
- you register with the Employment Service and you submit a request to exercise the right to unemployment benefit within 30 days of the expiry of compulsory insurance.
What are the time limits?
- You are entitled to unemployment benefit in full from the day following the termination of compulsory insurance, if you register with the Employment Service within 30 days of the termination of compulsory insurance and file an application to exercise the right to unemployment benefit.
- If you file an application after the specified time limit, your total period of receiving unemployment benefit shall be reduced by calendar days from the 31st day after the termination of insurance until the date of filing the application.
How to obtain unemployment benefit?
1. At the Employment Service, you will file an application for the right to unemployment benefit.
You can get the application form:
- at the local labour office or
- you can print it from the our website or
you can submit your application electronically:
- via portal in Slovenian language:
- with a digital certificate or
- without a digital certificate (using a signature, which requires your email address and a mobile phone number of EEA countries)
Attention: Before using Slovenian portal for the first time, please register with email (user name) or digital certificate issued in Slovenia. Start the registration process ...
- via portal in English language:
- using cross-border registration for EU citizens with a digital certificate (issued in EU countries)
Attention: Before using Slovenian portal for the first time, please register with email (user name) or digital certificate issued in Slovenia. Start the registration process ...
- using cross-border registration for EU citizens with a digital certificate (issued in EU countries)
- via portal in Slovenian language:
2. The employment contract(s) should be enclosed with the application.
If your employment has terminated for any other reason than the termination of a fixed-term employment contract (for example, due to regular or extraordinary termination, consensual termination of the employment contract, on the basis of a court judgment, etc.) you will need to complete the annex to the application form and present the appropriate evidence.
Frequently asked questions
The General Administrative Procedure Act and the Labour Market Regulation Act apply to the recognition and protection of rights arising from unemployment insurance.
Decision on Entitlement
After you submit your application, the regional office will assess whether you meet the conditions for entitlement. You may claim the following rights:
- Unemployment benefit,
- Payment of pension and disability insurance contributions (up to one year before meeting the minimum conditions for old-age pension).
The decision is made at 1st instance by the regional office.
Issuance and Delivery of the Decision
The decision on entitlement will be issued and sent to you within 30 or 60 days from the receipt of a complete application.
You will receive the decision in your mailbox. It is considered delivered on the 15th day after it was sent.
What if you disagree with the decision?
If you disagree with the decision, you may file an appeal.
The deadline for appeal is 15 days from the date of decision delivery (if the last day falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or public holiday, the deadline is extended to the next working day).
You may submit the appeal in writing or orally for the record at the regional office that issued the decision. If you send the appeal by registered mail, the date of posting is considered the date of submission.
Your appeal must include:
- Your name and surname,
- Date of birth,
- Reference number and date of the decision being appealed,
- The regional office that issued the decision,
- A brief explanation of the reasons for the appeal.
Decision on the Appeal
If the Employment Service does not decide on the appeal, the case is referred to the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, which decides at 2nd instance.
If you still disagree with the ministry’s decision, you may file a lawsuit with the Labour and Social Court of the Republic of Slovenia in Ljubljana within 30 days of the delivery of the decision (judicial protection).
The period of receiving unemployment benefit depends on the period of insurance, i.e.:
- 2 months, if you are younger than 30 years and you have been insured for at least 6 months in the past 24 months before unemployment,
- 3 months if you have been insured from 10 months to 5 years,
- 6 months if you have been insured from 5 to 15 years,
- 9 months if you have been insured from 15 to 25 years,
- 12 months if you have been insured over 25 years,
- 19 months if you are older than 53 years and you have been insured over 25 years,
- 25 months if you are older than 58 years and you have been insured over 28 years.
Attention!
If the entitlement to unemployment benefit has already been used and you re-exercise it, the insurance period from which the entitlement to unemployment benefit has already been assessed and the insurance period on the basis of receiving benefit are not included in the insurance period for the assessment of new entitlement to unemployment benefit.
If you are older than 57 years or you have at least 35 years of insurance period, when re-exercising the right to benefit, the insurance period for the assessment of the right includes all the time during which you have been insured, including the period of receipt of benefit.
- In the first three months unemployment benefit is paid in the amount of 80%,
- in the following nine months in the amount of 60%,
- after the expiry of one year in the amount of 50% of the average monthly salary
you received in the period of eight months (younger than 30 years, in the period of five months) prior to termination.
The paid unemployment benefit cannot be lower than EUR 530.19 and not higher than EUR 892.50 gross.
Unemployment benefits recipients have the right to all compulsory social insurance contributions (health, pension and disability, unemployment and parental insurance) which are paid by the Employment Service of Slovenia.
Unemployment benefit will be paid by the 15th day of each month for the previous month.
If the 15th day is a Saturday, Sunday or a work-free day, then the unemployment benefit is, as a rule, paid earlier, i.e. on the 13th or 14th day of the month for the previous month.
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