Public holidays in Slovakia

Employees in Slovakia are entitled to statutory public holidays and days of rest in accordance with Slovak legislation.

Public holidays are established under Act No. 241/1993 Coll. on State Holidays, Days of Rest and Memorial Days. State holidays are generally days of rest unless the legislation provides otherwise.

The following are recognized as state holidays or other statutory holidays in Slovakia:

Some of these dates are state holidays but are not days of rest, while others are statutory days of rest. The distinction is important because not every statutory holiday automatically means that employees are entitled to a day off work.

The list and status of individual holidays may change as a result of legislative amendments. Employers should therefore refer to the applicable rules for the relevant calendar year.

Where a day is legally treated as a public holiday and an employee works on that day, the employee is generally entitled to:

Instead of the holiday pay premium, the employee and employer may agree on compensatory time off in accordance with the Labour Code. In this case, the employee is entitled to compensatory leave and the applicable wage compensation.

If a public holiday falls on a day that would otherwise be a normal working day for an employee, the public holiday is generally not counted as a day of annual leave.

This means that an employee does not normally use one day of their annual leave entitlement for a statutory public holiday that falls during their approved vacation.

However, this rule applies to days that are legally treated as public holidays/days of rest. If legislation specifically provides that a particular holiday is a normal working day for a given year, different rules may apply.

In some years, legislation may temporarily provide that a particular statutory holiday is not a day of rest.

When this happens, the date is treated as a normal working day for employment purposes. Employees who wish to take the day off must use their annual leave entitlement, subject to the normal rules for requesting and approving vacation.

For example, 8 May and 15 September 2026 are statutory holidays in Slovakia but are not days of rest in 2026. The Slovak Labour Inspectorate has confirmed that these dates are treated as ordinary working days in 2026. Employees who work on these dates are still entitled to the applicable holiday pay treatment, while employees who wish to take the day off must use annual leave.

Public holiday arrangements can change from year to year due to legislative amendments. The holiday calendar should therefore always be checked against the rules applicable to the relevant calendar year.