What is a business trip? (within the meaning of Act No. 283/2002 Coll. on travel allowances § 2)
Business trip – the time from the employee’s embarkation on a journey to perform work in a place other than his/her regular place of work, including the performance of work in that place, until the end of that trip.
Abroad working trip = Time spent on a working trip abroad, including the performance of work, until the end of that trip.
Regular workplace – a place of work agreed in writing with the employee. If no such place is agreed, the regular place of work shall be the place of work agreed in the contract of employment or in agreements on work performed outside the employment relationship. The law also describes in more detail what to do if employees have frequent changes of workplace, what to do if the work is performed in a place outside the place of residence, also what to do in the case of a temporary assignment for the employee.
Posting on a business trip (within the meaning of Labour Code No 311/2001 § 57 and the Act on Travel Allowances § 3) The employer needs the employee’s consent if he sends the employee on a business trip outside the of the employee’s regular workplace or residence.
The employer does not need the employee’s consent to send him on a business trip if:
- it is a working trip within the employee’s regular place of work or residence
- the posting results directly from the nature of the type of work agreed or the place of work
- the employee has agreed in the contract of employment that he will undertake the mission
The employer sending the employee on the business trip should specify the following in writing:
- Place of departure
- Place of work
- The duration
- The mode of transport and the place of termination of the mission
It may also determine other conditions of the business trip; it shall take into account the legitimate interests of the employee. An employee sent on a business trip is entitled to travel allowances, which are different for a domestic business trip and a foreign business trip.
Entitlements:
An employee sent on a mission is entitled to:
- reimbursement of proven travel expenses – e.g. train ticket, bus ticket
- reimbursement of proven accommodation expenses – e.g. hotel receipt, boarding house
- subsistence allowance – entitlement arises automatically without proof
- reimbursement of proven necessary incidental expenses – e.g. parking fee, motorway sticker
- reimbursement of proven travel expenses for trips to visit family (the definition of family and the conditions under which entitlement to these reimbursements arises are further specified in the Travel Allowances Act)
Reimbursement of proven travel expenses
Travel expenses are all expenses incurred by the staff member for transport in connection with a domestic mission.
The employee may use different modes of transport for the mission, such as a company or private car, bus, public transport, train, boat or plane.
The use of a private car is only possible with the written consent of the employer. The compensation to which an employee is entitled in the event of using his/her own vehicle for company business can be found in the Travel Allowances Act No 283/2002 §7.
Meals
The employee is entitled to a meal allowance for each calendar day of travel. The amount of the subsistence allowance depends on the duration of the working trip per day and the duration of the working trip being divided into time zones
- 5 to 12 hours
- over 12 to 18 hours
- over 18 hours
If the employer, by sending the employee on a working trip of less than 5 hours, does not allow the employee to take his meals in the usual way, he may provide him with a meal allowance up to the amount of the meal allowance laid down for the 5 to 12-hour time band or provide free meals.
The Travel Allowances Act also addresses the cases of employees whose frequent change of workplace results from the specific nature of their occupation.
If an employee is shown to have been provided with free meals in their entirety while on a business trip, the employer shall not provide them with meal allowances. If an employee on a business trip is shown to be provided with free meals in part, the employer shall reduce the meal allowance determined in accordance with the preceding by:
25 % for the breakfast provided free of charge
40 % for a free lunch
35 % for a free dinner
of the fixed amount of the meal allowance for a time zone of more than 18 hours or of the highest amount of the meal allowance agreed between the employee and the employer in the contract of employment or in the agreements on work performed outside the employment relationship.
The meal allowance amounts are fixed for time zones:
Obligations of the employer and the employee
The employee shall:
- within 10 working days of the end of the working trip
provide the employer with the written documents necessary to account for the reimbursement and reimburse the unpaid claims.
The employer must:
- within 10 working days of the date of submission of the written documents, settle the business trip and satisfy the employee’s claims.
There are cases where the employer may agree with the employee on a longer period for the employee to submit the documents and for the employer to settle the employee’s claims, at the latest by the end of the calendar month following the calendar month in which the business trip took place or the month in which the written documents were submitted.
Legislation
- Act No 283/2002 Coll. on travel allowances, as amended
- Labour Code No 311/2001 Coll.
- Measure No 281/2022 Coll. of the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic on the amounts of meal allowances
- Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic Measure No 282/2022 Coll. on the amounts of basic compensation for the use of road motor vehicles during business trips
