Quota

The two key legal acts that define and regulate the obligation to employ persons with disabilities—the quota—as well as incentives for employing them, are the Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment of Persons with Disabilities Act and the Decree on the Determination of the Quota.

The quota represents the prescribed or mandatory share of employees with disabilities that an employer, as a quota-obligated entity, must employ. It is determined based on the employer's total number of employees and their primary business activity.

The Act establishes the right to vocational rehabilitation and the obligation to employ persons with disabilities. It also defines the forms, measures, and incentives for their employment, as well as the methods of financing, supervision, and sanctions. The quota is more specifically detailed in the Decree, which also prescribes the necessary proof of compliance, calculation and payment of obligations, as well as various incentives for employers, state aid in line with the de minimis rule, and inspection procedures.

What is the quota and the quota system?

The quota is the mandatory percentage of employees with disabilities relative to the total number of workers at a given employer. Employees include those registered for insurance on M-1 forms (bases 01, 02, 05, 13, 16, 19, 29, 34, 40, 51, 52, 64, 65, 84, 85), regardless of their working hours.

The total number of employees also includes partners in private companies and institutions in the Republic of Slovenia who are managing personnel based on an employment contract with the same employer, sole proprietors, and other individuals who independently perform a professional or other permitted activity in Slovenia and are insured on this basis.

Who is subject to the quota obligation?

Any employer—whether a legal or natural person—registered in the Republic of Slovenia and employing at least 20 people is required to meet the quota. Exempt from the obligation are foreign diplomatic and consular missions, disability companies, and employment centres.

Who qualifies as a person with a disability?

The status of a person with a disability and the conditions for inclusion in the quota are strictly defined by the ZZRZI and the Decree on the Determination of the Quota. These also reference the official guidelines on how to register persons with disabilities for insurance. A person with a disability is someone who has been granted disability status under the ZZRZI or other relevant regulations, or a person who has been officially diagnosed by a competent authority with permanent physical or mental impairment or illness that significantly limits their ability to gain or retain employment or to progress in the workplace.

The type of disability is defined according to the classification system outlined in the guidelines for registering persons with disabilities.

Which employees with disabilities count toward the quota?

Employees with disabilities count toward the quota if:

• They have a valid employment contract for at least 20 hours per week, and
• They are registered for insurance as persons with disabilities in accordance with the relevant guidelines, effective from the month the employer submits the disability data to the Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia (ZZZS) and the Institute confirms the record in its system.

On the registration, deregistration, or amendment forms for mandatory pension, disability, and health insurance, the employer must indicate that the worker is being registered or deregistered as a person with a disability.

Employers who hire persons with disabilities but fail to register them with the ZZZS as such in accordance with the prescribed guidelines are not entitled to count these individuals toward the quota or claim quota surplus incentives for the period during which the employees were not properly registered.

In the following sections, you can find more detailed information on:

• how the quota is calculated and how data reconciliation works,
• the conditions under which the quota is considered fulfilled,
• when the quota is deemed unfulfilled,
• how inspections are carried out, and what constitutes a violation.

Should you require any additional information, please contact us.