Laws and regulations governing the work of artists
a) Employment and working conditions:
General regulations, which are in some items supplemented with specifics for culture, are applied in the field of employment under the labour law and working conditions in culture:
- wages of employees on fixed-term contracts on specified employment positions in culture can be increased up to the level determined in the collective agreement for culture (Articles 46 and 48 of ZUJIK and Article 5 of the Annex to the Collective agreement for cultural activities in the Republic of Slovenia (KPK). The instrument is still new and its implementation is expected to start in 2009;
- employees in culture who perform the most demanding tasks and manage development have the right to fully paid vocational training in the total duration of up to twelve months (Article 52 of ZUJIK). This instrument is rarely exercised in practice primarily for financial reasons;
- if an employer in culture is not able to ensure full-time employment to an employee, the employee can, with his or her permission, be additionally employed in another (public) organization, for a year at the most (Article 54 of ZUJIK). In practice, employees do not agree with and permit this;
- an employer can dismiss employees if he or she is not able to assure them work because of programming and operating reasons, but is required to pay severance pay (Article 55 of ZUJIK). This instrument is rarely exercised in practice;
- artists in the fields of ballet, instrumental music and opera singing can be employed in public sector organizations on the basis of a successful audition, even if they do not have the requested formal school education (amendments to ZUJIK). Such examples are rare in practice.
- employed artists can perform their basic work for another client only if they have permission from their employer (Article 53 of ZUJIK – prohibition on competition).

In the field of culture, there is special regulation on the position of self-employed persons in culture (Articles 82 through 89 of ZUJIK with amendments), who can under regulatory process and on their application be added to the official register of self-employed persons kept by the Ministry of Culture, and which gives self-employed persons legal status with which they can perform contract work. In cases when their annual income is under the census determined by regulations, they can acquire the right to be paid a certain amount of contributions for health, pension and disability insurance from the budget of the Ministry of Culture. In the middle of 2008, there were a total of 2,500 self-employed persons in culture entered in the register, of which 1,500 were paid the mentioned contributions. A half of all mentioned in both categories were artists.

b) Social welfare (health insurance, occupational accidents, disability, unemployment and pensions):
General regulations in the fields of health protection, occupational safety, sick leave, unemployment and pensions are applied to those employed in culture, but there are also two special instruments for the field of culture:
- a recognition allowance, which can be given from the national budget on the basis of criteria on the importance of the artist's contribution to Slovenian culture to artists who receive low regular pensions (Article 90 of ZUJIK and governmental implementing regulation). There were about 90 such recipients in the middle of 2008;
- the government can grant exceptional pensions to the most distinguished creators in culture (also in sport and science, on the basis of the act on exceptional recognition and assessment of retirement pensions to persons with special merits). There were 197 such recipients in the field of culture in the middle of 2008.
An instrument aimed at enabling professional ballet dancers at the end of their active dance careers to make an easier transition to a new professional or entrepreneurial career is being drafted.

WORKING CONDITIONS 

Work permit or “professional” status
There is no special work permit for artists, while there is a ‘professional’ status for artists, which has already been discussed.
Artists can either be regularly employed (for example in a theatre, opera, ballet, etc.), or have the status of a self-employed person in culture. The Ministry of Culture keeps a list of self-employed persons in culture.

Detailed conditions for obtaining the status of a self-employed person in culture are stipulated by the Act on Enforcing Public Interest in the Field of Culture -ZUJIK (Official Gazette of the RS, n°77/07 – official consolidated text and 56/08) and the Decree on self-employed persons in the field of culture (Official Gazette of the RS, n°9/04 and 76/06). Such status can be granted to persons who:
 - perform an independent specialised profession in an adequate field;
 - do not receive a pension;
 - possess an adequate professional education or demonstrate through previous work their competence in the activity.

Advantages of such status
The advantages for self-employed persons in the field of culture are:
- tax relief;
- the possibility of acquiring the right to contributions for social insurance from the national budget;
- the opportunity to compete for work scholarships and residencies.

Health care system
Self-employed persons in culture can ask for the right to have their contributions for mandatory health insurance (besides mandatory pension and disability insurance) paid from the national budget in cases when their work represents an important cultural contribution, or when they perform occupations or activities which have to be specially supported because of human resource needs in culture (occupations in shortage).

The health care system applies to all regularly employed and self-employed artists. Only self-employed persons in the field of culture can ask for the right to a specific health care system.

Private healthcare systems
There is also a private health insurance system, and artists have the access to this system like all other citizens.

Disabled artists
There is no special regime for disabled artists in Slovenia.

Administrative inspections
There are no special administrative inspections for working conditions.


SOCIAL WELFARE 

Insurance schemes
All artists, both employed and self-employed, are included in the system of mandatory social insurance, which includes health, pension and disability insurance, and insurance for maternity and for employment.
The social coverage is compulsory both for employed and freelance artists.

Complementary insurance schemes
Basic social protection is ensured with the mandatory social insurance, but this is frequently not enough because of the low income of artists and, consequently, low reimbursements from insurance. This is primarily true in the case of pension insurance. Because of the usually low income in the field of art, artists rarely pay for supplementary insurance. However, there are two special instruments in the field of art in Slovenia: exceptional pension and recognition allowance.

Administration of contributions
Contributions and payment of benefits are administered by the State, with the Tax Administration of the Republic of Slovenia which is responsible for contributions, and different institutions for the payment of benefits:
- sick leave compensation – the Health Insurance Institute of the Republic of Slovenia,
- retirement pension and disability pension – the Pension and Disability Insurance Institute of the Republic of Slovenia,
- parental compensation – social work centres,
- unemployment compensations – the Employment Service of Slovenia.


REMUNERATION

The minimum level of payment
Salaries of employed creators in the public sector of culture (about 200 non-profit legal entities with about 4,200 employees, including the creators in question) are regulated with the Salary System in the Public Sector Act, the Collective agreement on public sector and the Collective agreement on cultural activities. The salaries of culture professionals employed in the legal entity RTV Slovenija (there are about 500 of them) are regulated by the first two acts, and then also by the Institute's collective agreement for RTV.
In 2008, the Slovenian public sector made in a transition to a new salary system in the public sector. The salaries of persons employed in the public sector constitute a basic salary determined by placement in a salary bracket, allowances under the general collective agreement for the public sector and performance bonuses. Organizations which employ creators must take into account in their acts on the organization of posts the set of employment posts from the collective agreement for culture (or for RTV).
Salaries of employed culture professionals in the private sector are meanwhile regulated with general regulations and collective agreements for these sectors.

Creators employed under labour law receive salaries directly from their employers.


UNEMPLOYMENT

Unemployment insurance scheme
The status of an artist provides unemployment insurance and the exercise of the rights arising from the status of a self-employed person. Likewise, while they are unemployed, artists are eligible for the measures of the active employment policy. Unemployment compensation depends on the amount of income (average salary in the last 12 months before unemployment) and the duration of the professional status.

Administration of the unemployment insurance scheme
Unemployment insurance and the exercise of rights are administered by the Employment Service of Slovenia.


Source: Ministry of Culture, 2008.