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On January 1, 2016, the Act on Sports no. 440/2015 came into force, and it also amended the Act on Volunteering. In the Act on Volunteering, it amended the part related to the contract on volunteering in such a way that it used the so-called institute of loss of time and opened a possibility of financial compensation for volunteers volunteering within the area of sport. This amendment fundamentally violated the basic principles of volunteering which is carried out without any financial gain, based on free will and during free time.

Through this change, § 6 in the Act on Volunteering focused on volunteering contract was supplemented by a new section where it is stated, that the written agreement between an organization and a volunteer can include:

“compensation for the loss of time of a volunteer listed in an information system of sport and the compensation for every hour can reach the maximum of an hour minimum wage.” In practice, this means volunteers can be paid for their voluntary work.

This institute of loss of time is stated in the Labor Code as an option for a remuneration or a day off as a compensation for time spent e.g. on a business trip. This type of compensation can also be provided to officially appointed experts or translators based on regulation of individual ministries. However, such compensation is in a strict conflict with the principle of volunteering. A person becomes a volunteer with the awareness that he/she devotes his/her time freely and gives it up without the need or request for any compensation for his/her loss of time.

Platform of Volunteer Centers and Organizations states that this amendment seriously damaged not only the philosophy but also the legal definition of volunteering cited in the Act on Volunteering §2, Section 1: “A volunteer is a personal entity who out his/her free and without any financial gain provides a voluntary activity based on his/her ability, skill and knowledge for another person (with the consent of this person) or for common good and fulfils conditions stated in this act if a voluntary activity”. That is why the Platform will ask the state to change the Act on Volunteering. At the same time, Platform asks the NGOs active in Slovakia not to use similar entitlements also for other areas of activity.