The objective of this Master's Thesis is the presentation of the labour law distinctive features related to the occupation of physicians in the Republic of Slovenia. This Thesis predominantly addresses the relevant provisions of both the Medical Services Act and the Health Services Act, which regulate the rights and obligations of physicians in employment.
In relation to The Medical Service Act, the Master's Thesis examines the conditions for performing the occupation of physicians, namely the domains of traineeships and specializations. Noting that the legal regulation of these is related to the constitutional right to freedom of work, the Thesis argues in favour of and against the constitutionality of the current regulation of these, whereas additional focus is placed upon the so-called “commitment to the State”.
Furthermore, in order to implement the obligation to provide for continuous health care, the working time of physicians deviates from the working time of other workers as their daily and weekly rest can be provided in a longer reference period, physicians often have on-call or stand-by duty, while overtime work of physicians is subjected to a different legal regime. In view of the above-mentioned domains, the author also presents their historical development and addresses the compliance of these with the legislation of the European Union, as well as with the case law of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia and the Court of Justice of the European Union.
The Master's Thesis presents not only the provisions of the Medical Services Act, but also those of the Health Services Act referring to the working conditions of physicians. In this part of the Thesis the non-compete obligation valid for physicians employed in the public sector and a special obligation for healthcare providers regarding their employees are presented.
The author in Master's Thesis further presents the most important collective agreements protecting the rights of physicians. In relation to them, special attention is placed upon the ratione materiae of the Collective Agreement for Doctors and Dentists in the Republic of Slovenia, and the analysis of the provisions hereof. In particular, the Thesis presents the Articles of this collective agreement, regulating the right of physicians to vocational training.
Last but not least, the Master's Thesis also contains an overview of the orders that were in force at the time of the COVID-19 epidemic and deprived doctors of their constitutional right to strike. Therefore, the current case law of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia on the issue of deprivation of the right to strike is presented. As the position of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia is rather controversial, the author questions the given argumentation of the relevant decisions.
The Master's Thesis also contains a presentation of the practical dimension of these issues which the author got acquainted with while working at the Medical Chamber of Slovenia.
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