The Government Submitted the Final Proposal for Amendments to the Labor Law

On Thursday, the Government submitted to the Parliament the final proposal for amendments to the Labor Law (ZOR), which clearly defines the concept of salary, prevents unjustified consecutive fixed-term employment contracts, increases the hourly wage for Sunday work, and abandons the possibility for workers to refuse Sunday work.

– A novelty in the final proposal of the law is that the concept of salary is clearly defined, and a clear salary structure is proposed, leaving the possibility for the employer to pay salary supplements in a manner determined by special regulations, collective agreements, work regulations, or employment contracts – said the Minister of Labor, Pension System, Family and Social Policy Marin Piletić at the Government session.

Preventing unjustified consecutive fixed-term employment contracts

In this context, he emphasized that the increase in salary for work on Sundays and holidays, overtime work, night work, and work in difficult working conditions must not be calculated at an amount lower than the established minimum wage.

It is proposed to prevent unjustified consecutive fixed-term employment contracts and to introduce a new way of performing permanent seasonal jobs, which include indefinite work and the possibility of legal work outside the season.

Work at a remote workplace is more comprehensively regulated, and additional protection for certain categories of workers (primarily parents of children up to eight years of age) is prescribed in the case of unequal distribution of working hours and overtime work.

Additional work for another employer without the consent of the primary employer is also regulated (previously it was with consent), the right to unpaid leave of five days per year for providing personal care to a family member or household member is introduced, as well as the right to be absent from work for one day due to urgent family reasons.

The increase in hourly wage for Sunday work cannot be less than 50 percent

It is prescribed that the salary must be contracted in gross amount and paid to the worker’s transaction account, and a new form of work through digital work platforms (e.g., Glovo, Bolt, Uber, etc.) is clearly regulated with the aim of protecting such workers.

The absence of the right to a notice period and severance pay for workers who meet the conditions for old-age pension (65 years of age, 15 years of pensionable service) is also introduced to encourage employers to retain older workers in employment, says the minister.

For Sunday work, the worker has the right to an increased salary, whereby the increase for each hour of work cannot be less than 50 percent.

Additionally, the possibility is introduced for union members who negotiated the collective agreement to arrange certain more favorable material rights for themselves.

At a press conference after the session, Piletić said that the so-called conscience clause, under which a worker could refuse to work on Sundays, has caused significant public debate, but this is not included in the final proposal for now.

Items related to the so-called conscience clause removed from the proposal

– Since the most debate in the public and among social partners was caused by something we never put in the law, which has already been proclaimed a conscience clause, after additional consultations, we removed three items from the final proposal – said Piletić.

He particularly emphasized consultations with micro-entrepreneurs and small entrepreneurs, whose work could be jeopardized by this.

They are often self-employed or have very few employees, so Sunday work is implied for them. Therefore, this issue is postponed until next year, when we have outlined with social partners that we will proceed with the drafting of a new ZOR, he said.

He explained that in the part that was removed, they wanted to enable workers in those activities where Sunday work is not necessary to refuse that work, while those who must respond to the employer’s call due to urgent needs and those for whom Sunday work is implied due to the nature of the job, such as healthcare, social services, agriculture, etc., were exempted from this.

There is no, nor has there ever been a “conscience clause,” but we wanted to clearly define Sunday as a family day, asserted Piletić.