The global phenomenon of COVID19 and labor market disruption
Although news of coronavirus (COVID19) appeared shyly in Europe in early 2020 and the first hospital cases had already been recorded in China, it was likely that no one expected the global, and boldly, epidemic to become the greatest phenomenon of the modern age. It is difficult to cite a segment of society that has not undergone some kind of change in recent months, and we will be based in the text on labor relations.
As part of the global community, the Republic of Serbia could not avoid the booming train of viruses, which ran from east to west in succession, leaving behind incredible changes, unimaginable in the near term with only a few months behind us. In this situation, employers found themselves in a very unpredictable and unheard of sense of business, an unfathomable state, when everything stopped. The need to preserve business has forced employers to think about the existence of their work and to consider ways to save, and therefore reform their structure. We received the most inquiries regarding labor relations, ways of preserving jobs and the potential savings that can be made there.
The first challenge posed to employers whose business activities have stopped or are partially suspended is how to organize workers. In addition, the recommendation of the Government of the Republic of Serbia and relevant ministries was to organize work from home. One of the options was setting up part-time work and analyzing legal options on the occasion.
The law generally does not allow the employer to unilaterally offer part-time employees unless such a measure is offered under the surplus of employees procedure as an alternative to dismissal. In this case, part-time work may not be shorter than half-time (20h). The opinion of the Ministry of Labor, Social Welfare no. 011-00-977 / 2010-02 dated 17.2.2011. years. So, the opinion cited the provision of the law and further approximated the procedure on this occasion: are cases where the employer may offer the employee an annex to the employment contract. According to paragraph 1, item 4) of the said article of the Law, the employer may offer the employee an annex to the employment contract if the employee who has provided the surplus of employees with the rights referred to in Article 155, paragraph 1, item 5) of the Law (one of those rights is to provide work with part time, but not shorter than half full time).
Based on the above provisions of the Law, an employer may introduce part-time work due to lack of work if, in accordance with the surplus of employees program, he has determined part-time work as one of the measures to deal with surplus of employees. “
Therefore, if the employer chooses to carry out the surplus of employees procedure, it must carry out the procedure specified by law and opinion. In the case of part-time work, employees are entitled to a salary in proportion to the amount of time spent working.
The procedure is not much different from the surplus of employees procedure when the employer decides to terminate the employment contract, but instead of terminating the employment contract, it ends with the conclusion of a part-time annex. This measure does not provide protection of employees from the point of view of safety and health at work, but solely the economic savings in the conditions of reducing the volume of work, but also the preservation of jobs as one of the priorities set by the Chamber of Commerce of the Republic of Serbia, and perhaps a condition for a set of measures that The Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Ministry of Finance proposed 31.03.2020. years.
For our clients, we have further analyzed the possibilities of reducing salaries and procedures on this occasion, sending employees on furlough, opportunities and acts of working at home, as well as possibilities of work at a time when employees are prohibited from moving due to “police hour”.
If you have any need for regulation of any of these relationships or others, feel free to contact us about this.
