The Labour (Amendment) Act (“LA (2017)”) was passed at the end of 2017 and became applicable as of 25 December 2017.
The latest amendments serve primarily to combat illegal work i.e. “undeclared work”, and illegal overtime.
Pursuant to the latest set of rules, employers are required to file a uniform mandatory social insurance application for persons they intend employing prior to them taking up their job. The same applies to persons that employers intend hiring using other means available under the Labour Act, such as temporary and casual work contracts, service contracts, etc. Prior to the entry into force of the LA (2017) employers had three days from the employment commencement date to register staff for mandatory social insurance; however, employers subject to inspection could avoid liability for failing to register staff for mandatory social insurance by backdating the contracts concerned. So, under the old set of rules, whenever employers came in for scrutiny by labour inspectors they would simply put the inspection date as the conclusion date on the employment contract and avoid liability for failure to register employees for mandatory social insurance and in doing so they still had, formally and legally, three days in which to register those employees. Employers can no longer register staff at the Disability and Pension Fund’s service counters (Republički fond za penzijsko i invalidsko osiguranje) using the service counter visit date or an earlier date, rather a future date only. Employers breaching these provisions are liable to a fine ranging from RSD 300,000 to RSD 1,500,000, while company officers in charge are liable to a fine ranging from RSD 30,000 to RSD 80,000.
Another change under the LA (2017) requires employers to keep daily overtime records. Given it is no secret that overtime is seldom paid to employees, this newest requirement for employers looks to put an end to this practice. Employers breaching this duty are liable to a fine ranging from RSD 150,000 to RSD 300,000, while company officers in charge are liable to a fine ranging from RSD 10,000 to RSD 20,000.
Consistent application of the LA (2017) would be a step in the right direction for all employees. That said, it remains to be seen how these rules will be implemented in practice.