PRESENTATION

LABOR LAW SYSTEM IN MONTENEGRO

Good morning ladies and gentlemen. First of all, let me thank you all for coming here
today. I`m delighted that so many of you could make it today. Let me introduce myself.
I`m Marko Miskovic, i had passed BAR exam, now I work in High Court in civil
department and I do labor law. As you can see on the screen, our topic for today is
labor law system in Montenegro. Today`s topic is important for all of us, wheter we are
employees or employers.

Labor law system is regulated by domestic and international regulation.

In this part of my presentation, I`d like to say some words about Constitution. First of all,
we have to mention Constitution of Montenegro – it is supreme act in our country and all
other acts shall be conformed with Constitution. There are a few articles in Constitution
that generate principles of our labor law system:

Article 62: Right to work

Everyone shall have the right to work, to free choice of occupation and employment,
to fair and human working conditions and to protection during unemployment.

Article 63: Prohibition of forced labor

Forced labor shall be prohibited.

The following shall not be considered forced labor: labor customary during the
serving of sentence, deprivation of liberty; performance of duties of military nature
or duties required instead of military service; work demanded in case of crisis or
accident that threatens human lives or property.

Article 64: Rights of the employed

The employed shall have the right to adequate salary.

The employed shall have the right to limited working hours and paid vacation.
The employed shall have the right to protection at work.
Youth, women and the disabled shall enjoy special protection at work.
Article 66: Strike

The employed shall have the right to strike.

The right to strike may be limited to the employed in the Army, police, state bodies
and public service with the aim to protect public interest, in accordance with the law.

Article 72: Family

Family shall enjoy special protection.

Parents shall be obliged to take care of their children, to bring them up and educate
them.
Children shall take care of their own parents in need of assistance.
Children born out of wedlock shall have the same rights and responsibilities as
children born in marriage.

Article 73: Protection of mother and child

Mother and child shall enjoy special protection.

The state shall create the conditions that encourage childbirth.

Article 74: Rights of a child

A child shall enjoy rights and freedoms appropriate to his age and maturity.
A child shall be guaranteed special protection from psychological, physical, economic
and any other exploitation or abuse.

I must also mention the content of Article 9 of the Constitution: The ratified and
published international agreements and generally accepted rules of international law
shall make an integral part of the internal legal order, shall have the supremacy over the
national legislation and shall be directly applicable when they regulate the relations
differently from the internal legislation. Here we consider: European Convention on
Human Rights and European Court of Human Rights and all international acts you can
find on this link here

https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?
p=NORMLEXPUB:12000:0::NO::P12000_INSTRUMENT_SORT:4
If you have any questions, you are welcomed to ask me whatever you want. So, I can
see that everything is crystal clear, I suppose it is because constitutional articles are
simply written, and there is no space for any doubt. Now we should move to the next
point.

We have two main law acts in our labour system: Labor law act and Law on state clerks.
First act is general and the second is intended for people who try to become employees
in state bodies or who are employed in steate bodies. Let`s discuss the differences
between these two main law acts. If you want to work in private sector, you have to
have contract with your employer. So, according to Labor law act, your employement is
based on contract. If the employer has free workplace he has to inform Employement
office and Employement office is going to put this ad on their website. The ad shall last
at least 3 days. During these three days, candidate has to collect prescribed
documentation, and to send it to the Employement office. After this part, it is possible
that candidates are going to have an interview, but according to Labor law act, it is not
necessary. When this procedure is finished, the employer shall announce his decision
and if candidate is not satisfied, he is able to file a lawsuit against employer. Candidate
has to meet the deadline – he has to file a lawsit in 15 days from the day he had
received the decision, and if he misses the deadline, his lawsuit is going to be rejected.

As I said before, according to Law of labor, the employement is based on contract. If the
contract, or part of the contract is not conform with the law, the contract or its part is
void. In this case, employee has the right to file a lawsuit against employer and
challenge the contract or its part.

On the other hand, the conditions according to the Law of state clerks are different for
the employement. If there is free workplace in state body, the head of the body is going
to inform Human resources. They are going to put ad on their website and ad lasts 15
days. During these days, candidate or candidates have to collect their documentation
and send it to Human resources. After that, candidates are going to be tested. There is
general examination and special examination. General examination is under jurisdiction
of Human resources and special examination is under jurisdiction of representatives of
state body. When the examination is done, candidates have interview with the
commission and after that with head of the body. Head of the body has deadline to
decide and to send decision to candidates. Also here candidates have deadline to file
lawsuit against state if they are not satisfied with decision.

What are main conditions to be hired according to Law of labor? You have to be at least
15 years old and you have to have general health ability. According to Law of state
clerks, you have to present certificate that you passed state exam or any other special
exam, you have to be at least 18 years old, you have to be Montenegrin citizen, and you
must not be convicted of a crime that makes you unworthy of working in a state body.
Speaking of that, according to Labor law act, if somene tries to get a job that involves
working with children, but he or she had been condemned for sexual abuse, they are
unfit for this job.

Both of these law acts give special protection to minors, women, people with special
needs, single parents, labour women and to minorities. Also, these laws prescribe
limited working hours, vacations, rest during working hours and rest during working
week. When we speak about these rights, we have to know that not all rights are given
in these acts and we should also consider very important regulation that elaborates
these laws:

General collective agreement,

Branch collective agreement

Individual collective agreement

General collective agreements shall be concluded for the territory of Montenegro and
shall apply to all employees and employers, and branch collective agreement shall be
signed for industries (branches of economy), groups, i.e. sub-groups of industries, and
shall apply to the employees and employers in the industry, group, i.e. subgroup.
Individual collective agreement shall apply to the employees employed by the specific
employer.

Employee`s salary is obtained by multiplying coefficient with its calculated value, which
is increased with past work. This is the basic earning. But, if someone worked overtime
or during holidays or nightshift, his coefficient is going to be increased by 40 % or 140%
according to collective agreements.

There are also a lot of other regulations in this area and we are going to mention some
of those acts: Public sector wage act, Government decrees on wages and other
earnings (in police, military, public sector, court etc…), Acts of systematization, Law on
prohibition of discrimination, Law on obligations, Law on prohibition of harassement at
work, etc…
Now we are going to talk about rights and obligations of employees and employers.
According to domestic and international regulation, worker has the right to adequate
wage, security and protection of life and health at work (health and safety at work),
professional training and other rights in accordance with the law and the collective
agreement. Employee has to perform the tasks in his responsibility in a conscientious
and responsible manner; to respect the organization of work and operations of the
employer, as well as requirements and rules of the employer regarding the fulfillment of
the contracted and other obligations based on employment; to take care of and act in a
conscientious manner with the working assets and financial assets of the employer
etc… If employee violates his duties, the employer could initiate disciplinary
proceedings against him. The employer could impose two kinds of disciplinary
measures: for less serious violations employer can impose pecuniary fine, and for
severe violation employer can impose termination of employement. If employee thinks
that employer violated his rights, hi is able to file a lawsuit with the competent court.

So, we came to the end of this meeting. You are free to ask questions. If you are
interested in this topic I can send you handouts, books, court decisions, brouchures,
bulletins and a lot of material. Now I will give you a paper and you can write your e-
mails or social-media accounts to make it easy for me to send you all this stuff. I have to
thank you once again and it was great pleasure for me to stand in front of you and to
give you some usefull information about very complex branch of law – labor law.