At the sitting held on 5 December 2017, the members of the Committee on Labour, Social Issues, Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction reviewed, in principle, the Bill on Financial Support to Families with Children, Bill amending and modifying the Labour Law, Bill amending and modifying the Law on Employment and Unemployment Insurance and the Bill amending and modifying the Law on Employment of Foreigners.
The Bill on Financial Support to Families with Children was presented by Milos Jankovic, Assistant Minister of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs, who said that according to it mothers have the right to a year’s compensation for the first and second child, and two for the third and fourth if they had earned an income for no less than 18 months prior to the birth. In addition, according to the new law mothers who were not employed at the time of the birth will also have the right to maternity allowance, as well as mothers employed under occasional service and temporary service contracts, women entrepreneurs and farmers who had been insured as such for a duration of no less than 24 months before the birth of the child.
Milos Jankovic said that the allowance will also be ascertained in a different way – base salary to which the mandatory social insurance contribution had been paid going back 18 months for all categories, while that period for women in agriculture would go back 24 months. According to the new law the allowance for the first child would be raised from 39,345.83 to 100,000 RSD, and there would also be a 50% raise for special needs children and children with disabilities. Instead of VAT reimbursement for baby equipment, each mother will have the right to 5,000 RSD one-time assistance.
The Bill amending and modifying the Labour Law was presented by acting assistant minister Bojana Stanic who said that the amendment is proposed at the initiative of the Labour Inspectorate of the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs, as the authority in charge of supervising the implementation of the law. The reason for the amendment is an attempt to suppress illegal employment by inspecting the contracts between employer and employee, often signed without including a date which is filled in on the spot during the inspection.
Bojana Stanic also presented the Bill amending and modifying the Law on Employment and Unemployment Insurance saying that it should be passed to boost the efficiency of the National Employment Service and reduce costs. The law allows organizing additional trainings for the employees to suit the employers’ needs. It also stipulates the fees for the exams needed for recruitment personnel and states that recruitment personnel has to be licenced. Also, any unregistered employment agencies would be banned from operating for three years.
The Bill amending and modifying the Law on Employment of Foreigners was also presented by Bojana Stanic who said that the amendments specify the conditions for working permits for foreign national involved in training, internship and/or expert programmes. Due to the specificity of their status members of an authors’ or acting companies are exempt and working permits for other foreign nationals employed on jobs/services of interest for the Republic of Serbia can be extended to maximum two years with the prior consent of the relevant ministry.
Following a debate the Committee members adopted all the bills in principle.
The Committee went on to review the 13 civic proposals and complaints it had received and unanimously accepted the Working Group’s proposal how to process them.
The sitting was chaired by Committee Chairperson Dr Vesna Rakonjac and attended by the following Committee members and deputy members: Milanka Jevtovic Vukojicic, Radovan Jancic, Dr Branimir Rancic, Prim. Dr Vlado Babic, Bojan Torbica, Dragan Savkic, Josip Broz, Vesna Nikolic Vukajlovic, Tatjana Macura, Milena Bicanin, Milena Corilic and Marija Janjusevic.
