LAW ON SEASONAL WORK TO BE ADOPTED SOON

22. January 2016.

Fruit and vegetable pickers, construction workers and seasonal tourism workers will soon get a law by which their rights and status will be governed. A large number of people who work in the fields and on construction sites mainly in the summer months, have, so far, never been reported to the corresponding authorities and not a single day of service has been entered into their work books.

According to Aleksandar Vulin, the Minister of Labor, the law on seasonal work hasn’t existed in Serbia so far, while an army of people worked without any papers and without being reported to the proper authorities. Seasonal workers will be enabled to exercise the rights based on their work, which, under the current regulations, isn’t the case. The new regulation will introduce a voucher system which operates on a system of prepayment. By purchasing the vouchers, employers will pay contributions for compulsory social insurance, which they will, thereafter, give to the hired employees, depending on the number of working days. Seasonal workers will then submit the vouchers to the Pension and Disability Insurance Fund, which will record the length of their service.

This system will enable employers to use a simple procedure when hiring workers, an easier control for state bodies, and it will it significantly reduce illegal work.

Source: RTV Rhythm and Coordination Body