Serbia to Pass a New Employment Agencies Act : Employee Leasing

(Beta/Dragan Gojic)

A new Employment Agencies Act, which the Serbian government sent to Parliament for approval on July 19, should go into force on March 1, making Serbia not only a country of cheap labor, but also one leasing its workers. The status of leased employees will be quite unsafe, despite a promise by the government that the law would make the rights of everyone in a company equal, and make it impossible for illegal recruitment agencies to operate.

A draft version of the law was prepared by the Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs, ignoring criticism from the Alliance of Independent Trade Unions of Serbia and the United Professional Trade Unions “Independence”, as well as the Social and Economic Council. The Council says that the Serbian labor minister, Zoran Djordjevic, decided to stop a prolonged debate that was not leading to a compromise with the trade unions, explaining that the government had better passed some version of the law and amend it later than leave the sector unregulated.