SERBIA: Annual leave during the State of Emergency

Employers which are not able to organize the work in the state of emergency are recommended to allow their employees to use annual leave before assigning them to leave of absence due to the temporary stoppage of work at the employer , according to the recent Conclusion of the Government of the Republic of Serbia (“Official Gazette” of the Republic of Serbia, no 52/2020) regarding annual leave, dated April 07, 2020. (“Conclusion”.)

The Conclusion rendered upon proposal of the competent Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs applies to three categories of employees:

  1. employees who still work at work premises;
  2. employees working from home or remotely, and
  3. staff on stand down;

As for the employees who are required to work at the workplace during the state of emergency, the employer is recommended to allow them to use the remainder of their 2019 (“carried-over”) annual leave by December 31, 2020, regardless of the statutory deadline of June 30, 2020.

On the other hand, the employer is obliged to allow the staff who work in home-office mode to use the remainder of their 2019 annual leave no later than June 30, 2020, as prescribed by Employment Act.

Ask your legal questions on the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic in Serbia at our new Info Service: covid-19_info@tsg.rs

TSG Lawyers

TSG