Conditions for the Assignment of Employees to Temporary Work Abroad and Their Protection

Newsletter 84b

I. Introduction

The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia has adopted the Law on Conditions for the Assignment of Employees to Temporary Work Abroad and Their Protection (“RS Official Gazette”, No. 91/2015). The Law entered into force on 13 November 2015 and shall be applicable as of 13 January 2016.

This Law provides for the rights of employees assigned to temporary work abroad, as well as the conditions, procedures and obligations of employers related to such assignment.

II. Definition of assignment

The term assignment to temporary work abroad is deemed to refer to the cases of employees being temporarily sent outside of Serbia by their employers in order to: 1.) work for the employer (e.g. within a business group) or 2.) attend training as required by their employer.

The assignment to temporary work abroad of the employees with indefinite-term employment contracts is subject to no legal limitations in terms of duration of assignment. On the other hand, the employees with fixed-term employment contracts may be assigned to work abroad only for the duration of their employment contracts, however, the time they spend at work abroad is not counted towards the maximum statutory term of the fixed-term employment.

III. Employee’s consent

An employer who intends to assign an employee to work abroad must obtain such employee’s prior written consent for the assignment, except in cases when his/her employment contract provides for the possibility of assignment to work abroad, when such consent by the employee is not required.