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Amendments to the Macedonian Labor Law went into effect in July 2018. They include changes to the contents of employment contracts, annual leave provisions, the payment of interns, and probationary work.
Recruitment, Probation, and Trainees
The amendments make the following changes:
- When an employer recruits employees through a public advertisement, the amendments reduce the period that the mandatory vacancy announcement at the Employment Agency must be published from at least five working days to at least three working days. Employers are free to use other methods of recruitment but must advertise on the Employment Agency site for at least three working days.
- The amendments reduce the maximum probation period from six months to four months.
- The amendments require employers to pay trainees at least 70 percent of the basic salary for the position for which they are training instead of the current pay rate of 40 percent.
Annual Leave
When it comes to annual leave, workers who work six days per week are now treated the same as workers who work five days per week in that the employer must ensure that these workers take two uninterrupted workweeks of annual leave in the current calendar year and that they take the remaining part of their annual leave by June 30 of the following year.
Terminating Employment Agreements
Various changes were introduced to the process of terminating employment agreements by the employer. A key change is that if an employer intends to terminate employment because of a personal reason relating to the employee—such as misconduct or poor performance—the employer must first warn the employee and give him or her a chance to improve. The warning must be in writing and mention the possibility of dismissal if the employee does not improve his or her behavior. The employer is required to give the employee at least 15 days to improve performance.
Although employees may welcome this change, they are not helped by a simultaneous reduction of the time period available for bringing legal claims. The amendments reduced the statute of limitations for a termination of this kind from 6 months to 3 months as of the day the employer discovered the facts that constitute grounds for dismissal and from 12 to 6 months as of the day those facts occurred.
The Labor Law also specifies requirements for terminations for business reasons and restricts the employment of another employee for the same work, with the same vocational training and profession, for a period of two years from the termination of employment. If a need for carrying out the same work should arise during the two-year period, the employee whose employment was terminated should have priority for employment.
The reform also increases the amount of statutory severance payment by an additional half or whole net month’s salary, depending on the years of experience of the employee who is being declared redundant. The basis for the calculation of the severance is the average net monthly salary of the employee in the last six months before the dismissal.
Comment
The Labor Law amendments’ objective is predominantly the protection of employees, as well as simplifying hiring procedures and clarifying previous ambiguities.
Written by Ljupka Noveska Andonova in cooperation with Karanović & Nikolić and Roger James of Ogletree Deakins