Changes and amendments to the social legislation of the Republic of Serbia
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- République de Serbie [fr]
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1In the first half of 2021, the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia adopted amendments to several laws in the field of social security. Amendments to the Law on Pension and Disability Insurance, the Law on Employment and Unemployment Insurance, as well as amendments to the Law regulating financial support to families with children were adopted. Amendments to the Law on Employment and Unemployment Insurance are not related to unemployment insurance, but concern the field of employment, and therefore will not be analyzed separately in this document.
- 1 More in the 2014 text: Revue de droit comparé du travail et de la sécurité sociale, 2014/1, p. 170.
2In relation to the previous amendments to the Law on Pension and Disability Insurance, which finally provided, and under certain conditions, the right to a survivor’s pension and extramarital partners, the newly adopted amendments were adopted in order to specify certain legal norms determining the amount of early old-age pension i.e. survivors’ pensions. The institute of early old-age pension was reaffirmed in the law of the Republic of Serbia in 2014, and the Law on Pension and Disability Insurance precisely determines the conditions under which the insured can exercise the right to early old-age pension, and regulates the rules for determining early old-age pension1.
- 2 Law on Pension and Disability Insurance of the Republic of Serbia, (Official Gazette of RS, no. 34/ (...)
- 3 In the period from 2014-2018, only 17,900 insured persons decided to exercise the right to early ol (...)
3Regarding the amount of early old-age pension, the legislator has determined that the amount of early old-age pension is determined in the same way as the amount of old-age pension, with the amount of such determined pension being permanently reduced by 0.34% for each month before 65 years of life2. The amount of early old-age pension can be reduced to a maximum of 20.4%. This is a permanent reduction, and the insured person who decides to submit a request for exercising the right to an early old-age pension will receive the amount thus determined for the rest of his life. The aforementioned solution is not met with approval in public several times by representatives of various pensioners’ associations and trade unions, and acquired the requirements for amending these provisions. Also, it should be borne in mind that according to the statistical data of the Republic Fund for Pension and Disability Insurance, in the first few years a small number of insured persons decided to exercise the right to early old-age pension3.
- 4 Law on Pension and Disability Insurance, art. 70d.
- 5 Explanation of changes and amendments to the Law on Pension and Disability Insurance from 2021, p. (...)
- 6 Ibid.
4As the main reasons for the above, there are too strict conditions, especially the condition regarding the previous length of insurance (40 years of service), but also the above- mentioned permanent reduction of the amount of early old-age pension, which differs from the solution present in socialist Yugoslavia, and when the impairment was of temporary character, a reduced amount paid is only until the user of early old-age pension fulfills the conditions for full old-age pension, or until such time as they reach the age stipulated for obtaining the old age pension (at the moment it is 65 years of age for insured men, or 63 years and two months for insured women). The novelty adopted this year did not meet the requirements of dissatisfied unions and pensioners’ associations, because only an exception is provided, in connection with determining the amount of early old-age pension for those insured who before the application of Law on Amendments to the Law on Pension and Disability Insurance, in accordance with the Decision of the Government of the Republic of Serbia on determining the Program for resolving redundancies in the process of rationalization, restructuring and preparation for privatization, were the beneficiaries of the right to special financial compensation, i.e. beneficiaries of monetary compensation4. For these insured persons, the amount of early old-age pension is determined in the same way as the amount of old-age pension, and therefore this category will not be reduced in accordance with the rules for insured persons who decide to apply for early old-age pension. The explanation for the mentioned legal change is found in solving the problem that arose for the beneficiaries of early old-age pension, who due to the acceptance of the Government’s social program for resolving redundancies were not able to exercise the right to old-age pension and due to changed conditions for the realization of this right of 20145. The introduction of the institute of early old- age pension had a bad effect on the beneficiaries of the social program, who at the time of termination of employment and exercising the right to special benefits - cash benefits under these programs, lacked up to five years to meet one of the conditions when exercising the right to a pension, in accordance with the then valid regulations on pension and disability insurance6. This solves the problem for this category of beneficiaries, but the issue of permanent reduction of the amount of early old-age pension remains unresolved, as well as the issue of too strict conditions regarding the previous insurance period.
- 7 Law on Pension and Disability Insurance, art. 30a.
- 8 Law on Pension and Disability Insurance, art. 71.
5The second change worth noting refers to the determined amounts of the survivor’s pension for a special category of holders of the right to a survivor’s pension. These are the widows, i.e. the widowers of a professional military person who died during the action, and who will exercise the right to a family pension regardless of the legally prescribed years of life, but also under the condition that they have not remarried7. It should be noted that in the law of the Republic of Serbia, remarriage of a beneficiary of a survivor’s pension does not constitute a ground for termination of the right to a survivor’s pension, except in the above case. The new legal changes introduced another exception for this category of beneficiaries, which, as stated, concerns the determination of the amount of the survivor’s pension. Contrary to the rule according to which if it is a family member who will use the right to a survivor’s pension, the amount of this benefit will be determined in the amount of 70% of the pension that would belong to the deceased insured at the time of death, the amount of survivor’s pension for a spouse of dead professional member of the military, killed during the action, is determined in the amount of 100% of the pension that would have belonged to the insured at the time of death8. This novelty further strengthens the long-established concept of social compensation for the families of military personnel who lost their lives during their service.
6Amendments to the Law on Financial Support to Families with Children were adopted due to great public dissatisfaction with the new legal solutions in the field of family and child protection. The Law on Financial Support to Families with Children was adopted in 2017, and began to be applied on 1 July 2018. Although the main goal of this regulation is to provide financial support to families with children, in order to improve the conditions for meeting the basic needs of children, harmonizing work and parenthood, encouraging birth rates, or encouraging and supporting parents to achieve the desired number of children, as well as improving the financial situation of families with children, families with children with disabilities and families with children without parental care, it was noticed that the text of the law contains a number of unfavorable solutions and that the basic goal for which this law was adopted is called into question. Also, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Serbia, by its decisions, declared certain provisions of the Law unconstitutional, and it was necessary to harmonize these provisions with the text of the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia.
- 9 Law on Financial Support to Families with Children, art. 13, § 4 (Official Gazette of RS, no. 113/2 (...)
7Therefore, certain amendments were made to this Law, and in order to, as stated in the explanation of the legislator, on the basis of the conducted analysis of the previous application in practice, the law be improved. Similar to the above-analyzed amendments to the Law on Pension and Disability Insurance, a number of novelties in the Law on Financial Support to Families with Children are related to determination of the amount of compensation for the earnings paid during maternity leave, leave from work to care for a child and absences from work for special child care. In terms of the maximum amount of the monthly base wage compensation is envisaged that the amount to be paid to the beneficiary, from January 1, 2022, cannot be greater than five times the average monthly salary in Serbia, according to the latest published data of the authority competent for statistics, and on the day of the beginning of the exercise of rights9.
8It should be noted that this solution was provided in the previous Law on Financial Support to Families with Children and that the adoption of the new Law provided that the beneficiary of the right to cash benefits cannot be paid more than three average monthly salaries in the Republic of Serbia, by which the beneficiaries of the right to financial compensation were placed in a less favorable position, who had high incomes on the basis of work before the beginning of the use of the right to maternity leave, leave from work for child care and leave from work for special child care. It seems that the newly adopted amendments have corrected this shortcoming. It is similar with the second change, which refers to the lowest amount of salary compensation, which is paid during the leave. It is envisaged that the full monthly amount of salary compensation during maternity leave cannot be less than the minimum salary determined on the day of the beginning of exercising the right. The amount of the minimum wage is determined when the minimum hourly wage, determined in accordance with the law, is multiplied by 184 hours and increased by the corresponding taxes and contributions.
- 10 Law on Financial Support to Families with Children, art. 14.
- 11 Decision of the Constitutional Court Iuz-247/2018. It should be noted that the Decision of the Cons (...)
9This solution also represents a significant improvement of the previous solution, which put some beneficiaries at a disadvantage, and bearing in mind that the Law provided that « the full monthly amount of salary compensation during maternity leave may not be less than the minimum wage set at the day of submitting the request, if at least six lowest bases on which contributions to salaries that have the character of salary have been paid have been registered with the competent authority »10. The mentioned change was made on the basis of the above-mentioned Decision of the Constitutional Court of Serbia Iuz-247/2018, which established that this provision of the Law on Financial Support to Families with Children in the part that reads « if at least six lowest bases on which contributions to income have been paid which have the character of earnings were recorded » is not in accordance with the Constitution and the ratified international agreement. The Constitutional Court has determined that the said provision is in contradiction with the article of the Constitution, which guarantees special support to mothers before and after childbirth, but also with the ratified Convention of the International Labor Organization no. 183 on maternity protection, which stipulates that the amount of compensation should be such as to ensure the maintenance of good health of women and children with an appropriate standard of living11. Given that in some cases, and it was recorded less than six minimum base, the amount of wage compensation could be established, which would be lower than the minimum wage, it could not, as stated in the Convention provide appropriate standard of living, these amendments to the Law were necessary in order to eliminate this shortcoming in a timely manner.
- 12 Article 44a of the Law on Financial Support to Families with Children.
10Among other things, also an amendment of the law was made, by which the law is in compliance with the regulations in the field of social security, and regulating the payment of social benefits. This amendment stipulates that the beneficiary, to whom the payment to which he was not entitled was made, is obliged to return the received amounts to the ministry responsible for financial support to the family with children12. The same article also stipulates that the Ministry will be entitled to a refund of taxes and contributions paid for compulsory social insurance.
11Finally, it should be noted at this point that from October 2020, the Law on Ministries provides for a special Ministry for Family Care and Demography, and the area of financial support for families with children is no longer under the jurisdiction of the ministry responsible for social affairs, which is corrected in all articles of the Law in which the competence of the ministry is mentioned.
Notes
1 More in the 2014 text: Revue de droit comparé du travail et de la sécurité sociale, 2014/1, p. 170.
2 Law on Pension and Disability Insurance of the Republic of Serbia, (Official Gazette of RS, no. 34/2003, 64/2004 - Decision of the Constitutional Court of RS, 84/2004 - Other law, 85/2005, 101/2005 - Other law, 63/2006 - Decision of the Constitutional Court of RS, 5/2009, 107/2009, 101/2010, 93/2012, 62/2013, 108/2013, 75/2014 , 142/2014, 73/2018, 46/2019 - Decision of the Constitutional Court, 86/2019 and 62/2021), art. 70a.
3 In the period from 2014-2018, only 17,900 insured persons decided to exercise the right to early old-age pension.
4 Law on Pension and Disability Insurance, art. 70d.
5 Explanation of changes and amendments to the Law on Pension and Disability Insurance from 2021, p. 4: http://www.parlament.gov.rs/upload/archive/files/cir/pdf/predlozi_zakona/2021/934-21.pdf
6 Ibid.
7 Law on Pension and Disability Insurance, art. 30a.
8 Law on Pension and Disability Insurance, art. 71.
9 Law on Financial Support to Families with Children, art. 13, § 4 (Official Gazette of RS, no. 113/2017, 50/2018, 46/2021 - Decision of the Constitutional Court of RS, 51/2021 - Decision of the Constitutional Court of RS, 53/2021 - Decision of the Constitutional Court of RS and 66/2021).
10 Law on Financial Support to Families with Children, art. 14.
11 Decision of the Constitutional Court Iuz-247/2018. It should be noted that the Decision of the Constitutional Court determined the inconsistency of the provisions of the Law on Financial Support to Family with Children and with the provisions of the Labor Law and the Law on Health Insurance, which stipulate that the amount of salary compensation during temporary incapacity cannot be lower than the minimum wage.
12 Article 44a of the Law on Financial Support to Families with Children.
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Filip Bojić, « Changes and amendments to the social legislation of the Republic of Serbia », Revue de droit comparé du travail et de la sécurité sociale, 4 | 2021, 240-243.
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Filip Bojić, « Changes and amendments to the social legislation of the Republic of Serbia », Revue de droit comparé du travail et de la sécurité sociale [En ligne], 4 | 2021, mis en ligne le 31 décembre 2021, consulté le 16 juin 2025. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/rdctss/2773 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/rdctss.2773
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