It is not a common situation in the Serbian business environment that a certain employee is deprived of his/her liberty and that a measure of detention is imposed, but it happens undeniably. From that moment on, the employee is practically unable to fulfil his/her work duties according to the employment contract, which he/she concluded with the employer.
Questions arise as to what the employer should do in that case, as well as what are the rights and obligations of the employee who has been ordered to be detained.
The employment contract should not be cancelled, but such employee will be removed from work from the first day of detention, while the detention lasts. In addition, the employee is entitled to remuneration in the amount of one quarter of the basic salary, and if he/she is supporting a family, in the amount of one third of the basic salary. This is the prescribed legal minimum, and the employer has the sole discretion to determine the remuneration in a higher amount.
The employer should therefore bring a resolution on the basis of which the employee is temporarily removed from work while the detention lasts and within such document, to determine the extent of the remuneration for an employee. From case to case, due to different circumstances for determining the measure of detention, difficulties may arise in terms of personal delivery or delivery of such documents to the employee, but in most cases the key is communication and exchange of information with the detention unit and/or the employee’s attorney.
It should also be noted that the employee’s remunerations are paid at the expense of the competent body that ordered the detention. It is known that in Serbia there are frequent delays when it comes to monetary payments by state bodies. Therefore, in practice, the employer could make a monthly payment of remuneration to the employee and then be refunded (up to the minimum amount provided by law) by the body that ordered the detention.
In the end, it could be concluded that the temporary removal of an employee from work during detention cannot be the basis for the termination of the employment contract, nor is it a sanction related to the employment relationship. It is a kind of preventive and temporary measure that is imposed on the employee while he/she is in employment and during the duration of which the employee exercises the right to remuneration, under conditions and in a manner closely regulated by the provisions of the Labor Law of the Republic of Serbia.
Author: Goran M. Ćiraković, attorney-at-law
Photo: Freepik.com | @wirestock