According to the Labor Law ("Official Gazette of RS" no. 24/05, 61/05, 32/13, 75/14, 13/17, 113/17 and 95/18) ("labor law") the reasons for which an employer can cancel an employee's employment contract are prescribed, as well as a strictly formal procedure that must be followed when issuing a decision on termination. Consequently, the smallest omission during the implementation of the procedure, i.e. violation of legal provisions, makes such a decision illegal, which opens the possibility for the employee to protect his rights before the competent court.

Namely, the labor law expressly prescribes the reasons for which a decision can be made to terminate an employee's employment contract. The employer cannot go beyond these reasons and terminate the employment contract arbitrarily, without first establishing the existence of one of the reasons.

In this regard, none of the reasons prescribed by law for passing a decision on dismissal can be stated only mechanically, in order to fulfill the form. Specifically, the mere assertion of the employer that there is a reason for termination is not sufficient, but it must be clearly established and supported by appropriate documentation.

Also, in certain cases, the labor law provides for special procedures for canceling the employment contract. If the employer intends to cancel the employment contract with the employee due to: failure to achieve work results, or lack of necessary knowledge and abilities; hidden violations of work obligations; violations of work discipline; failure to return to work after the termination of employment; or misuse of temporary disability for work - he is obliged to inform the employee of this intention with a written and signed notice, which is called a warning. The warning is delivered upon response to the employee and the trade union to which the employee is a member.

Based on the collected answers, the employer makes a final decision and gives up the dismissal, or makes a decision on the termination of the employment contract.

PROTECTION OF EMPLOYEE RIGHTS

If the employee believes that the employer violated the provisions of the labor law when passing the dismissal decision, then the employee has several options available to protect his rights. The most effective means of protecting one's rights is to file a lawsuit with the competent court in order to annul the illegal decision on the termination of the employment contract. The deadline for filing a lawsuit is 60 days from the date of delivery of the decision on dismissal, that is, knowledge of the violation of rights.

The employee can file a lawsuit for annulment of the decision and demand reinstatement. In that case, the employee has the right to claim compensation for damages that is equal to the earnings he would have earned if he had worked until returning to work, along with the corresponding contributions.

If the employee does not demand return to work, then the court, upon his request, will oblige the employer to compensate the employee for damages up to 18 times the employee's salary, depending on the time spent with the employer, years of life and the number of dependent family members.

If the court determines in the course of the proceedings that the employee's employment has been terminated without a legal basis, but during the proceedings the employer proves that there are circumstances that reasonably indicate that the continuation of the employment, taking into account all the circumstances and the interests of both parties in the dispute, is not possible, the court will reject the employee's request to return to work and will award him compensation in double the amount determined in the paragraph above.

Finally, if the court determines during the procedure that there was a reason for the termination of the employment relationship, but that the employer acted contrary to the provisions of the law that prescribes the procedure for the termination of the employment relationship, the court will reject the employee's request for reinstatement, and will award the employee an amount up to six times the employee's salary as compensation.  

In practice, we most often encounter situations where the employer makes a certain omission when making a decision on dismissal, which is why it is also illegal, and leaves the employee with the possibility of canceling it before the court.