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UNMIK/PR/657 SRSG Signs Regulation on Essential Labour Law PRISTINA - SRSG Hans Haekkerup has signed Regulation No. 2001/27 on Essential Labour Law in Kosovo, laying down the basic law governing the relationship between an employee and an employer and their respective rights and obligations. The regulation, which entered into force on 8 October 2001, prohibits any kind of discrimination on the basis of race, colour, sex, religion, age, family status, political opinion, national extraction or social origin, sexual orientation, language or union membership. It further prohibits forced or compulsory labour. The regulation makes it mandatory to give equal pay for men and women for work of equal value as well as minimum wage to the employees, as set by the Department of Public Services. It further stipulates that the minimum age of employment shall be 18
years, but it absolutely prohibits any employment for a person under 15
years of age. But between the age of 15 and 18 a person may only be
employed The regulation gives the employees as well as the employers rights to organize and to collective bargaining. The public authorities are barred from interfering in any way that would restrict this right. The employer(s) and a union(s) will have the right to reach a collective agreement at the Kosovo level, the branch level or the level of an enterprise. It further protects employees against any acts of anti-union discrimination. The regulation defines an employment relationship between an employee and an employer and further describes how a labour contract is to be concluded and the way it could be terminated. It could be terminated upon the death of an employee, by an agreement between the employee and the employer, on the grounds of serious misconduct by the employee or his/her unsatisfactory performance, following the expiration of the term of employment, by operation of law or due to economic, technological or structural changes to the enterprise. The regulation incorporates provisions to that an employer must follow before an employee is laid of for reasons of economic, technological or structural changes to the enterprise. The regulation entitles a female employee to at least 12 weeks of paid maternity leave, to be paid by the employer at a rate no less than two-thirds of the woman's earning. The regulation also has provisions dealing with working hours, annual leave, official holidays, compassionate leave, unpaid leave and sick leave. It provides for a labour inspector inspecting the workplace and
ensuring the enforcement of this regulation and other provisions of the
applicable law relating to working conditions, working hours, salary/wage,
safety and health conditions. Where it is determined that an employer is
violating conditions of this regulation, the labour inspector may issue a
written warning or impose a fine. The regulation stipulates the amount of
fine, varying from 10,000 |