Since 2018, the Network for Protection against Discrimination and the Platform for Gender Equality have been continuously monitoring the process of drafting of the new text of the Law on Labor Relations. Taking into account the latest developments and public hearings on the text of the Law organized by the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy in several cities across the country, we decided to jointly react in relation to several key aspects in the overall process and the text of the law.
First of all, we would like to commend the fact that the new Law on Labor Relations includes the topics of paid maternity, paternity and parental leave for the first time. Parental leave regulated in this way would be of particular importance for early childhood development and we believe that it would also contribute to systemic changes towards advancing gender equality. Paid parental leave for fathers and mothers provides genuine benefits to working families and enables a more even distribution of household chores and childcare, and consequently the possibility for a more equitable distribution of responsibilities in the future, thus impacting parents' decisions on how to allocate the resources for childcare, housework and paid work in upcoming years. Promoting better parental leave policies across the world — and incentivizing fathers to take advantage of those policies — is critical to the wellbeing of the family and the wider community. However, it is necessary to further specify those legal amendments, that is, for the Law to stipulate that the right to a leave due to pregnancy and parenthood shall be paid in full (100% of the worker’s salary) by the Health Insurance Fund. This clarification is essential in order to prevent grounds for discrimination against female and male candidates when entering the labor market and putting them in a less favorable position due to the use of this legally available right.
In addition, the new Law on Labor Relations stipulates that a fixed-term employment contract may be concluded for a maximum period of up to two years. Although the halving of this timeframe (compared to the previous law) is a welcome adjustment and constitutes a positive change, we must note that the two-year period is also too lengthy and may contribute to immense financial insecurity for the workers. What is of particular concern is the fact that, in reality, fixed-term contracts are the everyday default practice, rather than an exception.[1] Workers with fixed-term employment contracts live in a state of constant uncertainty because their employers may decide that they do not longer need them at any given moment and leave them without a job. Non-extension of fixed-term contracts is also the most common way of discriminating against pregnant workers.
Moreover, we would like to express our concern and strongly react to the way the text of the new Law on Labor Relations was finalized and the lack of transparency during the last stage of the process, as well as the arrangements in relation to the cooperation with civil society organizations that work in this area. The draft of the law was prepared outside the working group, which stopped working in June 2021, and was established exclusively for the purpose of drafting a new text of the Law on Labor Relations. The public hearings on the text of the Law, organized by the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, were held at a time when the text of the Law was not available to the public. This selective and non-transparent approach excluded important stakeholders that work on advancing labor rights, and also leave space for misinterpretation and comments out of context which are not in favor of promoting solid policies.
By further analyzing the provisions of the new text of the Law on Labor Relations, the two networks prepared a legal opinion consisting of several comments in relation to the key shortcomings in the text of the Law:
- The new text fails to expand the definition of a worker to include those workers who do not have an employment contract, but are factually employed, which can be proved based on related evidence. The current definition is not sufficiently precise and inclusive and it does not provide protection for a large number of workers who factually work without an employment contract or another type of contract, and is not in accordance with the European legislation and international standards.
- The new text of the LLR is not fully aligned with the Law on Prevention and Protection against Discrimination and the provisions that would guarantee comprehensive and effective protection to workers against discrimination in any aspect of their work. In this area, the right to an equal pay for the same work or work of an equal value is inadequately regulated.
- When regulating the rights and obligations of workers, the new LLR must align the solutions it proposes with the existing state of the facts - that is, it must be taken into account that certain categories of persons require a different definition in the LLR than the definitions in other laws, such as the Law on Social Welfare (Protection), the Law on Family, or the Law on Primary/Secondary Education. The objectives of these laws differ, as they establish special safeguards. The LLR should strive to recognize the different circumstances/environments that workers find themselves in and regulate their employment and work-life balance in a way that would be useful and applicable for them.
- The new text of the LLR is also not fully compliant with the existing international and European standards and does not provide adequate protection for all workers, and in particular the special categories of workers (employees).
- There is still lack of guarantees and safeguards of the dignity of the worker even after the termination of the employment status.
Taking into account these challenges,after conducting the analysis, the Network for Protection against Discrimination and the Platform for Gender Equality demand embedding the proposed changes in the text of the new Law on Labor Relations. Furthermore, we request that a transparent and inclusive process be conducted, which would result in a draft law that would include all the relevant factors in the field of labor relations, all the while guaranteeing the human rights and freedoms of all the persons entering the labor market and workers, enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of North Macedonia and in the international documents.
[1] Zdravko Saveski, "Fixed-term Contracts – a Tool to Forced Obedience" (March 2020).