Although the number of employees working from home in Serbia has been constantly growing and is currently three times higher than at the outbreak of the pandemic, the telework has not been regulated so far. In a recent interview, the well-known expert in labour relations, employed in the Institute of Social Sciences, Nada Novakovic, spoke about difficulties that the lack of regulation implied and the possibility of amending the existing Labour Law.
According to the last data, there were 134,000 employees working at home in 2019. However, in April 2020 their number has gone up to more than 400,000, which is round 15% of the working population. “In Serbia, the work online usually implies the absence of decent work and rights to privacy, health insurance and free movement. The working time has not been regulated, which facilitates the exploitation of employees who should be enabled to negotiate their working conditions and have prescribed number of rest hours”, said Novakovic, renowned for her bitter criticism of capitalist practices.
She insists that “the amendments to the Labour Law should permit the precise definition of elements such as working time, rules of behavior, ways of monitoring the employees and payment for the increased risk” and gives examples of Switzerland, where the employers cover 20% of the employees’ house rent and France, where they lost the right to contact them out of working hours.
She also used the interview to criticize the government for not taking enough care of single moms, workers with low wages and strengthening of Labour Inspection.
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