Employers have five new obligations towards employees due to the amended law

Employers in Serbia must fully align their operations with the new provisions of the Law on Occupational Health and Safety by Wednesday, 7 May, focused on enhanced employee protection, the introduction of preventive measures, and more effective control of working conditions.
Particularly, remote and home-based work is now clearly regulated by the law.
Also, the law will emphasize employee education and continuous training. For example, it will mandate periodic training sessions in the field of occupational safety and health for both employees and managers and regular medical examinations.
Moreover, a series of bylaws will precise such individual obligations as risk assessment regulations, equipment and installation testing. Regulations on professional examinations and the appearance of official uniforms for labour inspectors will be also clarified. New regulations pertaining to safe work at heights and to maintaining records in the field of safety and health are particularly noteworthy.
Also, the Guide for Safe and Healthy Home-Based Work, published by the Ministry of Labour in 20216, acknowledges home-based work as one of the legally prescribed forms of work. It means that the employer must manage occupational safety and health in the same manner as in an office. Employees, from their side, must cooperate with the employer and perform their work in accordance with written instructions and guidelines prepared by the employer.
It is possible to recognize home-based work as one of the legally prescribed forms of work only when it takes into account the employer’s activities, as employees cannot perform all jobs and tasks outside the employer’s premises or specific workplace.
The Labour Law (“Official Gazette of RS”, Nos. 24/2005, 61/2005, 54/2009, 32/2013, 75/2014, 13/2017 – Constitutional Court decision, 113/2017, and 95/2018 – authentic interpretation) clearly stipulates the employers’ obligation to reimburse employees who work from home for the costs of using work equipment owned by the employee, as well as to compensate them for other expenses.
Employers must fully align their operations with the new regulations by 7 May, and can face consequences in case of failure to comply with them—including hefty fines exceeding one million dinars.
They will fine a legal entity employer between one million and one and a half million dinars for failing to insure employees against workplace injuries and occupational diseases to ensure compensation. A fine of 200,000 to 400,000 dinars will be faced by an entrepreneur employer or the same offence.
They will fine a director or other responsible person within the employer’s organisation, as well as an individual employer, between 30,000 and 150,000 dinars.

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