Employee Rights in Serbia

The employment contract must be concluded in writing, before the employee starts work. If it is not, the law deems the person employed for an indefinite term from their first day. The contract (or a copy) must be kept where the employee works, and the employee must be registered with the unified social insurance registry (CROSO) before starting work.

The contract must include:

• Parties to the agreement
• Job title and description
• Place of work
• Indefinite or fixed-term status and, for fixed-term contracts, the reason
• Start date
• Working hours
• Base salary and salary components
• Pay dates

Several of these can be incorporated by reference to the law, a collective agreement or the employer’s rulebook.

At every payment of salary or compensation, the employee receives a payslip (obračun zarade). If the employer does not pay the salary on time, they must still provide the payslip together with the reason for non-payment. The payslip serves as an enforceable instrument for recovering unpaid wages.

Under the 2023 Law on Occupational Safety and Health, employers must adopt a written risk-assessment plan, implement preventive measures, train employees in safe work, provide first-aid capability, and fund medical examinations for roles with increased risk.

Employees in increased-risk roles have both the right and the obligation to attend those examinations.

Employees are free to form and join trade unions and to bargain collectively.

Employment contracts and internal rules cannot give less than the minimum in binding law or an applicable collective agreement. A collective agreement normally binds only the employers who signed it. However, if all employers that have signed it employ cumulatively more than half of the total employee population in that industry, employers that have not signed it may be required by the Government to do so.

The Labour Law prohibits direct and indirect discrimination in hiring, working conditions, training, promotion and dismissal on grounds including sex, pregnancy, health and disability, ethnicity, religion, family status, sexual orientation, political opinion and union membership.

The Law on Prohibition of Discrimination adds complaint routes to the Equality Commissioner and an urgent court procedure. Once an employee makes a discrimination claim plausible, the burden shifts to the employer to prove otherwise.

Serbia has a dedicated workplace harassment (“mobbing”) framework. Before starting work, every employee must receive written information about harassment protection.

Complaints follow a structured internal path: a mediation proposal within days of the complaint, mediation normally completed within about a week of the mediator’s selection, and an employee who remains unsatisfied can take the case to court within short deadlines. The internal complaint must be raised within six months of the last incident.

Employers must protect whistleblowers from retaliation (including their pay, working conditions, transfers or dismissal), give employees written notice of their whistleblowing rights, and appoint a person authorised to receive reports.

Employers with more than ten employees must adopt and publish an internal whistleblowing procedure.

The Law on Personal Data Protection, closely modelled on the GDPR, applies fully to the employment relationship. Employee monitoring must be necessary, proportionate and transparently communicated, and employment data processing must respect the employee’s dignity and legitimate interests.

In a status change or change of employer, the successor automatically takes over all valid employment contracts and the predecessor’s general act.

Termination requires a legally defined ground and a formal procedure, with special protection for pregnancy and family leave. See the End of Employment section for more details.