No. 07-00-275/2015-02  Date: 11 September, 2015

OPINION

The opinion was issued in the procedure following complaint from Lj. R. from B, against RTB B. d.o.o. from Bor. The complaint states that the provisions of Article 92 of the RTB Bor Collective Agreement stipulate that the employer is obliged to reward employees who have worked with the employer for 10, 20, 30, 35 (women) and 40 (male), including beneficial years of work, thus discriminating against men who cannot receive the jubilee prize for 35 years of employment service. The declaration of RTB Bor states that the provision of the Collective Agreement is in accordance with the legal decision on the conditions for retirement, that “men retire at 40 years of age and women at 35 years of age” and that the employer’s wish is to reward the employees on retirement with jubilee prize in addition to severance pay. During the procedure it has been established that the legal conditions for entitlement to old- age pension are the same for men and women according to the Law on Pension and Disability Insurance, ie that the insured person is entitled to an old-age pension when he/she attains the age of 65 years and at least 15 years of service insurance and when he/she attains 45 years of service insurance. Considering that the Collective Agreement stipulates that the only condition for entitlement to jubilee prize is a certain number of years of service with the employer, the Commissioner’s opinion is that there are no justified and reasonable reasons for prescribing different conditions for entitlement to jubilee prize for men in relation to women, nor is there a proportion between the measure taken and the goal that is to be achieved. The Commissioner for the Protection of Equality has expressed the opinion that provisions of Article 92 of the Collective Agreement of RTB B. d.o.o. which stipulate that the employer is obliged to reward employees who have worked with the employer for 10, 20, 30, 35 (women) and 40 (male), including beneficial years of work, have violated the provisions of the Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination. For this reason RTB B. d.o.o. was recommended to take all necessary actions and measures, in agreement with representative trade unions, in order to harmonize the provisions of the Collective Agreement with anti-discrimination regulations, and in future, when carrying out activities within its competence, not to violate anti-discrimination regulations.