no. 07-00-315/2023-02 date: 18.9.2023.

OPINION

The opinion was issued in the proceedings regarding the complaint filed by AA against the employer BB (from now on: the employer) due to discrimination based on national affiliation or ethnic origin, gender, age, and based on membership in political, trade union, and other organizations. The complaint stated, among other things, that the employer delivered to the complainant a warning about grounds for termination of the employment contract on 14.3.2023, that she was charged by the warning that she had inadequately entered data on the educational status of the candidate-program beneficiary…, and that, according to her knowledge, she is the only employee in the entire territory of the Republic of Serbia who has been called to account for the omissions above, and that she believes that the employer showed discriminatory behavior towards her as an individual. In the employer’s statement on the allegations in the complaint, among other things, it was stated that the employer held a collegium on 24.2.2023, at which the directors of the employer’s branches were informed of the problem that arose during the implementation of the program…, and that in some branches, employment counselors, contrary to regulations, entered inadequate data in the records about the educational status of candidates for participation in the program. .., that regarding this, an order was given to all branch directors to initiate appropriate procedures to determine the omissions in the work of employees, that all branches in which there were significant omissions conducted a check of potential abuses in the work of counselors, and hence the branch directors initiated the procedure to determine the existence of a violation of the work obligation, as well as that a total of five employees received a warning, and that no disciplinary measure was imposed on the complainant based on the delivered warning. Further, the statement specified that the employer has the right to initiate disciplinary proceedings against employees, following the provisions of the Labor Law, if there is a suspicion of a violation of work obligations from Article 179 of the Labor Law, regardless of the nationality or other personal characteristics of the employees. In the proceedings, it was determined that the employer ordered all managers of branches in the territory of the Republic of Serbia to perform specific actions to determine the possible existence of omissions in work in connection with the entry of incorrect data on the educational status of the users of the program …, and that the director of the employer, due to the same or similar omissions of which the complainant was charged, initiated proceedings against several employed persons in the territory of the Republic of Serbia, who work in the same or similar workplace as the complainant. Also, it was established that warnings were delivered to certain employees after the procedure, while no disciplinary measure was taken against the complainant, nor was her employment contract terminated. The Labor Law authorizes the employer to initiate proceedings against an employee if they believe a certain violation of the work obligation occurred, as well as enable the employee to offer a statement on the omissions they are charged for within the legal deadline. Given that the employer in a comparable situation initiated the same procedure against other employees and that the complainant was not given a reprimand, nor was her employment contract terminated, the Commissioner states that the employer’s actions are not causally related to the complainant’s characteristics, that is, that the complainant was not put in an unjustified disadvantageous position based on any personal characteristic mentioned in the complaint in comparison to employees in the same or similar situation. Therefore, the Commissioner issued the opinion that the employer did not violate the provisions of the  Law on Prohibition of Discrimination, i.e., did not discriminate against the complainant based on her personal characteristics.

COMMISSIONER FOR THE PROTECTION OF EQUALITY
Brankica Janković