OPINION

The opinion was issued in the procedure regarding the complaint filed by the professor of the AA faculty of the University of BB, Dr. VV, on her behalf, and on the behalf and with the consent of the professor of the AA faculty of the University of BB, Dr. GG, against the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development (hereinafter: the Ministry). In the complaint, it was stated, among other things, that the complainants are participants in scientific projects financed by the Ministry, namely: Professor VV and Professor GG in the project No. 179059, “Perspectives of the Implementation of European Standards in the Legal System of Serbia”, and Professor GG also in the project No. 47026 – “Constitutionalism and the rule of law in the construction of the national state – the case of Serbia”, as well as that “without any notification or explanation” they were omitted from the decision on the distribution of funds for the aforementioned projects as of January 2020, which was continued “for all other researchers”. Furthermore, they stated that according to the verbal notification they received from the accounting department of the faculty, the reason for their omission from the decision on the distribution of funds for January 2020 is the fact that both of them have reached the age of 65 and that the Ministry “completely ignored the fact” that both of them have had their employment at the faculty extended for the current and the next school year, that is, that they are not retired, which is a condition for excluding researchers from scientific projects. The complainants believe that by discontinuing the payment of renumeration for the scientific projects in which they were engaged, as of January 1, 2020, the Ministry “left them out” solely for reasons related to their age. In the Ministry’s statement, among other things, it was specified that the financing of projects and research teams from scientific research organizations (SRO), among which is the AA faculty of the University of BB, for projects from the Program of Fundamental Research (OI), the Program of Research in the Field of Technological Development (TR) and the Program of Co-financing of Integral and Interdisciplinary Research (III) in the cycle of research upon the public call, was carried out in the period starting in 2011 and ending on December 31, 2019, in accordance with the then valid Law on Scientific Research Activity.

It was further stated that the reform of the scientific research system resulted in the adoption of two new laws in this area: the Law on the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia and the Law on Science and Research, which, among other things, changed the system of financing science, in such a way that project financing is no longer realized through the Ministry. Namely, it was clarified that with the payment of the remuneration for scientific research work on the project for December 2019, all the projects that were implemented through the Ministry in the period 2011-2019 were completed, which also ended the obligation to pay the funds that were the basis for funding researchers on projects (among which are the complainants), as well as that in accordance with the transitional provisions of the Law on Science and Research (Article 135 of this Law), the financing of the scientific research work of researchers in 2020 is carried out on the basis of the Contract on the implementation and financing of the scientific research work of the SRO in 2020, which is concluded between each individual SRO and the Ministry.

In this regard, it was pointed out that the basis for the payment of the gross remuneration for the researchers’ work for January 2020 is not the scientific project but the Contract on the implementation and financing of the scientific research work of the SRO in 2020 and the Work Plan of the SRO, which, in this specific case, was concluded between the Ministry and SRO University of BB, AA faculty. It was further stated that, although the regulations on higher education leave the possibility to extend the employment of a teacher in the field of education for a certain number of school years, the extension of the employment of a professor at a higher education institution after they have reached the age of 65, does not affect the payment of the professor as a researcher. The provision of Article 100, paragraph 1 of the Law on Science and Research stipulates that the researcher’s employment at the institute ends by force of law when they reach the age of 65 and have at least 15 years of insured years of service and that the said provision produces “actions” in relation to budget funding of those persons, in institutional financing through the department of the Ministry – the position of science, that is, the financing of renumerations for the work of researchers, both in institutes and at faculties, starting from January 2020. It was pointed out that as of January 1, 2020, researchers over 65 years of age, among whom are the complainants, were enabled to participate equally in projects upon the call announced by the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia, whose jurisdiction is the financing of projects in accordance with the law. After the conducted procedure and presented evidence, it was determined that all the projects in which the complainants were engaged ended on December 31, 2019, and that as of January 1, 2020, the legal basis for funding the scientific research work of researchers in SRO University of BB, AA Faculty, was changed, and in accordance with those changes the purpose for which the Ministry paid the remuneration for the work of researchers was also changed, starting with the payment of the remuneration for January 2020. The fact that Dr. VV and Dr. GG turned 65 in May 2019 and that they received renumeration for scientific research work until January 2020, that is, until the end of the project financing in accordance with previously adopted laws, also speaks to the fact that age is not causally related to the termination of renumeration payments. Also, by inspecting the list of researchers who were funded as of January 2020 and the list of researchers who received compensation according to the concluded contract between the Ministry and the AA faculty of the University of BB, it was determined that they were not equal, that is, the list of researchers funded on the basis of the signed contract contains changes in terms of first and last names of researchers in comparison to the earlier period when, according to the law in force at the time, the Ministry provided project financing. Bearing in mind all of the above, that is, that the termination of the engagement of the complainants is causally related to the change in the legal basis of financing the projects starting from January 2020, and not to age as a personal attribute, it can be stated that in this particular case the Ministry did not violate the provisions of the Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination.

COMMISSIONER FOR THE PROTECTION OF EQUALITY

Brankica Janković