Disrespecting state-owned hours, Kosovo loses 90m euros per year

The labour law, passed by the Assembly of Kosovo in 2010, It's breaking. From the country's own institutions, representatives of the business community and the Union of Independent Trade Unions of Kosovo claim.

Disobedience of this law is, according to them, taking place specifically in the article specifying the working schedule, which means the time period during which the employee performs a job or service in behalf of his employer.

Doruntina Gashi, official for information at the Kosovo Afarism Oda, tells Radio Free Europe that with this law, the full working hours last 40 hours a week, while public sector employees work 7 hours a week or 35 hours a week, because, according to her, the pause hour, it should not be calculated as hours of work.

However, Kosovo's institutions and public enterprises work at 8:00 p.m. with an hour off, which takes only 7 hours a day, 35 hours a week, says Gashi, adding that the workers' vacation time should not be calculated as hours of work, but as a vacation, respectively. In European Union countries, according to her, rest is not counted as hours of work.

Under the law that is in effect, it is said that the full work schedule lasts 40 hours a week if otherwise not defined by this law. The employee, on the other hand, has the right to rest during the day of work, at a full time of work, during at least 30 minutes, which cannot be assigned at the beginning or at the end of his working time.

Even leaders of the Union of Independent Trade Unions of Kosovo say the labour law is not implemented in public institutions. The chairman of this union, Avni Aydini, in a conversation for Radio Free Europe, says that because of the failure to implement the law in the public sector, he loses an hour of work on his working hours of eight hours a day. Unlike the public sector, in that private sector, the opposite occurs, as it usually works longer but does not compensate overtime.

“in the private sector is worked up to 12 hours a day, where hours (40) allowed by law are exceeded. And in the public sector, it works 7 hours a day, as one hour takes a break from 12: 00 p.m. to 13: 00 p.m., and it is already estimated as a working hour. Thus, legal rights, which they themselves have adopted”, Aydin said.

Best clock, best working conditions as well as payment, points to factors why citizens prefer to find jobs in the public sector.

Otherwise, according to the Afarism Oda in Kosovo, from disrespecting full working hours of 8 hours a day, Kosovo's budget from this sector loses about 90m euros a year.

The average salary in the public sector, according to this, is about 600 euros, meaning around 3.75 euros per hour of work. There are 237 days a year in Kosovo, 1896 hours during the year, and according to an Ode account, the losses suffered from paused hours are 237 hours in losses, with about 100 thousand employees being created about 88m euros in financial losses. /REL/