KEK still pays workers for weekend work

The Kosovo Energy Corporation (KEK) is not implementing a Constitutional Court decision now and over five months to pay 3.3m euros to over 1300 employees.

KEK workers expect to receive an average of 3 thousand euros each for the work done during weekend days, which were not previously paid.

The case has received final legal epilogue at the end of September 2022, given a Constitutional Court decision.

This amount of 3.3m euros of KEK's money is forced to divide workers in compensation for weekends' working days for 2011 to 2018.

Workers are continuing to ask the KEK to realise their rights for compensation.

Even this public company's union has given the KEK management ultimatum for implementation of the constitutional decision, otherwise warning protests.

However, for failing to implement the Constitutional Decision, the KEK management has not responded to Kosovo Press.

Remzi Hashan, who now and several years ago works at KEK, stresses for Kosovo that the days of the official holidays and weekends are not paid by the company.

Hashan expresses his concerns about how they have been treated by his employer so far.

Hashan as he seeks to enforce their rights, says they feel of “violated” by the state.

We have applied from KEK to pay us extra days, but it hasn't happened, and we have to sue it at the tribunal. We have won all the Court's decisions, but KEK is silent. It's probably not the indictment, but it's been imposed on us, and our right has always been won... we're disappointed, so we're being trampled on all the time, because we work weekends, holidays, we're out of the world, and we have to be paid”, Hashan said.

Even, Fatmir Hashan, who works on switching to this energy corporation, expresses disappointment with the way they are being treated by management and requires more commitment from the state to KEK workers.

We've won everything with the Court. We're very disappointed, we work with shifts, we don't have weekends. Neither does the party for us, we work for every party”, Hashan told Kosovas.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the New Trade Union in KEK, Nedzat Llumnica, tells Kosovo that despite gaining legal rights, workers continue not to be paid for additional hours.

Llumnica says that by 2017 there are over 1,300 workers who were not paid for extra hours during weekends.

And we as an indictment we made in 2012, there are 1317 employees that are down to more than 3 million without interest and other expenses by 2017, but the rest of it is not calculated and it's about 10m euros for all KEK workers...0:12 We've won it in all subject courts, and it's not working for the working workers, so the weekend, which is by work law that needs to be paid 50 percent more than normal days, but that's not happening. We also call it bad management because until the completion of these tools if they don't, KEK can lose financially. This they could have done from the beginning, not have the interest applied, don't lose me from hearings of the judiciary and attorneys, of various indictments, and realised as it befits a state institution, a public company that is the most powerful in Kosovo”, Llumnica said.

Among other things, Llumnica warns of protests in the event management continues to not pay for additional hours during weekends.

They're not doing it because they're too stubborn that the worker should be suppressed and trampled on and not on anything else. If it's written and stated legally, why don't you let it do something else? The management at KEK, has consistently neglected this, given that they have excessive confidence in themselves and have large salaries for themselves...3:11 we will stage protests and strikes not only for this, but also for the salary raises, because we are the institution, we are the public company, the only company that hasn't raised salaries”, Lnica said.

Otherwise, the plaintiffs claim that in Article 56 of the Kosovo Labour Law, it is determined that workers working in custody, during night hours and overtime, receive 30% additional, while on holiday work and over the weekend have a 50%.

The court battle, the workers had won over KEK on the first two steps of courts that KEK had ordered to pay the plaintiffs compensation in the form of additional salaries they were not paid for for work on weekends.

Meanwhile, the KEK management had rejected this by setting out for a revision request to the Supreme Court, which it had rejected as unbashed.

But KEK's management had not stopped. He had continued the case at the Constitutional Court. There he had asked the court to assess the constitutionality of the Supreme Court of Kosovo's Act.

But, several years of procrastination for 3.3m euros has received a final epilog at the end of September 2022.