Unlawful dismissal and workers’ rights in Serbia

Losing a job is one of the most stressful events in anyone’s life. Alongside financial uncertainty, an employee often feels a sense of injustice, especially when the dismissal came suddenly, without a clear reason, or contrary to the law.

In Serbia, workers face different forms of workplace pressure every day. The goal of that pressure is usually simple: to make the employee sign their own departure, because the employer knows that a regular, lawful dismissal would create too many administrative and financial obligations.

As a lawyer, the sentence I hear most often in practice is: “I signed because I was under stress / I was afraid.” Unfortunately, once you put your signature on the paper, the legal fight becomes much harder. Here is how to recognise unlawful pressure and how to react before the key statutory deadline expires.

1. How to recognise pressure: the three most common employer traps

Employers who want to get rid of an employee without paying severance or without following a complicated legal procedure most often use the following mechanisms:

Pressure to sign a mutually agreed termination

This is the “holy grail” for unscrupulous employers. If they offer you a paper titled “Mutually agreed termination” and tell you it is for your own good, do not sign it on the spot. When you sign that agreement, you voluntarily accept the end of the employment relationship. That automatically means you lose the right to unemployment benefit from the National Employment Service and you lose the right to severance pay. You have an absolute right to take that document home and have your lawyer review it.

Fictitious redundancy without severance pay

They declare you redundant, but tell you the company has no money for severance, so you will receive it “on their word” or not at all. The Labour Law is clear: severance must be paid before the employment relationship ends. If they hand you a dismissal on the ground of redundancy and do not pay severance, that dismissal is unlawful from the start. They also may not hire another employee for your position in the following three months.

Threat of a warning before dismissal for poor performance

If written complaints about your work suddenly start arriving for things that were normal until yesterday, the employer is probably preparing the ground for dismissal due to a breach of work discipline or failure to achieve results. Every warning requires a written response within the time they give you (most often 8 days), and that is already the stage where a lawyer must be involved.

2. The clock is ticking: the 60-day deadline

If you have received a decision terminating your employment contract that you believe is unlawful, you do not have time to wait. The Labour Law of the Republic of Serbia sets strict and preclusive deadlines.

The key rule: the deadline to start court proceedings against a decision that violated an employee’s right is 60 days from the day the decision was served.

If day 61 passes and you have not filed a claim with the court, your right is permanently time-barred. Even if the dismissal was the most obviously unlawful in the world, the court will dismiss the claim as out of time solely because this deadline has expired. That is why a reaction in the first few weeks is of decisive importance.

3. What can you actually obtain in court?

Many workers give up the fight because they think a court case against the company is “tilting at windmills”. That is not true. Employment disputes in Serbia are treated as urgent, and a successfully conducted court process can lead to the following results:

Reinstatement: the court can annul the dismissal decision and order the employer to return you to your previous job (or an equivalent new one).
Payment of all unpaid wages: the employer must pay you all salaries you would have received from the date of dismissal until the date the judgment becomes final, together with statutory interest.
Payment of contributions: the company must restore your years of service and pay all taxes and contributions to the pension and disability insurance fund for the period you were unlawfully out of work.
Damages instead of reinstatement: if you do not want to return to the workplace that treated you unfairly, the court may award substantial damages (depending on years of service and the employer’s conduct), in addition to compensation for lost wages.

What should you do immediately?

If you feel a dismissal is coming, or the decision has already been served:

Do not sign anything in the heat of the moment. The sentence “I need to think it over and consult a lawyer” is your legitimate right.
Put everything in writing. If the employer is threatening you orally or subjecting you to mobbing, try to leave a trail on official email or in messages.
Check the dates. Look at the exact date you received the decision — your 60 days start running from that day.

The law protects workers, but only those who react on time and with the right evidence.

If you believe an unlawful dismissal is being prepared, or you have already received a decision you suspect is not in accordance with the law, do not wait for the 60-day deadline to expire. Contact us for an urgent analysis of your case and a strategy to protect your rights.