Pregnancy, maternity, and leave related to work-life balance for workers (Directive 92/85, relevant provisions of Directives 2006/54, 2010/18 and 2019/1158)

• Author: Vesna Simovic-Zvicer
• Pages: 38-57

38

5Pregnancy, maternity, and leave related to work-life balance for workers

(Directive 92/85, relevant provisions of Directives 2006/54, 2010/18 and

2019/1158)59

5.1General (legal) context

5.1.1Surveys and reports on the practical difficulties linked to work-life balance

In the last five years there has been no research in Montenegro that provides insight into

difficulties that workers face in practice in relation to work-life balance issues.

According to the official data, activity rates are the highest in the 25-49 age group (86%

for men and 73.6 % for women). Out of the total number of employees, 27 % work in

enterprises belonging to the state or municipality. Most workers (54 %) are employed in

private companies and of this workforce, just under half (47.4 %) are women.60

Of all persons in employment in 2018, by employment status, most (190132) are

employees, of whom 85 477 or 45 % are women.

Most women working for the companies surveyed are employed full time (97.96 %), while

significantly less are employed in part-time work. It is interesting to note that the number

of employed women in 2013 was 54.13 %, which is higher than the number of women

employed in 2017 (40.96 %). On the other hand, comparative data also indicate changes

in the number of women working full time (2013: 88.15 %, 2017: 97.96 %).61

5.1.2Other issues

In Montenegro there are 21 public pre-school institutions with a network of 103

educational units and 23 private pre-schools licensed by the Ministry of Education. Private

pre-school facilities exist in just a few urban environments and are attended by only a

small number of children (up to 3 % of the total number of children).

Pre-school nurseries and kindergartens are attended by children up to six years of age,

i.e. until they go to elementary school. Children aged up to three attend nurseries, while

children aged three to six attend kindergarten, and are arranged in age groups. Most

children attend full-time programmes (more than 98 % of children in nurseries attend full

time and 88 % in kindergartens), while less than 2 % of children in nurseries and 11 % of

children in kindergartens attend half-day programmes.

There are fees for children to attend a pre-school institution and to eat while they are

there. Single parents pay 50 % of the cost of fees and food expenses, while the fees for

children who have no parents, whose parents are beneficiaries of family benefits and those

from the most vulnerable groups are paid by the social work centre in the municipality

where the child or parent is resident.

The coverage of children attending pre-school varies from high (88 %) in the central and

southern regions, to very low in the northern region (27 %). The basic reasons for the low

level of attendance in the north are the dispersal of the settlements and the distance to

59 See: Masselot, A. (2018) Family leave: enforcement of the protection against dismissal and unfavourable

treatment, European network of legal experts in gender equality and non-discrimination, available at

https://www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/4808-family-leave-enforcement-of-the-protection-against-

dismissal-and-unfavourable-treatment-pdf-962-kb and McColgan, A. (2015) Measures to address the

challenges of work-life balance in the EU Member States, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, European

network of legal experts in gender equality and non-discrimination, available at

https://www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/3631-reconciliation.

60www.monstat.org.

61 Ombudsman (2019) Report for 2018, p. 173. Available at:

https://www.ombudsman.co.me/docs/1554124685_final-godisnji-izvjestaj-2018.pdf.

39

the educational unit. These municipalities are also characterised by low levels of

development, higher poverty rates and higher unemployment rates than the rest of

Montenegro. In order to increase the coverage of children, in 2015, UNICEF and the

Ministry of Education launched a public campaign – All in the Kindergarten –to promote

early childhood education and education in five municipalities in the north of the country

where the enrolment rate is the lowest.62

5.1.3Overview of national acts on work-life balance issues

Under the new Labour Law, special protection of women at work includes legal provisions

relating to reconciliation of professional and family obligations.

According to the Labour Law, women enjoy the right to protection based on motherhood,

after the end of maternity leave, or parental leave, and in some cases, the child's father

also has special protection. In this respect, there are three situations that are covered:

protection of single parents;

the protection of a mother with a child who is younger than three years old, in some

cases with a child younger than five;

protection of parents who have a child with disabilities.

Article 17(6) of theLabour Law stipulates that the employee has the right to special

protection for the care of a child in accordance with the law. It follows from this wording

that the right to special protection in this case applies to both the mother and the father

of the child. This provision is elaborated in the following text of the law, making the

distinction between regular childcare and care for a child with disabilities.

A different level of work security is provided for a single parent compared to a situation

where the child has both parents. The protection of employment status is provided for

single parents with a child under seven years of age and is considered as a ban on contract

termination.

The Labour Law in Article 108 provides the following:

‘(1) The employer cannot cancel the contract of employment of an employed woman

during pregnancy and during her use of the right to maternity and parental leave.

(2) As an exception to Paragraph 1 of this Article, an employed woman’s employment

contract may be terminated due to serious breaches of duties at work or existence

of a reason referred to in Article 164 Paragraph 1 points 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8 of this

Law, for reasons not connected with pregnancy and the use of maternity and parental

leave, in which case the employer is obliged to explain in detail and in writing the

reasons for termination of employment.

(3) The employer shall not terminate the employment contract with the parent,

adoptive parent or foster parent due to the use of parental, adoptive and foster care

leave, or the right to work part time for reasons of caring for a child with disability,

or asa single parent with a child of up to 7 years of age or a child with disability, if

that person meets the obligations in line with the law, the collective agreement and

the labour contract.

(4) During the absence from work in order to care for the child, maintain a healthy

pregnancy, use maternity, parental, adoptive or foster parental leave, the employer

may not designate an employee redundant.

(5) In the case of an employee whose fixed-term labour contract ends during the

period of use of the right to maternity, i.e. parental leave, the period of validity of

the fixed-term labour contract shall be extended until the end of use of the right to

such leave.’

62www.mpin.gov.me.