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.
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