What determines your rights at work?
Those who are not completely independent in the way they earn their living are workers. Workers are not only those who work in production, but all those who work for wages and whose employer determines not only what they must do, but also how they must do it.
Unfortunately, today not all workers are in an employment relationship – many work under various forms of contracts that are not employment contracts (contracts for services, authorship contracts, etc.), although their work has all the characteristics of an employment relationship. Bogus self-employment is also common, in which workers (often at the urging of the employer) establish their own business or company but still perform most or even all of their work for only one client.
Workers who are in an employment relationship – that is, who have concluded an employment contract with the employer – are in a better position because they are subject to the Labour Act. https://www.zakon.hr/z/307/Zakon-o-radu.
However, the Labour Act regulates relations between workers and employers only generally. Workers, being the weaker party in that relationship, are guaranteed certain minimum rights but everything else is subject to negotiation and agreement between workers and employers.
All the rights prescribed by the Labour Act can be agreed with the employer so that they are more favourable for workers, either through an employment contract or through a collective agreement. The opposite – that is, contracting lower rights than those prescribed by the Labour Act – is not possible, except in a few specific cases that are clearly indicated in the Act.
All this means that having a good job is not a matter of the circumstances in which one finds oneself, or the search for a good job, but rather a matter of the struggle and concern for one’s own labour rights and the labour rights of others.
The majority of workers in Croatia have better rights than those prescribed by the law and that is solely because they have organised themselves in trade unions and fought for those rights through joint action.
Therefore, in order to know their labour rights, workers need to know the Labour Act as well as other legal documents (the employment contract or the collective agreement), but also understand that they can influence those rights.
Employment and the employment contract
An employment relationship is based on an employment contract under which workers commit to perform work according to the employer’s instructions and employers commit to give workers work and pay them a wage.
In order to be valid, an employment contract must contain some essential elements of the employment relationship:
- worker’s and employer’s name;
- place of work, job description, usual working hours (daily or weekly) and the start time;
- contract duration (where appropriate);
- the procedure for terminating the contract by the employer and by the worker and the respective periods of notice;
- the amount of the wage and how it is paid; and
- the duration of paid annual leave.
All work should be paid. The employer assumes business risk and, after signing an employment contract, cannot use poor business results as an excuse for not paying the worker.
Employers must register workers for pension and health insurance before they start working. A copy of the registration must be given to them within eight days.
An employment contract can also be concluded with an employment agency which assigns (or ‘rents out’) workers to other companies. Such contracts are subject to special legal provisions.
The Labour Act stipulates that employment contracts must be concluded for an open-ended period. This means that the contract is valid as long as this is the shared will of the worker and the employer, until either party violates its obligations or until there is no longer a need or the possibility of carrying out the work.
Fixed-term employment, meaning that the contract stipulates exactly how long the employment relationship will last (e.g. one year), is permitted only exceptionally and only if it is clear in advance why the employment relationship should end on a certain date (because, for example, that is the end-date for a project or a person temporarily replaced by the worker has returned to work).
If the employer no longer needs the worker’s work, if workers do not respect their work obligations or if they have simply performed their job poorly, the employer can still dismiss them – but must have clear and justified reasons for that, must follow a certain procedure and comply with safeguard provisions (notice period, severance pay, etc.).
In other words, an open-ended contract protects workers from unjustified and unsubstantiated dismissal.
Of course, if workers want to for any reason, they too can terminate an open-ended employment contract, subject to the prescribed notice period.
Fixed-term employment contracts and other forms of so-called atypical work are, unfortunately, frequently abused today; employers use them to reduce their costs and obligations to workers, even when they know that there is a long-term need to perform that work. This is more likely to affect young people who are just entering the labour market. Due to such practices, the Labour Act was changed in 2023 in order to provide better protection of workers.
Restrictions regarding fixed-term employment:
- a fixed-term employment contract can only be concluded if there is an objective reason which renders the need for work temporary;
- the total duration of all consecutive fixed-term employment contracts with a single employer must not exceed three years;
in total, only three fixed-term employment contracts can be concluded with the same employer or a related one; - workers employed on fixed-term employment contracts have the right to the same working conditions as workers employed on open-ended employment contracts indefinitely;
- if workers continue working after the expiry of the period for which the fixed-term contract has been concluded, it is considered that the contract has been concluded for an open-ended period;
- the employer is obliged to inform workers about jobs that can be performed on an open-ended employment contract.
It is not warranted to use a fixed-term employment contract for the purpose of probation!!
The probationary period is contracted through a special provision of the employment contract. It can last no longer than six months and, during that period, employers can terminate the contract if they consider that the worker does not meet the requirements of the job.
Employers must inform workers, before the start of work, about the regulations related to the employment relationship, the organisation of work and the protection of health and safety at work. Many issues concerning workers’ rights and work organisation are not regulated only by the Labour Act and the employment contract, but also by works rules (adopted by employers) or by collective agreements (concluded between trade unions and employers). These are important documents that must be available to workers, and workers must be familiar with their content in order to know how to protect their rights.
Wages
The wage is the remuneration that workers receive for their work. That is why it is important to know in advance the amount of the wage and how it is determined.
The wage that employers are obliged to pay workers is actually the gross wage.In addition to the amount paid into workers’ accounts (the net wage), the gross wage also includes the amount that employers pay on behalf of workers in taxes and contributions.
If the wage is not calculated and paid in the stipulated way (for example, if one part is not paid into a bank account), employers are not only cheating the state but are also directly damaging workers. The payment of wages or part thereof in cash is Illegal.
Contributions are special taxes that serve a predetermined purpose funding the pension and healthcare systems. Employers must calculate and pay contributions simultaneously with the payment of monthly wages.
The contribution for pension insurance is 20 per cent of the gross wage while the contribution for health insurance is 16.5 per cent.
The payment of contributions and their calculation using the entire amount of the wage as the basis is important because it directly affects the amount of the pension and the functioning of the public healthcare system.
The wage is usually paid once a month for work carried out in the previous month. The employment contract determines the date by which the employer must pay the wage. No later than 15 days following the payment of the wage, employers must give workers their payslips so that they can see how the amount has been determined and check whether everything has been calculated and paid properly.
The payslip must show the number of hours worked, whether remuneration has been paid for the time when the worker was justifiably absent from work (for example, on annual leave or sick leave) and whether additional overtime has been paid.
The payslip must also detail the amount of income tax and surtax, as well as the contributions for pension and healthcare insurance.
If an employer has a claim against a worker, an amount may only be deducted from the wage with that worker’s signed consent.
In Croatia, there is a legally prescribed minimum wage, the amount of which is determined every year. Regardless of the job and the employer, no worker may be paid less than the minimum wage for full-time work.
The minimum wage for 2023 amounts to €700 or HRK 5,274.15 gross.
In the process of collective bargaining, workers – united and organised into trade unions – try to agree with employers on the level of the wage for different jobs, taking into account both business results and workers’ cost of living. Sometimes collective bargaining is carried out only at one company; in others, negotiations take place at branch level with a focus on establishing a minimum mandatory wage for the entire sector.
In Croatia, there are two branch collective agreements, binding on all employers in the construction and hospitalityindustries. Workers in these industries are subject to the provisions of the branch collective agreement on the minimum wages for certain job groups, as well as a number of other rights.
Working hours
Working full-time usually means working 40 hours per week, although it is possible to work more or less than that.
In addition to the total number of working hours, their scheduling is also important. Most workers have an equal schedule of working hours, which means they work eight hours every day. If sometimes there is a need to work longer hours, this counts as overtime which must be paid in addition.
Some workers have an unequal schedule of working hours, which means they work longer on some days and shorter on others (for example, a worker might work ten hours on Mondays and Tuesdays and shorter hours on the other days) but the total number of working hours a week must still be 40.
Apart from an unequal schedule of working hours, there is also the possibility for the redistribution of working hours. This is intended for activities with great differences in work intensity throughout the year (seasonal jobs in agriculture and tourism, construction, etc.).
Employers who use redistribution can organise working hours in a way that workers work, for example, 12 hours a day during the season, but the additional hours are not paid as overtime. Instead, they are recorded and, in turn, workers work correspondingly fewer hours in the off-season (for example, during winter) or receive paid time off.
Redistribution is a complex issue and must be set out in a collective agreement or regulated by the employer in a special bylaw. In order to prevent possible abuses (unjustified use of redistribution by employers to avoid making supplementary overtime payments), it is best to set out the redistribution in a collective agreement and have a trade union that will monitor the legality of its application.
In all cases beyond the framework of usual working hours, such as overtime work, unequal scheduling and redistribution, there are set limits regarding the maximum number of permitted working hours.
Since the rules on working hours are complex, it is always a good idea for workers to keep their own records of their working hours to safeguard their interests. This can be useful where the rights related to working hours have been violated.
According to the Labour Act, workers have the right to a wage supplement in respect of difficult working conditions; overtime and night work; and for work on Sundays, holidays or any other day defined by law as a non-working day. Except for work on Sundays, for which it is prescribed that the supplement cannot amount to less than 50 per cent of the contracted hourly rate, the amount of the supplement is not defined. This means that the employer can pay only € 0.01 extra for overtime work, on top of the regular hourly rate, and will not be breaking the law.
That is why it is important that workers organise in trade unions and agree through collective bargaining with the employer a fair, higher wage supplement.
Annual leave, daily and weekly rest periods
According to the Labour Act, workers are entitled to four weeks of paid leave per year. However, this is just the legal minimum. The number of actual days of annual leave is agreed between workers and employers, be it an individual agreement in the form of an employment contract or a collective agreement negotiated by a trade union.
Employers must enable workers to use their paid annual leave. Workers cannot waive their right to annual leave even if they want to.
Therefore, any statements waiving the right to annual leave have no legal value. Also, it is not permitted to exchange unused days of annual leave for money, except when workers’ employment contracts end and they have been unable to use all their annual leave.
Annual leave is determined over a calendar year.
If the employment relationship did not last for a whole year, the number of annual leave days is determined in proportion to the number of months workers worked in that year.
The schedule of using annual leave is determined by employers no later than 30 June and workers must be informed of the duration and the period during which their leave may be used at least 15 days before it begins. Although they have the right to determine that schedule independently, employers often partly take into account workers’ wishes. Workers’ rights to participate in drawing up the annual leave schedule can also be set out in the collective agreement.
Workers in their first year of employment with an employer can exercise their right to annual leave only after six months of continuous work. This does not mean that workers are not entitled to annual leave for those first six months but it does mean that they may not use the days of annual leave they acquire during that period before that six months has expired. Employers can, however, approve the use of annual leave before the end of that period.
Days of annual leave not used before the end of the year can be carried forward to the following calendar year but must be used before 30 June.
Every worker working at least six hours a day is entitled to daily rest: a 30 min break during the working day which is part of working hours.
In a period of 24 hours, workers have the right to a daily rest period of 12 uninterrupted hours. In the case of seasonal work organised in split shifts, the daily rest period can be shorter and last only eight hours but the employer must then enable the worker to use the remaining portion later.
Working hours can be spread over five or six days a week, but not all seven. Workers have the right to a weekly rest period of 24 hours.
Occupational health and safety
Compliance with occupational health and safety rules, which exist for every workplace, as well as a workload that will not endanger the physical and mental health of workers, are key components of a good job.
In Croatia, more than 16,000 work-related injuries occur every year; that is, more than 11 injuries for every thousand workers. The number of injuries can probably be reduced by investing more in better occupational health and safety. Technically speaking, occupational health and safety is a set of measures and activities that provide safe working conditions, without endangering workers’ life and health. The aim of those measures is to prevent risks and injuries at work, occupational illnesses and diseases and other work-related damages.
Both employers and workers are responsible for occupational health and safety. Employers are required to organise occupational health and safety and are responsible for implementing it. This includes risk assessment; the implementation of preventive measures; the training of workers to work in a safe manner; and providing safe working conditions, including safe premises, safe machinery and the necessary protective equipment. Employers must also bear all the costs of occupational health and safety and may not charge them to workers.
In the case of any work-related injury or illness that has occurred through no fault of the worker, the employer must provide compensation for the damage suffered in consequence.
At the same time, workers are obliged to perform their work with due care, taking care of their own safety and the protection of their own health, as well as the safety and the protection of the health of other workers who could be put in danger by their actions or omissions at work. This means that workers must respect the prescribed safety rules and respect the safety rules in place and use the prescribed protective equipment.
If the occupational health and safety measures which have been established are not implemented, workers have the right to refuse to work. They are entitled to their wages for that period until the prescribed occupational health and safety measures have been implemented, even if they are not asked to perform other appropriate tasks in the meantime.
However, occupational health and safety is much more than just work-related injury; at every workplace there are a number of factors which, directly or indirectly, immediately or in the long term, affect the general health and wellbeing of workers.
Health risks exist in every workplace.
Dignity and discrimination
Anti-Discrimination Act
Anti-Discrimination Act prohibits the unequal treatment of those seeking employment, or workers, based on, among other things, race, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, family obligations, age, language, religion, political or other belief, social origin, social position and membership or non-membership of a political party or trade union. The Act also obliges employers to pay equal wages to women and men for equal work and work of equal value (non-discrimination).
Discrimination means the different treatment of a person or a group of persons compared to all others on the basis of their personal characteristics. In other words, a person is put at a disadvantage compared to others due to their race or ethnicity, religion, gender, marital or family status, education, social position, trade union membership, age, disability, gender identity or expression, or sexual orientation.
Any action whose aim is to violate a person’s dignity or which has that effect is prohibited. Discrimination is prohibited by all international and Croatian regulations on human rights.
Bullying means abuse in the workplace and is similar to discrimination in the sense that it is also a violation of the right to equality and human dignity. The difference is that discrimination must have a clearly established basis (gender, age, disability, etc.), while this basis need not be the case in instances of bullying.
Bullying usually consists of psychological terror carried out through hostile and unethical communication, systematically directed by one or more individuals towards, usually, one person. Due to the abuse, such a person is cast into the position of being helpless or unable to defend themselves. Research shows that a very large number of Croatian workers face bullying..
Profiles of the victims of bullying are different – for instance, they may be young workers, workers approaching retirement age, reliable people, those who want change, creative persons or members of minority groups. Bullying can happen to anyone, regardless of experience and position in the workplace. Given that bullying affects not only the victims but also the entire work environment, it is important to recognise and prevent it. In that respect, trade union shop stewards play an important role as they are usually the first persons that trade union members confide in when they face bullying.
Violations of rights
If workers believe that their rights in an employment relationship have been violated, they need to contact their employer in writing within 15 days and request the exercise of their rights (the so-called request for the protection of rights).
The employer has 15 days to respond. If the response is negative, the next day starts another period of 15 days during which workers have the right to bring an action before a court. If the employer does not respond at all, this period begins after the expiry of the employer’s 15-day response period.
So, in order for workers to be able to seek the protection of the court, they must first send the employer a request for the protection of rights within the specified period. An exception is the non-payment of wages or any other financial claim, in which case workers can immediately turn to the court without making a prior written request.
Although workers often think that, if employers deny them certain rights, they can turn to an institution to help them exercise their rights, the truth is that the worker-employer relationship is a contractual relationship. This means that, in order to protect and exercise their rights, it is necessary to negotiate with the employer or seek protection in court.
That is why it is important to try to prevent the violation of rights, which is best achieved by organising workers into a trade union and monitoring the observance of rights at all times. The specialist staff of the trade union provide assistance to workers in that respect and trade union members have the right to free counselling and representation in court, if they need it.
A failure to comply with the provisions of the Labour Act and other regulations can (and must) be reported to the State Inspectorate which can order certain measures and impose a fine on employers. For example, in the event of the non-payment of wages, the Inspectorate can order employers to pay wages up to the amount of the minimum wage; workers must claim the full amount in court proceedings.
The non-payment of wages is a serious issue; it is also a criminal offence and can be reported to the police. If wages have not been paid and the employer has issued workers their payslips, it is possible to initiate enforcement proceedings in FINI based on those payslips. Employers who do not pay workers their wages must be warned of the obligation to provide, by the end of the month, a calculation of the amount owed.
Dismissal
An employment relationship may end on the basis of agreement between the employer and the worker (the termination of employment by mutual agreement); or with the termination of the contract by either party. In any case, it must be made in writing.
If they wish to terminate an employment contract, workers do not have to give a reason. However, employers must have a valid reason for dismissing a worker.That reason must be explained and the decision on dismissal delivered to the worker.
As a rule, the employment relationship does not end on the day the dismissal is delivered but the notice period – which, according to the law, cannot be shorter than two weeks – does begin on that day. During the notice period, workers have the right (and the obligation) to work and receive a wage for their work. Employers can release workers from their work obligations during the notice period but must still pay them their wage.
Valid reasons for termination include:
- a cessation of the need to carry out the work (dismissal on economic grounds); or
- the worker’s inability to perform their duties properly due to certain permanent characteristics (dismissal on personal grounds).
Both cases are instances of the termination of the contract through no fault of the worker.
The violation of obligations arising from the employment relationship is also a valid reason for ending an employment contract (termination due to workers’ conduct), as is a failure to meet the requirements of the probationary period. Before ending an employment contract due to the conduct of the worker, the employer must provide a written warning of the obligation with which there has been a failure to comply, point out the possibility of termination and allow workers the opportunity to present a defence.
If either party commits an especially serious violation of their obligations under the employment relationship, or if some other particularly important fact occurs preventing the continuation of the employment relationship, both employer and worker may extraordinarily terminate an employment contract within 15 days of that extraordinary situation arising.
Extraordinary termination also means that the party terminating the contract has the right to demand compensation from the party which has violated its obligations. In the event of an extraordinary dismissal, workers do not have the right to notice and the dismissal takes place immediately on the day of receipt of the employer’s decision.
Sickness and pregnancy are not valid reasons for terminating an employment contract..
Where workers have worked for the employer for more than two years and the reason for the dismissal is not their conduct, they are entitled to severance pay; that is, a monetary amount which cannot be less than one-third of the wage for each completed year of employment and whose value thus depends on how long the employment relationship with that employer lasted.
Workers who believe that their dismissal is not valid, must submit a request for the protection of their rights within 15 days because otherwise they lose the right to challenge such a decision in the courts.
Workers who have been employed for at least nine months in the last 24 are entitled to unemployment benefit paid by the Croatian Employment Service, but only in the following cases: dismissal on economic or personal grounds; where an agreement on the termination of the employment relationship was concluded solely on the proposal of the employer; or in cases of extraordinary resignation due to the non-payment of wages.
Applications for unemployment benefit must be submitted to the Croatian Employment Service within 30 days. In the same timeframe, it is necessary for the worker to report their unemployment status to the Croatian Health Insurance Fund in order not to lose the right to health insurance.
Trade unions
Everyone wants better conditions at work. Some want a better wage; others more days of annual leave; others a higher supplement for working on non-working days and holidays. Workers can fight for those and other labour rights if they organise themselves and try to negotiate together with the employer. It is only possible to bargain collectively and sign a collective agreement that regulates working conditions in more detail and more favourably through a trade union.
The trade union is the only organisation whose sole function is to represent and protect workers – its members. A trade union is an association of workers which they join voluntarily in order to strengthen their position towards employers, in negotiations regarding working conditions, and towards the state in advocating the labour and social rights to be enjoyed by citizens.
The trade union represents workers with their employers. This means that it negotiates wages and other working conditions, protects the existing rights of workers and advocates safe and fair workplaces. Providing free legal assistance for trade union members and engaging in collective bargaining are the most important activities that a trade union carries out on behalf of its members. People tend to think that they can negotiate better terms themselves and that they will never need legal help but, if they only need it once, they will find themselves in big trouble. A single legal consultation alone costs on average more than one annual trade union membership fee.
The strength of a trade union and its negotiating power depends, always and above all, on its members and on how willing they are to support and join trade union activities. Trade unions must be supported by active and informed members, ready for action.
Strikes
The strike is the best-known and most powerful means of trade union struggle for better rights and working conditions. A strike is a legally permitted and legitimate means of exerting pressure on the employer in order to achieve the economic and social demands of workers, i.e. better wages, salary supplements, more days of annual leave, holiday pay, Christmas bonus, etc.
Only a trade union can organize a strike.
The strike is the best-known and most powerful means of trade union struggle for better rights and working conditions. It is a legally permitted and legitimate means of exerting pressure on employers in order to realise the economic and social demands of workers (for higher wages, wage supplements, more days of annual leave, holiday bonus, Christmas bonus, etc.).
Namely, when collective bargaining does not produce results because employers are ignoring workers’ demands, the only thing left for workers is to try collectively to put pressure on employers in order to force them to change their mind. They can do that by slowing down their work or fulfilling their work duties too zealously and in detail (for example, a worker at a counter who explains every aspect of a certain procedure to a client, or workers at customs who take the time to inspect each car exhaustively, thereby jamming up the process). In this way, no-one can complain that they are not doing their job because such activities can be viewed as the diligent performance of work. At the same time, such behaviour causes damage to the employer.
The final step that workers can take in order to resolve a deadlock in collective bargaining to their advantage is to initiate a strike: a collectively organised piece of industrial action in which work activities are suspended in order to put pressure on the employer to accept certain demands of workers.
The reason for organising a strike may be the impossibility of reaching agreement on a claim during collective negotiations (for example, for an increase in the basic wage, better working conditions, improved bonuses and other trade union demands – so-called interest strikes) or the non-payment of wages.
The Constitution of the Republic of Croatia guarantees workers the right to strike although there are restrictions of that right in certain industries (armed forces, police, state administration, etc.). The Labour Act specifies in more detail the reasons for organising a strike and the procedure of organising one which must be followed in order for it to be legal. The procedural rules for organising a strike prescribed by the law are quite strict, which indirectly limits workers’ right to strike. If a strike is organised improperly, there can be serious negative consequences for the trade union (which can be sued for damages by the employer), but also for the workers themselves as they can be dismissed.
The right to strike is guaranteed by international regulations (including the conventions of the International Labour Organization, the European Social Charter and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights), as well as in the legal system of the Republic of Croatia (the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia, the Labour Act, collective agreements).
The procedure for organising a strike is usually defined in trade union statutes. The trade union bears the responsibility for the conduct of strikes with due legality. While participating in a strike, workers are not entitled to a wage.
However, they may not be punished in any way for participating in a legal strike. Dismissing workers for participating in a strike is against the principle of freedom of association. That is why it is important that the strike is lawfully initiated, implemented and conducted so that its legality cannot be challenged.
