Press statement | 18.05.2022

There must be justified reasons for demotion

On 19 January 2022, the Institution of Human Rights Ombudsman of Bosnia and Herzegovina received a complaint from B.P. concerning the protection of employment rights at Prijedor Social Welfare Centre. The gist of the complaint concerns the fact that the complainant was reassigned to a lower position once she returned from her pregnancy-related sick leave and maternity leave. The respondent party's statement reads that there was a change in the Centre management and that the Director, at the recommendation from the competent inspection body, instructed to have employment contracts drafted for employees hired based on decisions, that the complainant did not have an employment contract with the employer, that, given the irregularities in the work of the General Affairs Department, the Director intended to assign her to a different position matching her qualifications, which she refused. The investigation procedure found that no statutory disciplinary procedure had been carried out to establish mistakes in the complainant's work, which means that she did not have an opportunity to state her position in the standard procedure and to challenge the irregularities of which she has been accused. This not only precluded a commission comprising multiple members from conducting the formal evidentiary procedure, but it also precluded the complainant from having the possibility to have legal representation and the right to a legal remedy, which in turn implies judicial protection in the event a disciplinary measure is imposed. While respecting the employer's right to organise the work process the best way possible, IHROBiH sent a recommendation (P-122/22) to the Social Welfare Centre, instructing it to eliminate the mentioned shortcomings in its treatment of the complainant, pursuant to the Prohibition of Discrimination Act of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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