The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Serbia has ruled, based on a submitted initiative, that certain provisions of the law applied in determining salary compensation during maternity leave are unconstitutional.

In short, the contested provisions referred to the practice whereby employed mothers had their maternity leave compensation calculated based on the average earnings over the 18 months preceding the start of pregnancy leave (if such leave was used), rather than the 18 months preceding the start of maternity leave.

The Decision of the Constitutional Court of Serbia (IUz-60/2021) was published on February 14, 2024, in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No. 11/24.
As of that publication date, Article 13, Paragraph 1 of the Law on Financial Support to Families with Children ceased to be valid in the parts that read:

• “leave due to complications related to maintaining pregnancy, or”, and

• “if no leave was used due to complications related to maintaining pregnancy”.

As of February 14, 2024, Article 13, Paragraph 1 of the Law reads:

“The basis for salary compensation during maternity leave and child care leave, for persons referred to in Article 12 of this law, is determined based on the sum of monthly contribution bases on earnings subject to contributions, for the last 18 months preceding the first month of maternity leave.”

Instructions to Local Authorities and Mothers’ Rights

The Ministry of Family Welfare and Demography published a notice on its website stating that, on February 22, 2024, it sent instructions to municipal and city administrations regarding the implementation of the Constitutional Court’s decision.

Municipal and city administrations are required to re-examine ex officio all decisions (resolutions) that are not final and legally binding.

Mothers who received final and legally binding decisions starting from April 19, 2019, may submit a request for amendment of the individual administrative act (decision), if they believe their rights were violated.

The form for submitting the Request for Amendment to the municipal or city administration that issued the original decision is available at:

Request to Amend Decision Based on the Constitutional Court’s Ruling

🗓️ The deadline for submitting these requests is August 14, 2024.