Podgorica, (MINA-BUSINESS) – Representatives of the Montenegrin Employers’ Federation (UPCG) have expressed serious concern regarding the actions of the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Dialogue in the repeated proceedings conducted following the Administrative Court’s ruling of April 3, stating that compliance with court decisions is not a matter of choice.

“The Administrative Court annulled the Ministry’s previous decision and adopted a clear legal position that, for employees who work six days a week, Saturday, as a working day, must be counted among annual leave days, and that the statutory minimum of 24 working days does not constitute an enhanced entitlement compared to employees who work the same full-time schedule within a five-day workweek,” the UPCG said in a press release.

The Court specifically pointed out that employees working a full-time schedule of 40 hours per week cannot be placed in a more favourable position solely because of a different distribution of working hours, as such an interpretation would result in unequal treatment of employees who work the same full-time schedule.

 “It is important to emphasize that the Administrative Court left no room for differing interpretations in this case. The judgment is clear and unambiguous. Despite this, in the repeated proceedings a new decision was issued that is essentially based on the same legal interpretation that the Court had already deemed unlawful,” the UPCG stated.

The UPCG further noted that immediately after the Labour Law entered into force in 2020, the Ministry of Labour had adopted a legal interpretation on this issue that fully corresponded to the interpretation later confirmed by the Administrative Court’s ruling. The Ministry’s subsequent departure from that original interpretation created years of legal uncertainty and led to litigation whose outcome now leaves no room for doubt.