AMENDMENTS IN THE LABOR CODE OF THE REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA
LAW NO. 136/2015 ON SOME AMENDMENTS IN THE LAW NO. 7961 OF THE 12.07.1995, “LABOR CODE OF THE REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA”, AS AMENDED.
At the Labor Code of the Republic of Albania the following amendments are effectuated, entering in force six (6) months from the date of the publication at the Official Journal of the 22/12/2015.
So, according to the abovementioned Law No. 136/2015, it is provided among other provisions, the Article 3/1 entitled “Temporary employment of the foreign employees in Albania”.
This article is applicable in cases when a foreign company sends the employees in Albania, for a period up to 12 months, on behalf of the company and under its direction, or sends the employees in a company, part of the mother company, in the territory of Albania, beeing a temporary employment agency, hires an employer on behalf of the receptive company, created or exercising its activity in the Republic of Albania.
This employment relationship created according to the abovementioned cases, is regulated by the provisions of the albanian legislation, concerning the maximum work period and minimal rest period, the minimal duration of the paid vacations, the minimal wage rate etc.
Among other provisions of the abovementioned Law, the Article 13 providing the conditions of the “Group Contract”, a contract signed with a group of employees as a whole, is abrogated.
At the article 18/1 entitled “Temporary employment from the Agency”, from now on is provided that the Temporary employment Agency signifies the employer which based on an employment contract, hires an employer to work temporarily at a receptive company and which exercises the rights and obligations of the employer jointly with the receptive company.
The receptive company is every employer, hiring temporarily an employee, decided by the Agency, and exercising jointly with the Agency the rights and obligations of the employer. Temporary employment from the Agency will be considered the peroid when an employee is contracted by the company, at the condition that between the Agency and the employee a employment contract must exist.
The Agency and the employee have the right to terminate the employment contract and the Agency is responsible to pay the remuneration and the other benefits to the employee.
All the charges related to the tax declarations at the tax authorities, the confidentiality of the personal data, as well as all the deductions from the salary regarding the income tax and health and social security contributions of the employee, are the responsibility of the Agency.
It is also provided in the abovementioned Law that the employer has the obligation to respect and protect during the work relation the personality of the employee, and the employer undertakes all the necessary meausures to guarantee the safety and the protection of the physical and mental health of the employees. Regarding the Data protection, the Employer during the work relation should not gather informations about the employee, except from the cases when these informations are related to the profesional skills of the employees and are necessary for the performance of the contract.
In the abovementioned law, it is provided that the work effectuated at the day of the week holiday is compensated with an increase of the salary, not less than 25 percent, or with a paid vacation, equal to the duration of the effectuated work plus an extra vacation, not less than 25 percent of the duration of this work.
The employer can effectuate extra working hours, but not for a longer period than 200 hours per year.
It cannot be required to the employee to perform extra working hours per week when the employee has effectuated already 48 hours of work per week.
The duration of the annual vacations is no less than 4 calendar weeks during the year in progress. The annual vacations do not include the days of the official holidays.
The annual vacations aren’t replaceable with additional salary, except the cases when the work relation has terminated and the employer hasn’t effectuated the vacations.
Also, the woman during the pregnancy period, in agreement with the employer has the right to take paid breaks during the working hours when its necessary to effectuate medical examinations. The employer pays the employees equally, for a similar task or of an equal value, without discriminating for any of the reasons mentioned in the Labor Code.
Another novelty of the abovementioned Law is the provision of the unpaid parental leave of not less than 4 moths, given to the employee which has been working for more than one uninterrupted year at the same employer, until the period when the dependent children has reached the age of 6 years.
Concerning the deadlines for the notice of the termination of the work relation, after the test period, for the indefinite term contract, the parties must respect a deadline of two weeks notice, in case the work relation has lasted up to six months, of one month in case the work relation has lasted from six months up to two years, of two months in case the work relation has lasted from two years up to five years, and of three months in case of a work relation superior to five years.
During the period of notice, in case when the work relation is terminated by the employer, the employee has the right of at least 20 break hours per week in ordrer to search for a new job.
At the written notice, the employer determines the reasons of the termination of the work contract, related to the ability, the behaviour of the employee or the operational requests of the company.
The employer which does not respect the procedure is obliged to pay to the employee an indemnity equal to the wage amount of two months, in addition to the other possible indemnities.
Concerning the collective dismissal from work, it is considered as such, the termination of the work relation from the employer, for reasons not related to the employees, in case when the number of the dismissals is for the period of 90 days, at least of 10 employees in the companies of 100 employees; 15, in the companies of more than 100 up to 200 employees; and 20, for the companies with more than 200 employees.
For the employees of the public administration, in case of a definitive court decision deciding that the employee must return to the previous work position, the employer is obliged to apply this decision.
If the work contract is terminated without justified reasons, the employer has the right to present a claim against the employer at the competent court, within 180 days from the day of the termination of the work relation.