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I was declared redundant

Rights and severance pay when your employer declares you redundant (tehnološki višak).

INFO
Short answer. When an employer terminates an employment contract because the need for your position has ceased due to technological, economic, or organizational changes, it must pay you severance before the dismissal, the amount of which is set by a general act or the employment contract, though it may not be lower than the statutory minimum tied to years of service.
ROK
Deadline. Severance pay must be paid before the employment contract is terminated. The Labor Law sets no notice period for this ground of dismissal; the notice period of eight to 30 days applies only to dismissal for insufficient work performance. If the dismissal is challenged, the deadline for the claim is 60 days from the date the dismissal decision was served, the same as for any other dismissal. (Articles 158 and 159 of the Labor Law (severance pay); Article 195 of the Labor Law (deadline for the claim); Article 189 (notice period only for dismissal over work performance); Article 153 (a redundancy program is mandatory if within 30 days the need ends for at least 10 employees at an employer with more than 20 and fewer than 100 employees, 10% of employees at an employer with 100 to 300, or 30 employees at an employer with more than 300, and also for at least 20 employees within 90 days).)

What to do

Redundancy for technological, economic, or organizational reasons is a distinct ground for dismissal under which the law imposes a specific obligation on the employer that doesn't exist for other types of dismissal: payment of severance before the dismissal. The Labor Law provides a notice period only for dismissal over insufficient work performance (Art. 189), not for redundancy. The first step is checking whether the dismissal decision is really based on the cessation of need for your position, and not on some other reason merely presented as redundancy.

The second step is checking the severance calculation. The statutory minimum is at least one-third of the average monthly salary for each full year worked with that employer, with the base calculated from the last three months of salary before payment. If several employees at the company were declared redundant at the same time, the employer must carry out a formal redundancy program, involving the union and the National Employment Service, if within 30 days the need ends for at least 10 employees (at an employer with more than 20 and fewer than 100 employees), 10% of employees (100 to 300) or 30 employees (more than 300), and also when the need ends for at least 20 employees within 90 days (Art. 153 of the Labor Law).

If you believe the severance was not correctly calculated or that the stated ground for dismissal was not actually redundancy, the 60-day deadline for a claim to annul the dismissal runs the same way as for any other dismissal.

When to consult a lawyer

Consultation is especially useful when checking the severance calculation (since errors in the base amount or in the number of years of service counted are not uncommon), when there is suspicion that redundancy is merely a formal pretext for dismissal on another ground, and in collective dismissals where the employer should have carried out a special procedure with the union and the NSZ. In all cases, the 60-day deadline for a possible claim should be kept in mind from the moment the decision is received.

Sources

What to do

  • Check whether the dismissal decision is based on an actual cessation of need for your job (technological, economic, or organizational changes), rather than some other, concealed reason - this matters because severance under these rules is not owed for other grounds of dismissal.
  • Request the severance calculation and check the basis: the statutory minimum is at least one-third of the average monthly salary for each full year worked with that employer, and the base is the average salary paid over the last three months before the severance is paid.
  • Check whether severance was paid before the dismissal, not after - that is the statutory order.
  • If several employees were declared redundant at the same time, check whether the employer was required to carry out a redundancy program with notification to the union and the National Employment Service.
  • If you believe the severance was not calculated correctly, or that the dismissal is not based on an actual redundancy ground, keep the 60-day deadline in mind for a possible claim to annul the dismissal and recover the shortfall in severance.

What it costs

A dispute over the amount of severance is a monetary claim arising from employment and, as a rule, is exempt from court fees on the employee's side. The cost that remains is the attorney's fee, proportional to the disputed amount - for smaller discrepancies in the calculation, an out-of-court demand to the employer is often a first, cheaper step before a claim.

Basis for the attorney fee: Tariff item 13 of the Tariff on Attorneys' Fees and Expense Reimbursement (Tarifa o nagradama i naknadama troškova za rad advokata) (monetary claim - shortfall in severance, fee based on the value of the dispute); item 14 (employment disputes concerning dismissal, 550 points) if annulment of the dismissal is also sought.

FAQ

How is severance pay for redundancy calculated?

The statutory minimum is the sum of one-third of the employee's salary for each full year of employment with the employer from whom the severance right arises, where salary means the average monthly salary paid to the employee for the last three months preceding the month severance is paid. The employer's general act or the employment contract may provide for a more favorable (higher) calculation, but not a lower one than this minimum.

Must severance be paid before the dismissal?

Yes - the law provides that the employer must pay severance before terminating the employment contract on this ground, not afterward, once employment has already ended.

Do I keep the right to unemployment benefits if I'm declared redundant?

A dismissal due to redundancy is a unilateral decision by the employer, not a mutual termination, so as a general rule it does not exclude the right to unemployment benefits from the National Employment Service, provided the other general conditions (insurance record) for that right are met. The Law on Employment and Unemployment Insurance expressly lists dismissal for redundancy as a ground for the benefit (Art. 67), provided you were insured for at least 12 months, continuously or with breaks, in the last 18 months (Art. 66). The exception is employees who, under a Government program, voluntarily opted for severance above the statutory amount. For the benefit to run from the end of your insurance, register with the NSZ within 30 days (Art. 68).

What if I think I was picked as 'redundant' for another reason (e.g., mobbing or discrimination)?

If the true reason for the dismissal is something else, with redundancy stated only as a formal ground, that is a matter to be proven in any dispute over annulment of the dismissal, and it does not change the obligation to pay severance if the termination of employment formally did occur on this ground.