Dismissal of former executive director of "Monteput" Jonuz Mujević (BS) could cost the state more than 135.000 euros, when, in addition to the 70.000 euros that the Basic Court recently awarded him for unpaid wages, interest, and court costs, more than 65.000 euros in severance pay and compensation for unused vacation that he already collected upon leaving the company at the end of 2021.
This ruling, however, is not final because it is a first-instance judgment of the Basic Court in Podgorica, which the state has the right to appeal. Until the final, binding judgment, the state's total obligations may be increased by interest, court and legal costs if it loses the case. According to "Vijesti", the protector of property and legal interests of Montenegro will appeal the decision made at the end of last year. Bojana Cirovic.
Mujević was at the head of "Monteput" from 2017 to November 24, 2021, while his second term began at the end of October 2020. He filed a dispute with the Administrative Court at the end of 2021 for payment of damages and annulment of the decision by which the Government dismissed him a month earlier, or three years before the end of his term. In the lawsuit, he claims that the Government unlawfully amended the statute of "Monteput" in September 2021, shortened the director's term to one year instead of four, and dismissed him.
Mujević is represented in court by Azra Jasavić, former Vice-President of the Government of Electoral Trust and former MP of Positive Montenegro.
The Ombudsman pointed out that the lawsuit is unfounded and unfounded and that the dismissal was made based on changes to the statute of "Monteput", but that Mujević cannot return to the position of executive director because he has held that position since then. Milan LjiljanicShe also stated that by taking the severance pay, Mujević accepted the termination of his employment and waived his right to compensation for the alleged damage.
"The plaintiff's claim is adopted and annulled as unlawful the Government of Montenegro's decision 04-5280/3 of November 24, 2021. The defendant is ordered to pay the plaintiff the amount of 51.791 euros for lost earnings, for the period from November 24, 2021 to October 22, 2023, with the associated statutory interest from the date of the findings and opinion of the economic and financial expert on April 30, 2025, until final payment, as well as interest in the amount of 14.740 euros with the associated interest from the date of the findings and opinion on April 30, 2025, until final payment, within eight days of the judgment becoming final. The defendant is ordered to reimburse the plaintiff for the costs of the proceedings in the amount of 3.780 euros within eight days of the judgment becoming final," the judgment signed by the judge reads. Daliborka Vuksanovic.
Mandate shortened and then extended
In the explanation of the verdict, Vuksanović pointed out that the protector's allegations that by accepting the severance pay, Mujević terminated the employment relationship and the possibility of compensation for damages are unfounded, because upon dismissal, the executive director has the right to be transferred to another job position in "Monteput" or to severance pay in the amount of 24 net salaries, but that this does not deprive him of the right to compensation for material damages. She determined that the payment of severance pay does not reduce the amount of compensation for damages based on lost earnings.
The court also emphasized that the government's amendment to the statute of "Monteput" from September 2021 was unlawful, because they stipulated that the executive director's term of office lasts one year, and then at the session in April 2022, they adopted a new amendment and returned the term of office to four years.
"As it has been established that the Statute was adopted by the founder, who is not the body of the company competent for its adoption, the court finds that such a statute cannot constitute a lawful legal basis for the adoption of individual acts that decide on the rights of employees. Accordingly, the decision to dismiss the executive director is unlawful. The court considered the defendant's allegations that, as the founder and sole owner of capital, he has the discretionary right to completely autonomously regulate the issue of the length of the executive director's term of office, and that all decisions made by him are unilateral acts and unilateral legal transactions, to be unfounded. If the court were to accept such allegations, the question of the need for the existence of legal and by-laws that regulate areas of business operations, or the existence of law in general, would be raised if decisions were made solely on the basis of the will of a natural or legal person," the judge stated, emphasizing that this would lead to legal uncertainty and the undermining of the rule of law.
Vuksanović emphasized that after his dismissal, Mujević worked at the Rožaje-based company "Inženjering Em - Lab" from the end of December 2022 to August 2023, when he was appointed director of the Public Institution Geological Survey. She emphasized that a financial expert calculated the differences between the amount of benefits lost to Mujević based on the director's salary and the salaries earned with another employer in the period from November 2021 to October 2023.
No reaction to severance pay
Mujević has not been at the helm of "Monteput" since November 2021, while he was appointed director of the Geological Survey in August 2023.
After leaving "Monteput", Mujević received more than 65.000 euros, namely 58.000 in severance pay and 7.200 euros for unused vacation.
According to the Labor Law, if a severance pay is taken from a state-owned company or institution, it must be returned if the employment relationship is established in another state-owned company or institution within a period of less than five years after the termination of the employment relationship. According to the same Law, a person who receives severance pay based on the cessation of the need for his work may not be employed in a state-owned institution or company for a year.
The Directorate for Inspection Affairs told "Vijesti" in September 2023 that they could not react regarding the return of the severance pay of 58.000 euros, because Mujević was not appointed under the Labor Law, but rather the Government appointed him to the Institute by its own decision. The Directorate was conducting proceedings on this issue at the time, so "Monteput" could not request a refund either.
In 2020, the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption determined that Mujević, as the then director of “Monteput”, had violated the Law on the Prevention of Corruption by failing to declare around 45.000 euros of his and his family's income over two years. The decision was announced at the time by the institution headed by the acting director. Savo Milašinović.
The institution determined that he had violated the Law in the part concerning the submission of incorrect and incomplete data in his asset files.
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