Marija Mijušković Kastratović from Nikšić, who is employed in the company "Montecco", owned by Predrag Pavličić, claims that after the expiration of her maternity and pregnancy leave, she was not returned to the position she has held in that company since 2012, which was done illegally and for which she has court ruling.
The company says that everything is according to the law, but that she "obviously does not want to work" and has been "dragging" on sick leave for five years.
"I got a contract as a sales promoter, where I worked until I was nine months pregnant. I got pregnant again unplanned and for both pregnancies I was on maternity and maternity leave for a total of two years and five months. I resented the company for giving birth to two children one after the other. When I returned to work after the end of my maternity leave, the director looked for "loopholes" in the law to fire me, but since the law and the state protect mothers, they thought of finding me jobs outside my place of residence in order to force me to dismissal", claims Mijušković Kastratović.
First, as she points out, in April 2017, with a new annex to the contract, she was assigned to the position of a saleswoman in a drinks discount store in Ulcinj, which is why she filed a lawsuit, and, as she claims, "the company admitted its mistake in August of the same year and drew up a new annex to the contract about work", this time to the position of assistant chef at the PG Academy of Beer restaurant in Podgorica.
Then Mijušković Kastratović filed a lawsuit again. The basic court in Nikšić handled that labor dispute from December 2017 to July 2019, when the judge annulled the employment contract by which she was assigned to the position of assistant cook.
The company filed an appeal to the High Court against that verdict.
"I also filed a lawsuit for non-material damages, and the medical reports speak volumes about my health, since everything that happened caused me stress and my health condition worsened, so that irreparable damage was caused to me and my family."
Due to her worsening state of health (abdominal surgery and stress), after returning from maternity leave, Marija is mostly on sick leave, and as she claims, the authorities from the company sent letters to the Labor Inspectorate, the Nikšić Health Center, and the Health Fund in order to check the justification of her absence from work. She also points out that she signed the aforementioned annexes because she would be fired if she refused to do so.
"At first, they were bothered that I was 'using the state' to pay for my pregnancy and maternity benefits, which they did not reimburse at the Health Insurance Fund because their experts did not know that." She said that she will not give up on seeking justice, that she will not be swayed even by lengthy procedures, and if necessary, she will even go to Strasbourg.
The company "Montecco" replied to "Vijesta" that "in accordance with market principles and the changes that have occurred" the position of sales promoter had to be terminated, and they were not financially able to save it, just because of it.
"When she was offered the first vacancy, and she refused, she got another job that we could have offered her, which was vacant.
She also visited at most for a day or two between sick days and then used the opportunity, instead of working, to call all the inspections, which we would then deal with for another day or two, until she gets sick again at a new address".
Montecco: He can't work, but he can make cakes privately
If it is taken into account that Mijušković Kastratović has been on sick leave for five years (including pregnancy and maternity leave), it is not, according to the company "Montecco", a worker whose rights are threatened "but someone who does not want to work, and obviously has problems to continue to 'take' sick leave, so now he is trying to exert some pressure on the company where he wants to return to work by addressing the media".
"During her sick leave, she regularly made cakes in private and advertised herself, so we are interested in how it is that she does not mind doing similar jobs there for which she was not 'respected' to the required extent?" The qualifications she has to work at home during sick leave in the position offered to her are significantly more demanding than ours. At the same time, all our employees have additional ongoing training by our adequate persons in the profession in which they work, which was also provided to her".
The company "Montecco" said that it is not clear to them what "disease that lasts for so many years and cannot be cured, how is it possible that after so many years of sick leave she was not declared unfit for work and whether it is an abuse of the sick leave institute" . As far as salary payments are concerned, the company points out that there are regular bank transfers, and since "the appointee rarely appears" they are forced, as they claim, to communicate with her often via registered mail.
"We will restore the appointee to a position of the same rank in accordance with the Law, and we will respect any decision that the court makes. An appeal was filed against the verdict and the court proceedings are still not over, so it is too early to discuss it".
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