The Ministry of Justice should consider introducing a new criminal offense into the Criminal Code, which would refer to illegal work engagements through service contracts, according to the Action for Social Justice (ASP).
The non-governmental organization (NGO) said that this was the only way to stop the widespread practice of hiring people through temporary contracts for regular and systematized jobs, and more recently through consulting contracts.
"As part of the public debate on amendments to the Criminal Code, the Ministry of Justice should consider the possibility of recognizing a new criminal offense that would concern illegal work engagements through service contracts or similar forms," the ASP statement said.
They said that the practice of hiring through consulting and service contracts in public administration is mostly motivated by party or nepotistic interests.
"Where people are initially hired (for months or years) through temporary contracts, and later obtain permanent employment through mostly fictitious public competitions," the statement added.
ASP pointed out that this practice is intensively present in the public sector, both at the central and local levels, in state and local enterprises.
"It has become a kind of 'shortcut' for employment in public administration, which would have to be transparent and competitive," ASP stated.
According to them, this practice was once introduced by the governments of the Democratic Party of Socialists, and after the fall of that party, four and a half years ago, it was only continued.
"Every change of government leads to an increase in expenditures for these purposes and in later stages increases the total number of employees in the public sector, although there is a need to optimize the overly cumbersome public administration," the ASP emphasized.
They pointed out that last year alone, expenditure on service contracts at the central level reached over 23 million euros.
"Given the prevalence of this problem, which is significantly linked to issues of political corruption ('vote for job') or conflict of interest ('job through acquaintance'), we appreciate that the social unacceptability of this behavior has already reached a level where it can be subject to criminal legislation through the prescription of a special criminal offense," the ASP said.
The NGO stated that the corpus of existing criminal offenses against labor rights in the Criminal Code includes the offense of violation of equality in employment.
This criminal offense, as explained by the ASP, refers to a violation of regulations or other unlawful denial or restriction of the right of citizens to free employment on the territory of Montenegro under equal conditions, and is punishable by a fine or imprisonment for up to a year.
The ASP reminded that the public debate on amendments to the Criminal Code ends next week.
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