15. 03. 2021.

On 15 March 2021 the Minister of Labour, Employment, Veterans and Social Affairs, Prof. dr Darija Kisić Tepavčević visited the Republic Agency for Peaceful Settlement of Labour Disputes and attended the presentation of results of five years of operations of the SOS mobbing hotline project.

Results of five years of operations of the SOS mobbing hotline were presented by Dr Ivica Lazović, deputy Director of The Republic Agency for Peaceful Settlement of Labour Disputes.

The SOS mobbing hotline is a joint project of the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veterans and Social Affairs and the Republic Agency for Peaceful Settlement of Labour Disputes. In five years of operation of the 080-300-601 hotline 5,077 calls were registered.

„This is a fairly large number of citizens to whom legal aid was provided“, said Mr Ivica Lazović, Deputy Director of the Agency, adding that out of the total number of calls in 643 cases legal aid was requested, and the Agency participated in about 550 proceedings.

„Nobody should suffer any form of harassment, including mobbing in working environment, and the Republic Agency for Peaceful Settlement of Labour Disputes is there to help all to resolve problems relating to any form of harassment,” said Prof. Dr Kisić Tepavčević.

Prof. Dr Kisić Tepavčević also said that there are two key regulations for protection of mobbing at workplace - Law on Prevention of Harassment at Workplace, whereby everybody who believe that they suffer harassment may raise a procedure before the employer, without any third-party mediation, and if this fails, they can appeal for court protection; and there is the Law on Peaceful Settlement of Labour Disputes enabling mediation of a third party, i.e. the Agency.

The Minister, Prof. Dr Kisić Tepavčević, emphasized that the proceeding before the agency are free of chare, and that the aim of the process is to reach a solution peacefully with agreement of all parties involved.

„We appeal to all of our citizens who believe that they are exposed to any form of harassment at their workplace, to ask for legal aid using the institutional mechanism that proved to be the best and most effective“, said Kisić Tepavčević.

Kisić Tepavčević reminded us that the SOS mobbing hotline was open as a result of cooperation of the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veterans and Social Affairs and Republic Agency for Peaceful Settlement of Labour Disputes, providing the way for all citizens to obtain an appropriate legal advice and guidance on how to reach an appropriate solution peacefully.

Serbia has put in place excellent mechanisms for protection of employees from harassment at work, asserted jointly Prof. Dr Darija Kisić Tepavčević, Minister of Labour, Employment, Veterans and Social Affairs and Dr Ivica Lazović, Deputy Director of the Republic Agency for Peaceful Settlement of Labour Disputes at the presentation of five years of the SOS mobbing hotline project.