Montenegro’s Public Enterprise for National Parks of Montenegro (NPCG) has faced more than 200 employment lawsuits over wage differences for 2016-2022 and has paid close to 1 million euros to employees under rulings so far. The enterprise said it covered the payments from its own funds, drawing on money used for regular operations and planned activities.
More than 90 cases have ended with final and enforceable rulings in employees’ favour, while only a few have been conclusively decided for NPCG. The enterprise said it had paid the full amounts awarded in those cases from its own resources. It described the result as “almost all rulings so far in favour of employees”.
More than 100 cases remain active, including proceedings before the High Court and cases sent back for a new first-instance hearing. Their outcomes and the amounts awarded depend on how courts interpret the Collective Agreement, an issue for which court practice has not been uniform, NPCG said.
The disputes concern employees’ claims for the difference between their pay and the amounts they say were due under public-sector salary rules. After the Government of Montenegro approved a revised Collective Agreement in November 2022, employee salaries at the enterprise were brought into line with the regulations; workers then pursued claims for the earlier period through the courts.
The Law on Salaries of Employees in the Public Sector took effect in March 2016 and gave employers 60 days to align collective agreements with its provisions. The law also provides for the Government to regulate employer-employee relations temporarily if an agreement is not aligned on time, but no such government act was issued during the period at issue.
NPCG and its employees’ union submitted a draft Collective Agreement in December 2017. They renewed efforts to reach agreement in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, before the Ministry of Finance gave a final positive opinion and the Government approved the agreement in November 2022. The process involved the enterprise, the union, the Finance Ministry and the government.
Some lawsuits also named the State of Montenegro as a second defendant and sought joint liability. NPCG said the pay mismatch did not result from decisions or omissions by the enterprise, which it said had taken the steps within its remit in a timely and continuous manner. It also said the enterprise bore the “full financial burden” of the proceedings.
Close to 1 million euros in payments required NPCG to reallocate available funds and postpone some planned activities. Its own revenues are its main source of financing, and the money used for rulings had been intended for wages, routine operations, protection of natural and cultural assets, infrastructure maintenance and investment. The enterprise has also used its funds to settle other inherited obligations, including tax debt from earlier years.
