MINISTRY OF JUSTICE AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION SIGNS PROTOCOL WITH SOPOS

On behalf of the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration, the State Secretary for Justice and Public Administration Danilo Nikolić signed a protocol on the improvement the financial situation of justice administration employees with the Syndicate of Judiciary Organisations (SOPOS). On behalf of SOPOS, the document was signed by its President Dragan Nedeljković.

State Secretary Nikolić said that the net financial assistance of 4,000.00 dinars was of a social nature. He said that the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration had taken into consideration the very difficult economic situation the country is in and the low salaries of the employees in judiciary, which did correspond to the salaries of other civil servants. ‘People working in judiciary, although they work a lot, share the fate of other civil servants whose salaries are also financed from the Budget,’ said the State Secretary, adding that the bonus was funded from the savings expected to be made following the establishment of the new network of courts and prosecutor’s offices.

“On behalf of the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration, I would like to thank not only the Syndicate but also all of its members and all the judiciary employees on doing really important work for the judicial system. Without their conscientious and expert work it would not be possible to get the verdicts, which is the objective of every single court procedure,” emphasised the State Secretary.

SOPOS President Dragan Nedeljković thanked the ministry for recognising the bad working conditions for judiciary employees, adding that SOPOS would continue to negotiate with the ministry the possibilities of improving the financial situation of judiciary employees in the future.

The protocol defines a net financial assistance of 4,000.00 dinars for the results achieved by civil servants and appointees in courts and prosecutor’s offices. The protocol also envisages that if a public servant or appointee takes a sick leave for longer than 15 days, the bonus calculation will be based on the number of days spent at work.

The Ministry of Justice and Public Administration is obligated to propose, by mid-year, to the Ministry of Finance a financial framework for increasing the salaries of Serbian judiciary employees. The ministry is also obligated to perform a detailed analysis of the incoming court fees according to the available funds for this purpose and to look into the possibility of increasing the bonus.