Judicial protection in labor disputes according to the Labor Law

September 5 2019, Academy of Justice organized training on “Judicial protection in labor disputes according to the Labor Law”.

Purpose of this training was to extend the judges knowledge on labor related disputes according to the applicable legislation in the Republic of Kosovo.

First part of the training covered: Labor contracts and their types and working relation disputes according the Labor Law. Whereas the second part, covered the following: judicial procedure for protecting labor rights and adhering to deadline requirements for requesting judicial protection.

Initially the training highlighted the fact of the increasingly growing number of labor disputes. This situation is due to the gaps in the applicable legislation and judicial protection was not adequate, which hindered the employee’s rights from working relationships. Consequently, provisions that regulated this area were dispersed in many laws and regulations, that were issued and adopted in different economic, social and political circumstances. This all impacted and presented difficulties for the judges to adequately apply these laws, in relation to protection of the employee’s rights deriving from working relationship.

The training continued with elaboration of the procedure initiated by the employees in cases when employers violate the working duties, including identification of the preliminary conditions that have to be met by the claimant before addressing the court with a lawsuit seeking judicial protection.

It further covered causes of terminating the employment contract, types of judicial decisions brought for labor disputes, distinctions between disputes for civil servants and other labor disputes, competencies, timelines, legal remedies, adhering to deadlines for seeking judicial protection, i.e. the issue of exhausting internal legal remedies in order to be eligible to seek judicial protection, as well as consequences for not respecting the deadline requirements for seeking judicial protection according to the applicable legislation pertaining to labor disputes.

It also concluded that the judicial protection procedure for the labor related rights that derive from the working relationship is special, which includes application of the contested procedure’ general rules, as well as special rules that are foreseen in Articles 474 to 477 of the LCP.

This training used combined methods of teaching - the theoretical lecturing based on practical cases, followed by exercises, interactive discussions, handouts, case analysis from the case law, and elaboration of the applicable legal provisions that regulate this field.

Beneficiaries of this training were judges of Basic Courts and of the appeals Court, as well as professional associates of these courts.