Fake sick leaves big problem for foreign companies – Minister promising solution

Foreign companies operating in Serbia have pointed to the problem of the absence of a large number of workers during the summer months, due to sick leaves lasting longer than a month. Such sick leaves are at an all-time high, the Ministry of Economy says, warning that it endangers the production process and threatens to close down large companies’ plants. The problem of fake sick leaves should be solved by the e-Bolovanja (electronic sick leaves) system.

From May to September, during the seasonal work season, more than a third of employees are not in the production plants of certain companies, the Ministry of Economy says. This not only hurts the employer, but also local governments, whose budgets are mostly filled with taxes and employee contributions.

– We are commenting on the majority of the population, employees who continuously take sick leaves and thus harm the economic environment in Serbia, but also prevent the smooth operation of these companies in our country. Some are on the verge of significantly reducing their production plants – warns Minister of Economy Adrijana Mesarovic.

The Minister of Health has tasked the directors of health centers with controlling suspicious, long sick leaves and drawing attention to medical committees that prolong sick leaves. He is telling employers, like state-owned companies, to form committees that will visit employees to check on sick leaves.

– We will meet your needs when your committee goes to the health center, so that you can get information about whether that patient is at the “health center” and at home at the time you are checking them. The entire problem will be solved when the electronic system comes into effect – emphasizes Minister of Health Zlatibor Loncar.

He says that false sick leaves are more frequent during the summer, due to vacations or the field work season, and emphasizes that the new system will lead to better control, easier detection of false patients, obtaining remittances without going to the doctor and delivering them to the employer, which means less administration.

By the end of July, e-Bolovanja should be completed in Belgrade, and by the end of the year in all of Serbia.

Ministarstvo privrede Republike Srbije

Ministarstvo zdravlja Republike Srbije

Ministry of Economy

Ministry of Health

Adrijana Mesarović

Zlatibor Lončar

e sick leave

eBolovanja

foreign companies

scaling down of production facilities

absence of employees