The Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, due to the great interest of the media, informs the public that according to the current legislation of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, it is not possible to declare non-working days in connection with elections in other countries – the ministry announced.
“From the perspective of the competence of this ministry, we point out that based on the Decree with legal force on the adoption and application of federal laws (“Official Gazette of RBiH”, number: 2/92), that is, the Law on Confirmation of Decrees with legal force (“Official Gazette of RBiH” , number: 13/94), in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as a federal law applies the Law on Holidays (“Official Gazette of the SFRY”, number: 6/73). In accordance with the above, in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the New Year and International Labor Day – May Day In addition to the above, in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina the Law on the Proclamation of March 1 as the Independence Day of Bosnia and Herzegovina (“Official Gazette of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina”, number 9/95) and the Law on the Proclamation of November 25 are in force. On the Statehood Day of Bosnia and Herzegovina (“Official Gazette of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina”, number 9/95). Regarding the provisions of the Labor Law, the provisions of Article 54, paragraph 3 of the Labor Law (“Official Gazette of the Federation of BiH”, number: 26/ 16, 89/18 and 44/22), it is prescribed that the employer is obliged to allow the employee a leave of absence of up to four working days in one calendar year in order to satisfy his religious or traditional needs, with the provision that the leave of two days is used with salary compensation, i.e. paid leave. In accordance with the above, and considering that the right to use the mentioned leave was established for the purpose of meeting the religious, i.e. traditional needs of the workers, we are of the opinion that the same could be used in the period when, in accordance with religious regulations, i.e. customs and traditions, religious holidays are celebrated, as well as other cultural and traditional events”, it was stated in the announcement of the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Policy.
Given that the rights and obligations of the employee from the employment relationship are decided by the employer, the Ministry considers that the employee would be obliged to inform the employer in time even in the case of the intention to use the mentioned type of leave.
“Namely, holidays and non-working days based on them in the Federation of BiH are determined in accordance with the aforementioned legal regulations, and given that there is no provision in the regulations on non-working days for election days, the decisions on declaring holidays on that basis are not in accordance with the existing legal within the framework of FBiH. Therefore, all legal entities and citizens of the Federation are invited to comply with legal regulations regarding working days and holidays,” said Federal Minister of Labor and Social Policy Adnan Delić.
The Ministry reminds that they are announcing this issue due to a large number of media inquiries, and they state that there will be no further statements on this topic.
