Prishtinë, 7 April 2023 – The Ombudsperson within the scope of exercising his constitutional and legal mandate, since the entrance into force of the Law no. 08/L-196 on Salaries in the Public Sector (Disputed Law), has received 104 complaints, that have been lodged with the Ombudsperson Institution until April 7 2023, from various public sector entities. Complaints received mainly relate to coefficients reduction, consequently decrease of salaries, removing of allowances or inadequate and unequal treatment among positions defined by the Law. Complaints received were submitted by public sector entities, as group complaints, individually as well as through trade unions.

The Ombudsperson recalls that on 1 December 2019, the Law No. 06/L-111 on Salaries in the Public Sector has entered into force, for which he requested constitutionality review by the Constitutional Court. The Ombudsperson further recalls that the Constitutional Court on 9 July 2020 issued Judgment KO219/19 by declaring it as invalid in its entireness.

On 5 February 2023, after a process which, according to the Ombudsperson, was not transparent, responsible and democratic one, the disputed Law entered into force. Furthermore, the Ombudsperson evaluates that this Law fails to carry out the spirit of Judgment KO219/19, in the sense of principle of separation of powers, control and balance between them, in the sense of preserving the independence of independent constitutional institutions, in the sense of the rule of law, in particular the principle of equality before the law, as well as in the sense of protecting the right to property of the entities in the public sector.

According to the Ombudsperson, Article 2, paragraph 3; Article 6, paragraph 6; Article 41, paragraph 3 and paragraph 4 of the disputed Law as well as its addendums which deal with the Judicial System, the Prosecutorial System, the Kosovo Security Force, the Kosovo Correctional Service, the Public Servants of University and Pre-University Education, the Public Servants of Health System, Assembly of Kosovo, Independent Constitutional Institutions, Ministries, Independent Agencies, Agencies and Regulators, Executive and Public Service Agencies, Municipalities, National Audit Office, Internal Audit, are not in compliance with the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo and in the spirit of Judgment KO219/19 of the Constitutional Court, which seems to have been ignored when drafting the disputed Law.

The Ombudsperson deems that the disputed Law has generally created a divergent situation where all employees have not been treated equally neither in the case of salary reductions nor in the case of salary increases. The Ombudsperson assesses that the decrease and increase in salaries seems not to have been based on a genuine preliminary assessment, nor on a linear system, even within certain sectors, which has resulted that to some employees, salaries have been decreased while to some others have been increased, even within the same organization.

However, the Ombudsperson, based on the Judgment KO 219/19, according to which any decrease of the salary must be suchlike that it does not set the burden of salary decrease only on certain persons or certain sectors of the public sector and that the reasons for salary decrease must be many times more steady than the reasons for salary increase, does not dispute the Law and its addendums in the parts where there are salary increase for certain sectors and where a legitimate purpose was followed for such increase, but express his concern about salary decrease in an arbitrary manner, even without meeting the conditions set by the disputed Law, according to which salaries can be decreased due to a macroeconomic shock that results in a decrease in income or a natural disaster officially announced.

For the above stated reasons as well as those which the Ombudsperson have reasoned in the course of complaints review and the analysis of the disputed Law, he has delivered to the Constitutional Court the request for review of the compatibility of the disputed Law with the Constitution.