As part of the cooperation with journalists within project “Empowerment of Legal Aid Providers to Fight Gender Based Discrimination in the Labor Market in BiH” we bring you text of the journalist from portal buka.ba, Maja Isović Dobrijević, on the gender based discrimination and providers of the free legal aid.
Centers for providing free legal aid are places where women can get piece of advice and help.
Women in BiH rarely initiate court proceedings to protect their labour rights. According to conversations with legal experts who lead centers for free legal aid we can conclude that the fear is the main reason of why women are afraid to initiate court proceedings to protect their rights. For achieving rights very important are Centers for Providing Free Legal Aid where women can turn to for help or legal piece of advice because most of the female workers are not able to pay expensive lawyers. There are many such Centers throughout the states both within the government institutions and within the civil sector.
Sabina Mahić and Aida Ćosić from the Center of Women’s Rights from Zenica says that this Center during current year provided 2.600 services from all fields of rights they provide free legal aid.
In terms of labor rights, in the period from January 1, 2022 to September 27, 2022, a total of 29 clients applied to the Center of Women’s Rights for legal assistance in the field of labor law, of which 12 (41.38%) for violation of contract provisions, 13 (44.83%) due to the termination of the employment contract, 2 (6.90%) due to binding of seniority and 2 (6.90%) due to severance pay. In the mentioned period, five clients also approached them about gender-based discrimination in the labor market.
“In practice there are many violations of rights and discrimination of female workers in regards to pregnancy, child birth and maternity. What occurs in the recent time as very often reason for approaching is the dismissal of pregnant women. Namely, the practice of employers is to conclude Contracts for a certain period of time, of a maximum of 1-3 months, and at the end of the specified period, women in a different state are served with a decision to terminate the contract due to the expiration of the period for which it was concluded. Unfortunately, according to the current Labor Law, for these categories of workers – pregnant women, the employment contract that was concluded for a certain period of time can end at the end of the term for which the contract was concluded, regardless of pregnancy. Namely, this happens because the fixed-term employment contract is regulated differently and as such has different consequences for the rights of female workers, unlike a contract concluded for an indefinite period”, Sabina and Aida told BUKA.
Full article available at: https://6yka.com
