Pursuant to Article 1 of the Law on Labor Relations, labor relations are governed by the Law on Labor Relations and other laws, collective agreements and employment agreements. Labor relations are established by concluding an Employment Agreement between the employer and the employee.
The Employment Agreement is an act that establishes the employment relationship and an act that regulates the rights, obligations and responsibilities based on the performance of the work from the employment relationship.
According to the Macedonian legislation, in relation to the form of the agreement, it is stipulated that the Employment Agreement must be concluded in writing.
Regarding the content of the Employment Agreement, our legal, legal framework regarding the content of the Employment Agreement is determined in Article 28 of the Law on Labor Relations and every concluded Employment Agreement must contain the content of this Article of the Law.
The Employment Agreement, in accordance with Article 28 of the Law on Labor Relations, should contain:
1) data on the agreementing parties, their residence, i.e. headquarters – for the employer and the employee
2) date of starting work – the date of starting work is an important element, because from that day the rights, obligations and responsibilities of employment and the rights of mandatory social insurance begin to be exercised. If the date of starting work is not determined by the Employment Agreement, the day after the date of signing the Employment Agreement is considered as the date of starting work, and the employee registers employment at the Employment Agency of the RSM on the date of signing the Employment Agreement.
3) job title, i.e. data on the type of work for which the employee concludes an Employment Agreement, with a brief description of the work he will perform according to the Employment Agreement – the job title should be determined, as well as data on the type of the work and work tasks with a brief description of the work that the employee will perform, and on which basis is the act of organization and systematization of the employer
4) provisions on the employer’s obligation to inform the employee about the risky workplaces and special professional qualifications or knowledge or necessary special medical supervision, in accordance with the law, specifying the special risks that according to the legal regulations can be a consequence of the work – according to the Law and by-laws on occupational health and safety, when it comes to workplaces falling under the risk workplaces
5) place of performance of the work. If the exact place is not indicated, it is considered that the employee performs the work at the employer’s headquarters – this data refers to the geographical place where the employee has to perform the work tasks
6) duration of the employment relationship, when a fixed-term agreement is concluded – a mandatory element of the fixed-term Employment Agreement, which must determine the duration of the employment relationship
7) provision on whether it is a full-time or shorter-time employment relationship – working time is one of the basic rights of an employment relationship and in every agreement it must be specified or arranged whether it is a full-time or shorter-term employment relationship working time (part-time)
8) provision for daily or weekly regular working hours and scheduling of working hours – the duration of the daily working hours is determined by specifying when the daily working hours start and when they end, as well as whether the work during the week is organized into a five-day, six-day working week or in shifts, with the weekly working time of a total of 40 hours per week having to be observed
9) provision for the amount of the basic salary expressed in monetary amount, which belongs to the employee for performing the work according to the law, collective agreement and the employment agreement – the amount of the basic salary must be expressed in monetary amount
10) provision for other compensations that belong to the employee for performing the work according to the law and collective agreement – designation of the law and collective agreement in which the compensations that belong to the employee are determined
11) provision for the annual leave, i.e. the method for determining the annual leave – which cannot be less than the legally established minimum of 20 working days for the entire annual leave
12) specifying the general acts of the employer in which the working conditions of the employee are determined – to specify the general acts that are applied by the employer and in which the rights and obligations of the employment relationship are determined.
In addition to the above mandatory elements that an Employment Agreement should contain, it may also contain other rights and obligations determined by the Law on Labor Relations and other laws and collective agreements.
What is essential is that the Employment Agreement cannot determine lesser rights than the rights established by law. If the Employment Agreement contains such provisions, those provisions are considered null and the corresponding provisions of the Law are applied. The Employment Agreement should not include specific provisions from the Law or the general collective agreements in which certain issues are specifically and completely regulated, since the Law and the collective agreements are directly applicable. The Employment Agreement should regulate those issues for which the Law on Labor Relations and the collective agreement direct them to be regulated by the Employment Agreement.