Employees urged to apply for severance

BELGRADE - Serbian Ministry of Economy urged on Thursday the managers and employees of 188 companies on the bankruptcy list to apply for severance pay, so they would be eligible for the funds from the government program dealing with the issue of surplus employees in companies undergoing privatization in 2015.

State Secretary at the Ministry of Economy Dragan Stevanovic told Tanjug that the working group in charge of this task has records of only 1,100 employees who applied for severance pay, out of a total of 4,999 people employed in these companies.

Stevanovic warned that the companies are obligated to conduct a poll on this matter among their employees within 60 days from the day they receive the information from the Privatization Agency.

All of the companies were informed in mid or late February, and the 60-day deadline is about to expire, Stevanovic said.

The severance scheme cannot be changed and the deadlines cannot be extended. Unless they take this chance, the employees of companies going bankrupt might not be able to receive any compensation package whatsoever.

Photo Tanjug/video, screenshot