Montenegro adopts amendments to the Labour Act

On 7 April 2026, the Montenegrin Parliament adopted amendments to the Labour Act ("Act"), which will enter into force on 23 April 2026. Most of the amendments are an alignment to the EU "Fair Work" agenda.

We set out below the most important changes of relevance to commercial companies as employers.

Electronic documents

The Labour Act now permits that decisions affecting employee's rights, such as caution letters and termination decisions may be served on the affected employee by e-mail. This is a long-awaited change which will simplify the process.

Mandatory content of the employment contract

The mandatory content of the employment contract now comprises the following elements:

• name and registered office of the employer;
• name and surname, place of permanent or temporary residence, email address, and personal number of the employee;
• place of work;
• duration of the employment contract and, in case of a fixed-term contract, the statutory basis for such contract;
• professional qualification required for the position;
• employment start date;
• working hours;
• the amount of paid leave and annual leave to which the worker is entitled or, where this cannot be indicated when the information is given, the procedures for allocating and determining such leave;
• notice period in the event of termination;
• names of collective agreements applicable to the employer;
• job complexity coefficient value (used as a component to determine salary on the basis of how responsible and demanding a job is), amount of base salary, salary payment period, entitlement to extra pay, and other payments to the employee;
• job title and job description;
• statement on the applicable procedure for enforcement of employee's rights (internal procedure, mediation, judicial protection) ;
• probation period, minimum competences the employee must demonstrate during probation work, performance evaluation criteria, supervision method, and the grounds for termination during probation, where applicable;
• rights, obligations, and responsibilities of the employee and employer relating to occupational safety and health.

Additional mandatory elements of a remote work contract are:

• type of work and how work is organized;
• schedule of working hours;
• working conditions and the method of supervision;
• whether the employee is required to use personal work equipment and if so, how he or she will be compensated for such use; and
• the amount and manner of reimbursement of other expenses related to work.

Probation period

In case of fixed-term employment, the probation period may not exceed one quarter of the total employment period or 6 months, whichever is longer.

The probation period is suspended during maternity, paternity, parental, adoption, or foster-care leave.

An employee who had successfully completed probation and was subsequently rehired into the same work position with the same job description cannot be put again on probation.

Remote work regime

In the event of extraordinary circumstances (such as an epidemic, earthquake, flood, environmental incident, fire, or similar), the employer may agree with the employee on remote work for a period of up to 30 days without having to amend the terms of the employment contract. However, the employer may not impose remote work on the employee who has a contract for work from the employer's premises even in extraordinary circumstances mentioned above.

Pay transparency and equal pay

Aligning with the EU Pay Transparency Directive (2023/970), the amendments introduce the employees' right to obtain information, upon their request, on their individual pay level and on the average pay levels, broken down by sex, for the category of employees performing the same work as them or work of equal value to theirs. An interested employee may raise this request personally or via trade union or other collective representative. Employers have the obligation to inform employees of this right on an annual basis.

Starting from 2031, employers with 100+ employees are subject to annual mandatory pay gap reporting to the Social Council. The report must include data from the previous year on: the total number of male and female employees, average gender pay gaps (rather than a median as required under the Pay Transparency Directive, including with respect to complementary and variable components, the proportion of female and male workers receiving complementary or variable components, the proportion of female and male workers in each quartile pay band, the gender pay gap between workers by categories of workers broken down by ordinary basic wage or salary and complementary or variable components.. The Ministry of Labor is supposed to prescribe the form of this report within three months from the Act's entry into force, i.e. until 23 July 2026.

The frequency of reporting will be as follows:

1. employers with 100-149 employees will be required to submit the report every three years, by the end of April for the previous year;
2. employers with 150-249 employees will be required to submit the report once every three years, by the end of June; and
3. employers with 250+ employees will be required to submit the report annually, by the end of December.

If the Social Council determines that the gender pay gap in average gross earnings exceeds 5% in a company, the employer must, in cooperation with the trade union or employee representative, conduct a salary assessment that must include: i) an analysis of the proportion of female and male workers in each category of workers; ii) information on average female and male workers’ pay levels and complementary or variable components for each category of workers; iii) any differences in average pay levels between female and male workers in each category of workers; iv) the reasons for such differences in average pay levels, on the basis of objective, gender-neutral criteria, if any, as established jointly by the workers’ representatives and the employer; v) the proportion of female and male workers who benefited from any improvement in pay following their return from maternity or paternity leave, parental leave or carers’ leave, if such improvement occurred in the relevant category of workers during the period in which the leave was taken; vi) measures to address differences in pay if they are not justified on the basis of objective, gender-neutral criteria; and vii) an evaluation of the effectiveness of measures from previous joint pay assessments. The assessment must be delivered to the Social Council within 6 months after it has been determined that the pay gap exceeds 5%.

In disputes where the plaintiff has prima facie shown that he or she is a victim of discriminatory gender-based unequal pay, the burden of proving that the employee has not been discriminated against is shifted on the employer.

If the employee is unsuccessful with a gender-related unequal pay claim on formal grounds, the court may disregard the loser-pays rule and compensate the defendant employer for the costs of proceedings from the court’s own funds.

Same-sex life partnerships

The Labor Act now recognizes same-sex life partners and their children as close family members for the purpose of various employment-related benefits, such as i) the right to paid leave for wedding/civil partnership registration, ii) paid and unpaid leave to provide care or support a close family member in case of his or her serious illness and iii) the right to suspend employment for a period during which the employee's partner is assigned to work abroad in a narrow set of circumstances defined in the Act.

Paternity and parental leave

Fathers are now entitled to up to 10 days of paid leave after the child’s birth.

After Montenegro's accession to the EU, paid parental leave will be extended to 14 months after childbirth. Both parents have the right to use this leave in equal parts, but each parent is required to use at least 60 days.

Termination of employment

The list of reasons which cannot be used to justify termination has been extended to include: i) use of paid or unpaid leave; ii) request by an eligible employee for more flexible working; iii) disclosure of salary information for the purpose of enforcing equal pay rights; and iv) filing a complaint or lawsuit, or participating in the proceedings against the employer for violations of laws, regulations, collective agreements, or for notifying competent authorities.

Reporting to and consultation with trade unions

The mandatory content of annual reports that employers with at least 50 employees have to submit to trade unions or employee representatives has been significantly increased.

The employer also has an obligation to consult the Trade Union prior to implementing changes concerning professional and economic interests of employees, including restructuring, planned redundancies and changes in systematization and organization of work posts at least 15 days before passing the relevant decision.

Alignment with the amendments

Employers must align their collective agreements with the new provisions of the Labour Act within 12 months after the amendments enter into force, i.e. by 23 April 2027.

There is no obligation to align the contents of the existing employment agreements with the new requirements. However, employers should adapt their models to the new provisions of the Labour Act so that its new employment agreements are aligned with the content requirements.