Employers and employees will be able to resolve eventual individual employment disputes without going to court. The National Confederation of Trade Unions suggests setting up a commission for resolving such disputes within local labor inspectorates. The procedure will be simplified and time and money will be saved as a result.

Asked by IPN to provide details, head of the Confederation’s Legal Department Eugeniu Covrig said the commission would consist of a representative of salary earners, a representative of employers and a labor inspector. The dispute could be resolved by the commission within 30 workdays of the registration of the application. There were cases when the examination of an individual labor dispute in court lasted for three years.

According to the jurist, the institution of the new labor dispute resolution mechanism will not exclude the possibility of going to court. If one of the involved sides does not agree with the commission’s decision, this could be challenged in court. Even so, the trade unionists are sure the number of complaints filed to court will decrease considerably.

The idea of creating such commissions was borrowed from the practice of Lithuania, where this mechanism has been implemented for several years. The experience of Lithuania shows the suits concerning individual labor disputes filed to court decline by about 70% in number.

Eugeniu Covrig said in most of the cases, the employees are those who initiate a dispute, over delayed payment of salaries, leave or firing. The employers want to avoid courts as they incur costs and waste time. If the court orders to reinstate the person in the post, the employer is obliged to pay salary to the employee for the period during which this was absent from work. And these costs are not at all small as the examination of disputes in court can last for several years.

The National Confederation of Trade Unions’ proposal is to be examined by the Ministry of Justice.