D2P’s partners Vuk Drašković and Miloš Andrejević once again were contributors to the Global Employer Update 2025 for Serbia – published by Paul Hastings.
The latest edition of Paul Hastings’ guide, “Mapping the Trends: The Global Employer Update 2025,” provides updates on the key employment law developments across 87 jurisdictions.
Key developments for 2025 in Serbia:
- Termination before end of the probation period: Case law update
- Health and safety in the work place
- Amendments to immigration laws
Top 3 Global Trends for 2025:
- Raising the Bar on Workings Conditions and Employee Wellbeing
As we look out this year at what is in store, we see a myriad of new laws and proposals aimed at improving working conditions and employee wellbeing. This ranges from the traditional, with new health and safety laws, to increased family friendly leaves and new protections related to women’s health, to improved sick leave rights and protections, and greater recognition in law for remote and agile working practices. We also see wider recognition of the right to disconnect, and new proposals to reduce working hours. There are new laws to tackle harassment and bullying, and various gender and race equality laws, and more reporting on compliance with disability quotas. We see the EU take action by passing the Platform Workers Directive in November 2024 (it must be implemented by December 2026), and some non-EU governments debating new laws aimed at establishing minimum protections for platform workers. These efforts to raise the bar for all and improve employee wellbeing will be welcomed by many global employers. This trend may be a response to the post pandemic world and recognition of the fiscal and societal benefits of a healthier, productive and regulated working population for governments. However, we also see the influence of increasing global awareness and recognition of environmental, societal and governance issues, and reporting obligations on sustainability, equality, working conditions and human rights.
- Pay Under Scrutiny
The thorny issue of pay is a continuation of one of the key trends from 2024, perhaps reflecting the on-going economic challenges that so many jurisdictions continue to face in 2025. Given the obvious correlation between an increase in wages, increased social security costs, and benefit and severance costs linked to salary, employers now face an even heavier burden. This year the increase in the national minimum wage is a key issue.
The EU Pay Transparency Directive, which must be transposed into the national law of EU member states by June 2026, sees some EU member states drafting legislation to transpose the Directive in 2025. Aside from greater transparency around pay, it will require employers with 100 employees or more to consider the very technical “work of equal value” concept and publish any gender pay gap for all to see (the first reports, for those companies with 150 employees or more, will be due from June 2027).
Similar pay transparency initiatives have been seen in the United States with the introduction of new laws requiring employers in 14 states (including New York and California) to disclose pay scales or ranges and other benefits in both internal and external job advertisements. Therefore, we will see increased pay scrutiny in 2025 on a global scale.
- The Era of Widespread Adoption of AI
AI is a mega trend, rather than a key trend for 2025, but whatever it is called, it cannot be ignored. This year, we will see more on the race for supremacy amongst jurisdictions such as the US and key stakeholders, such as the EU, to lead the world in responsible AI. Meanwhile, on 1 August 2024 the EU AI Act 2024 came into force for the 27 EU member states. It has extra-territorial effect in certain situations, plus hefty sanctions for breach of up to €35 million or 7% of annual worldwide turnover in cases of high-risk AI systems. Therefore, even non-EU businesses need to prepare themselves for when this comes into effect in August 2026. We also anticipate that the EU Act will do for AI, what GDPR did for the privacy laws around the globe. Therefore, as we see the era of widespread adoption of AI in the workplace, we also know that employers need to prepare for the potential legal challenges that will inevitably follow.
The full guide is available here, and the Serbian chapter can be accessed here.
Source: Paul Hastings website