DID YOU KNOW? GENDER EQUALITY MEASURES ARE FULLY EFFECTIVE

In order to comply its business operations with the new Gender Equality Act, employers with over 50 employees are required to take the following measures:

• Appoint of a person responsible for gender equality;
• To file a record of Gender Equality Data and to file Annual Report on Gender Equality to the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue – these forms are to be submitted by January 15 for the previous year;
• Adopt a plan or program containing a section on achieving gender equality within its organisation. The section of the plan or program related to gender equality must include specific measures for achieving and promoting gender equality, particularly: a brief assessment of the status regarding the position of women and men within the organisation, including age groups; a list of specific measures; reasons for determining specific measures and the objectives associated with them; commencement, implementation and control methods, and cessation of the implementation of specific measures.

Employers whose plans or programs are not publicly available must inform the Ministry of the adoption of the plan or program and provide an excerpt from the plan or program regarding the achievement and promotion of gender equality within 15 days from their adoption. Employers whose plans are publicly available (e.g., on a website) must inform the Ministry of the website where the plan/program is published.

Failure to comply with the specified obligations constitutes an offense for which the Gender Equality Act prescribes fines of up to 2,000,000.00 RSD.