This exclusion only covers collective dismissals: the procedural requirements on collective dismissals only apply to enterprises with at least 20 workers (see definition of collective dismissal in art. 92 LL). However, the rules governing individual dismissals apply to all enterprises.

See art. 2 LL: the law applies to all employees including those employed in state authorities, state administration, local government and public services, unless otherwise regulated by statute.
A law on Civil Servants and State Employees No 50/08 was adopted in 2008. Art. 4 of that law Art. 4 provides that "general labour regulations as to rights, obligations and responsibilities, which are not otherwise regulated by this law or other regulation, shall apply to Civil Servants, and State Employees".

Arts. 24 to 26 LL.
New in Dec. 2011:Article 24(1) LL provides that "as a rule, a contract of employment contract shall be concluded for an indefinite period of time", while fixed-term contract are the exception and may entered into only in limited circumstances foreseen in the law. No such rule existed before the 2011 amendment, as the the law provided that employment contracts could be concluded or an unlimited or limited duration without any further indication on which of those two was the standard contract.

New in Dec. 2011:
Art. 25(1) LL now provides for limitation in respect of the reasons for which FTCs can be concluded: "A contract of employment may be concluded for a fixed term for the purpose of performing certain jobs whose duration is predetermined for objective reasons or due to occurrence of unforeseeable circumstances or events".
Prior to this amendment they was no such limitation in the 2008 LL.
(The previous LL of 2003 (amended in 2005) contained a limited list of valid reasons justifying the use of FTCs)

The Labour Law does not impose any limitations on the number of successive FTCs.

New in Dec. 2011: The 2011 amendments introduced, as a general rule a maximum duration of 24 months: art. 25(2) LL.
However, in 2011 the law also introduced an exception to the 24-month rule in art. 25(4): FTCs can last longer than 24 months if they are concluded in order to replace a temporarily absent employee (and the absence is longer than 24 months) or for performing seasonal work or working on a for a specific task or project. In the latter case it shall last until the completion of the project.

Art. 19 LL: the trial period shall not exceed 6 months except for crew members of long-haul commercial ship, in which case the trial period lasts until the return of the ship to the port of origin.
Art. 20(2) LL provides that if the employee fails to satisfy the job requirements, his/her employment shall terminate upon expiry of the trial period as stipulated in the contract.
As an exception to this rule, during the probationary period, each party may unilaterally terminate the contract even before the expiry of that period, with a written justification, in accordance with the collective agreement and the labour contract. (art. 20(3) LL).

Art. 143a LL, a new provision introduced in December 2011, provides a list of prohibited grounds for termination, as follows:
1) Temporary absence from work due to illness, accident at work or occupational disease;
2) Maternity or parental leave, absence from work for child care and absence form work due to special child care;
3) membership in a political organization, trade union, distinction based on personal characteristics of the employee (gender, language, ethnicity, social status, religion, political or other beliefs or other personal characteristics of the employee)
4) acting as a representative of employees, in accordance with the law;
5) in case an employee addresses trade unions or competent authorities for protection of employment rights in accordance with the law and contract of employment;
6) in case an employee addresses the competent public authorities for reasonable suspicion of corruption or filing a complaint of such suspicion in good faith;
7) in case an employee addresses or point out to the employer or relevant public authorities environmental threat connected to the operations of the employer.

See also the following provisions which were already included in the 2008 LL:
- Art. 5 LL prohibits discrimination of job seekers and employed persons on the grounds of gender, birth, language, race, religion, skin colour, age, pregnancy, health condition, disability, nationality, marital status, family responsibilities, sexual orientation, political or other belief, social backgrounds, financial status, membership in political and trade union organization or any other personal feature.
- Art. 7(1)5) LL specifies that such discrimination shall be prohibited with regards to termination of employment.
See also art. 108 LL: prohibition of dismissal on the grounds of pregnancy or during maternity leave, absence for child care, parental leave... (see remarks under special protection).

Therefore, what is new in 2011 is the introduction of a comprehensive provision on prohibited grounds for dismissal in addition to scattered provisions on discrimination or specific protection against dismissal in certain situations. In addition, compared to the grounds already prohibited in the 2008 LL, new grounds have been introduced : temporary absence from work due to illness, accident at work or occupational disease; parental leave, absence from work for child care , and recourse to competent authorities where the following issues are at stake (infringement of employment rights, corruption, environmental threats)

Art. 108 LL provides for protection due to pregnancy and child care:
- It is prohibited to dismiss a female employee due to pregnancy and during maternity leave [minimum 38 days before childbirth and 45 days after, but allowed up to 365 days after childbirth] (art. 108(1) LL).
- It is prohibited to terminate the employment of a the parent who works half time in order to take care of a child with severe development difficulties, a single parent of a child under seven years of age, or a child with severe disability. The law also specifies that they may not be declared redundant employees due to the introduction of technological, economic or restructuring changes [special child care leave](art. 108(1) and (2) LL)
New in December 2011:
The scope of the protection against dismissal has been extended. Art. 108(3) LL now prohibits dismissal during parental leave [minimum 45 days after childbirth may be up to 365 days] and absence from work due to child care.

Art. 160(1) LL provides for specific protection of trade union representatives and in particular, states that they shall not be declared as redundant.
New in December 2011: art. 143b(4) LL now provides for specific procedural requirements in the event of a disciplinary dismissal of a trade union member: prior warning notice must be communicated to the trade union of which the employee is a member, for the purpose of obtaining its opinion. The trade union must provide a statement with its opinion within 5 days.

Art 94(3) LL provides for severance pay for workers suffering from disability (see under severance pay).

Art. 143c(1)(2) LL.
Note: following the 2011 amendments, the relevant article numbers have changed but not their content.

New in December 2011: The notice period has been extended to 30 days (instead of 15 days under the 2008 LL): art. 144(1) LL.

Art. 92(1) LL.
Notification to the trade union or workers' representatives and the Employment Agency is also required if the employer intends to dismiss at least 20 employees within the period of 90 days, regardless of the total number of employees (art. 92(2) LL).

New in December 2011:
There is no change in the definition of a collective dismissal. However, a new paragraph has been introduced to cover situations where the number of redundant employees does not reach the numerical threshold that would trigger specific notification and consultation requirements. According to art. 92(4) LL: "If the employer determines that due to technological, economic and structural changes , the number of redundant employees with a contract of employment for an indefinite period is less than the collective dismissal threshold, the employer shall notify the employee at least five days prior to the decision to terminate his/her employment. "

The labour law provides for mandatory notification (art. 92 LL), however consultations are not expressly required: art. 92(4) only states that the employee's representatives or the trade union and the Employment Agency shall submit to the employer their opinion on the notification within 15 days from the date of receipt of such a notification.
New in December 2011: This timeframe was extended to 15 days. It was previously 8 days.

Art. 92(1) LL: the employer must inform immediately in writing the Employment Agency of Montenegro. Such notification shall include:
- the reasons for redundancy,
- the number and category of employees employed under a contract of unlimited duration,
- the criteria for selecting the redundant employees,
- the timeframe for implementing the employment measures of the redundant labour force,
- the criteria for calculating redundancy pay

Within 15 days from the date of receipt of such a notification, the Employment Agency must communicate to the employer its views on the notification (art. 92(5) LL)
[New in December 2011: This timeframe was extended to 15 days. It was previously 8 days.]

Art. 92(1) LL: the employer must inform immediately in writing the the trade union, i.e. representatives of the employees. Such notification shall include:
- the reasons for redundancy,
- the number and category of employees employed under a contract of unlimited duration,
- the criteria for selecting the redundant employees,
- the timeframe for implementing the employment measures of the redundant labour force,
- the criteria for calculating redundancy pay.

Within 15 days from the date of receipt of such a notification, the trade union or employees' representatives must communicate to the employer their views on the notification (art. 92(5) LL)
[New in December 2011: This timeframe was extended to 15 days. It was previously 8 days.]

No approval required. According to art. 92(4) LL, the Employment Agency of Montenegro is only required to submit its opinion to the employer.

No statutory criteria in the LL.
Information on selection criteria shall be communicated by the employer to the Employment Agency and the worker's representatives (art. 92(3) LL).
Art. 93(2)2) states that upon obtaining the opinion of the trade union, i.e. representatives of employees and the Employment Agency of Montenegro, on the notification of the termination of employment, the employer must adopt the program of measures for resolving redundancy and that this program, among other, must contain the criteria for determining redundant employees. The criteria for determining redundant employees must not oppose to the provisions of the Labour Law regarding prohibition of discrimination against employees.

Art. 93(2)5 LL: upon obtaining the opinion of the trade union, i.e. representatives of employees and the Employment Agency on the redundancy notification, the employer must adopt the program of measures for resolving redundancy and this program, among other, must contain employment measures.
These are:
- transfer to another job within the same level of professional qualifications with the same employer;
- transfer to another job within the same level of professional qualifications with another employer upon the employee' s consent (New in December 2012)]
- professional training, retraining or additional training for another job position with the same or another employer;
- other measures in accordance with the collective agreement or the contract of employment.

[No major changes in December 2011 - The same measures remain. However, the law now specifies that the employee's consent is required for any transfer to a position with another employer. In addition, the law does not contain any more the reference to transfer (with the same or another employer) to similar positions with "full or part-time working hours"]

Under the 2008 Labour Law, there was no general right to severance pay upon dismissal except in case of redundancy. Following the 2011 amendments, the right to severance pay has been extended to other non-economic valid grounds of dismissals, namely poor performance (failure to meet the expected results) , refusal to conclude an annex amending the employment contract with respect to the definition of wages. In addition, two new economic grounds have been added, namely economic difficulties and technical, technological or structural changes as a result of which an employee is no longer needed (see under redundancy pay). However, when an employee is dismissed on one of the other valid grounds listed in art. 143 LL, he/she is not entitled to severance pay.

The amount of severance pay has also changed.
Under art. 94 LL, modified in December 2011, severance pay must amount to at least 1/3 of the employee's monthly pay in the last six months (less the taxes and contributions) for each year of employment with the employer, or 1/3 of the average monthly pay less the taxes and contributions in Montenegro, if the latter is more favourable for the employee (art. 94(1) LL). In any case, severance pay must not be lower than three average monthly wages in the last six months less taxes and contributions by the employer, or the average monthly wages less taxes and contributions in Montenegro in the last six months, if the latter is more favourable for the employee.
New in 2011: The law introduces a calculation method based on the employee's length of service. In addition, the law provides for a minimum amount of 3 months' pay which may either be based on the employee's salary in the last 6 months, or the average salary in Montenegro in the last 6 months, whichever is more favourable to the employee. Under the 2008 LL, they was no such seniority-based calculation method and the law only provided for a fixed amount of severance pay of at least 6 month's pay on the basis of the average salary (excluding taxes and contribution) in Montenegro in the month preceding the dismissal (and not the employee's salary).

Employees with disabilities are entitled to higher severance pay. There has not been any change in this respect in the 2011 amendments. Severance pay amounts to:
* at least 24 average monthly wages, if the disability resulted from injury not related to work or from illness;
* at least 36 average monthly wages, if the disability resulted from an work injury or a professional disease.
(Severance pay shall be based either on the employee's salary , or the average salary in Montenegro whichever is more favourable to the employee) (art. 94(3)(c) LL).

Art. 94 LL provides for the right to redundancy pay of an employee who is made redundant and is not granted any of the rights included in art. 93(2)5) (employment measures such as transfer, retraining for another position....)
- This payment shall amount to at least 6 months' average wages in Montenegro.
- Higher amounts shall be given to employees with disabilities, as follows:
* at least 24 average monthly wages, if the disability resulted from injury not related to work or from illness;
* at least 36 average monthly wages, if the disability resulted from an work injury or a professional disease.

New in Dec. 2011: While there were no provisions on compensation in the 2008 LL, the amendments passed in December 2011 introduced new rules on compensation to be awarded to an employee in the event of unfair and unlawful dismissal (Art. 143(4)(5)(6) LL. (see below)

Article 143d(3)(4)(5) LL. Those articles have been introduced into the Labour Law by the amendments adopted in December 2011.

Art. 143d LL
New in Dec. 2011: While there was no statutory provision on reinstatement in the 2008 labour law, the 2011 amendments introduced reinstatement as the primary remedy for reinstatement. According to article 143d(3) LL "if the competent body determines that the dismissal was carried out without legal or justifiable grounds, whether prescribed by an act of the employer or agreed by the employer in the contract of employment, the employee shall be entitled to return to work, as well as to a compensation of financial and non-financial damage in a procedure prescribed by the law".

Art. 143d LL:
Within 15 days from the date of the receipt of the dismissal decision, an employee may challenge that decision before the competent. Alternatively, he/she can challenge it before the Agency for Amicable Settlement of Labour Disputes.
There are no specialised labour courts in Montenegro; labour disputes are heard by ordinary courts.

Note: following the 2011 amendments, with regard to the competent court, the relevant article number has changed but not its content (with the exception of the inclusion in this article of the possibility to submit the dispute to the Agency for Amicable Settlement of Labour Disputes (see below under arbitration)

With respect to the burden of the proof in dismissal disputes, there was no provision in the 2008 LL. The 2011 amendments introduced a new, the 2011 amendment introduced a new provision (art. 143d(2) according to which the burden of proving that the grounds of dismissal are justified and lawful rests on the employer.

Art. 143d LL (new in December 2011):
Within 15 days from the date of the receipt of the dismissal decision, an employee may challenge that decision before the competent. Alternatively, he/she can challenge it before the Agency for Amicable Settlement of Labour Disputes.

[New in 2011: The possibility to settle dismissal disputes through the Agency for amicable settlement of labour disputes has been introduced in December 2011. In the 2008, there was only a reference in art. 121(1) LL to the possibility of submitting individual labour disputes to an arbitrator.]