Question:
Could the employer implement the process of economic, technological, and similar structural changes that will terminate the employment of a number of workers if the employer has not previously established ranking criteria of the employees to whom the employment will cease?

Answer:
Pursuant to Article 13 of GCA the criteria for the structure of the workers to whom  the employment will be terminated due to economic, organizational, technological, structural or similar business reasons are determined by a collective agreement at employers’ the level.
Without specific criteria and measures for their immediate application trough the collective agreement, the employer can not carry out legal proceedings for determining which workers will stop working because of economic, technological, structural and related changes.
(Judgement of the Appellation Court Skopje n. 799/97)

It is interesting that in the court practice in case of a dispute it will be accepted that the employer has adopted criteria and measures for determining which workers will stop working because of economic, technological, and similar structural changes and if they are determined by a single act of the employer.
Before the commencement of proceedings for cancellation of the employment contract for business reasons, the employer must determinate by some act how to apply certain criteria and standards, in order to settle on the priority for retention of the workplace, actually to which  workers the employment contracts will be determinate.
(Judgement of the Appellation Court of Skopje no. 5943/06 from 09.21.2006).

Question:
My employer likes to cancel my employment contract and he offers a new, amended agreement. Do I have to accept the new contract and if I do not accept it and get fired, can I bring charges against to court for the cancellation of the contract?

Answer:
You do not have to accept the offered amended employment contract by the employer if you think that it will hurt certain rights of yours and that the reasons for which you are offered a new amended agreement that are contained in the decision of the cancellation of the contract are unjustified and are unsupported. The statement of acceptance or denial of the offer of a new agreement should be provided within 15 days of the receipt of the offer.  However, you should consider that in case your statement is that you deny the new amended contract that will follow the decision to activate the cancellation of the contract of employment.
The activation of the decision for cancellation of the contract of employment will follow also if you do not make any statement upon the new amended contract for employment.
The decision on cancellation of the employment contract can be contested according to Article 93 paragraph 1 of the LL by making an objection against the decision on cancellation of the contract of employment which shall be submitted within eight days from the receipt of the decision of job cancellation.
The objection will delay the execution of the decision of job cancellation until the final decision adopted by the employer within eight days of the submission of the complaint.
The worker is entitled to bring a dispute in the competent court, whether there have been or not a decision made by the employer within the 8 days of the submission of the complaint and when the employee is not satisfied with the decision on the objection.
The specificity is that the employee has the right to dispute the decision on cancellation of the contract of employment that is giving the reasons for the new or amended contract of employment even if the employee has accepted the offer for concluding a new – changed contract of employment ( Art. 78 of LL).
(The decision of the Appellation Court Skopje no. 36/07 of 15.02.2007)

Question:
What is a lowest salary and what is the amount of the fee for the unpaid salary of the employee?

Answer:
In Article 105 paragraph 2 of the LL it is determined that regarding the payment, the employer must comply with the lowest amount determined by the collective agreement in accordance with law, which obliges the employer directly.
In the article 107 of the LL it is also defined that the salary of the employee on full time can not be lower than the minimum wage set by law and the collective agreement.
In Article 112 paragraph 1 of the LL it is also defined that the employee is entitled to reimbursement of wages for all hours of leave in the cases and the duration specified by law, also in cases when the employee is not working due to reasons of the employer.
In paragraph 6 of Article 112 it is determined that if this law or other law specifies otherwise the employer should pay off to the worker wage compensation in the amount of his average salary of the last 12 months.  If the employee in that period did not receive a salary, than he has the right of compensation at the level of minimum wage.
In Article 15 of the GCA it is defined that the employee is entitled to have a salary and than the wage of the employee that works full time and has a normal performance can not be lower than the lowest wage determined by the branch collective agreement.
Also in paragraph 17 of GCA it is defined that minimum wage for the lowest level of complexity are determined by the branch collective agreements.
Certain branch collective agreements establish the amount of the lowest salary, but in certain branches collective agreements this is not done.  In such cases where neither the law nor the branch collective agreement or at employer level there is no determination of minimum wage in the practice there are a variety of cases.
In the judicial practice in the past there have been several court decisions on the subject.
According to the Decision of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Macedonia, No. 08,07,1998 from 1238/96 if with the employment contract or the acts of the employer the amount of base salary has not been determined, the worker is entitled to compensation in the amount that represents the basis for calculating taxes and contributions paid by legal regulations. 
In some litigation decisions of the court the employer can not pay the salary that is lower than 65% (as corrected 50%) of the average monthly wage per worker in the branch or the sector in which the employer belongs.
The ruling of the Appellate Court in Skopje n. 456/04 from 03.24.2004 has cancelled such a decision on the  grounds that  the calculated and published average net salary per employee at the level of a sector cannot in any case can be equated with the category of lowest salary to be paid to the worker under GCA, because it is only the lowest average net salary at the level of employer.
With the introduction of the gross salary there have been introduced another minimum which is 50% of the average monthly salary paid per employee in Macedonia, as the lowest base for payment of salary contributions for all employees in Macedonia, regardless of which branch or sector  they belong.
In this way, a complex situation has been made even more complex.
To avoid such problems we recommend that the employment contracts required to contract or to precise the amount of base salary of the employee, and in the branch collective agreements to reach unavoidably an agreement on the amount of the lowest salary that is not currently provided either by law or the general collective agreement.