Title: Severance pay programmes in South-Eastern Europe

Authors: Primož Dolenc; Suzana Laporšek; Igor Stubelj

Addresses: Faculty of Management, Cankarjeva 5, p.p. 345, SI-6104 Koper, Slovenia ' Faculty of Management, Cankarjeva 5, p.p. 345, SI-6104 Koper, Slovenia ' Faculty of Management, Cankarjeva 5, p.p. 345, SI-6104 Koper, Slovenia

Abstract: The paper provides an overview of severance pay regulation in the South-Eastern Europe (SEE) countries. We found that in general severance pay schemes are very similar among the SEE countries, but vary significantly in their modalities. Severance pay programmes are rather generous, especially when compared to more developed OECD and EU-15 countries. Moreover, several countries in the region complement already generous severance pay with mild legislation on minimum tenure required to be eligible for benefit and rather long notice periods before dismissal. The issue of traditional severance pay schemes raises a question about the need of reforms; however, the inventory among the SEE countries shows that until now no serious debate on the issue took place.

Keywords: severance pay; economic policy; labour market; South-Eastern Europe; SEE; minimum tenure; notice periods.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSE.2015.068679

International Journal of Sustainable Economy, 2015 Vol.7 No.2, pp.155 - 168

Received: 18 Sep 2014
Accepted: 24 Sep 2014
Published online: 08 Apr 2015 *

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