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Albania - Compensation & Benefit Legislation

CAPITAL

Tirana

 

CLIMATE

Mild temperate. Cool, cloudy, wet winters. Hot, clear, dry summers. Interior is cooler and wetter.

 

LANGUAGES

Albanian (Tosk is the official dialect) and Greek.

 

LEGAL SYSTEM

ICJ (International Court of Justice) compulsory jurisdiction, has not been accepted.

 

CURRENCY

Albania Leke (1 USD = 147.140 ALL as of March 15, 2002)

 

ALBANIA - COST-OF-LIVING

ERI's Relocation Assessor is a recommended source for cost-of-living data.

 

ALBANIA - EMBASSY/CONSULATES

U.S. Embassy at Tirana

Rruga Elbasanit 103

Tirana, Albania

APO AE 09624

Tirana, Albania

Telephone: [355] (4) 247-285

Fax: [355] (4) 232-222

http://www.usemb-tirana.rpo.at/

 

Embassy of the Republic of Albania at Washington D.C.

2100 S Street N.W.

Washington D.C. 20008

Telephone: (202) 223-4942

Fax: (202) 628-7342

 

ALBANIA - HOLIDAYS

 

ALBANIA - MINIMUM AGE

The Labor Code sets the minimum age of employment at 16 years and limits the amount and type of labor that can be performed by children under the age of 18.

 

Children between the ages of 14 and 16 legally may work in part-time jobs during summer vacation.

 

(Section 6.d. Acceptable Conditions of Work, Albania – Report of Human Rights Practices, 2001, U.S. Department of State.)

 

ALBANIA - MINIMUM REMUNERATION

The legal minimum wage for all workers over the age of 16 was approximately $50 (6,380 lek) per month, which is not sufficient to provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family.

 

(Section 6.e. Acceptable Conditions of Work, Albania – Report of Human Rights Practices, 2001, U.S. Department of State.)

 

ALBANIA - REMUNERATION

ERI's Geographic and Salary Assessors are recommended sources for international remuneration covering 189 countries.

 

ALBANIA - REPORT OF HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES (2001, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE)

Section 6. Worker Rights

 

a. The Right of Association

 

Workers have the right to form independent trade unions and workers exercise this right in practice. Two major federations act as umbrella organizations for most of the country's unions: The Independent Confederation of Trade Unions of Albania (membership around 75,000) and the Albanian Confederation of Trade Unions (membership around 100,000). Both organizations experienced another drop in membership during the year due to harsh economic reforms that have left many individuals unemployed. Some unions chose not to join either of the federations. No union has an official political affiliation, and the Government does not provide any financial support for unions.

 

The Law on Major Constitutional Provisions and other legislation provides that all workers, except the uniformed military, the police, and some court officials, have the right to strike. The law forbids strikes that are declared openly to be political or that are judged by the courts to be political. During the year, the Confederation of Trade Unions organized a general 1-hour strike with employees of the education system. This strike was followed 1 week later with a general 1-day strike; the union claimed that 70 percent of schools nationwide participated.

 

Unions are free to join and maintain ties with international organizations. Twelve federations, which are part of the Albanian Confederation of Trade Unions, are members of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.

 

b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively

 

Citizens in all fields of employment, except uniformed members of the armed forces, police officers, and some court employees, have the constitutional right to organize and bargain collectively, and the Labor Code establishes procedures for the protection of workers' rights through collective bargaining agreements. In practice, unions representing public sector employees negotiate directly with the Government. However, labor unions operate from a weak position, given the country's very high level of unemployment. Effective collective bargaining remained difficult, and agreements were difficult to enforce.

 

The law does not prohibit antiunion discrimination; however, there was no such discrimination in practice.

 

There are no export processing zones.

 

c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor

 

The Law on Major Constitutional Provisions and the Labor Code prohibit forced or compulsory labor; however, trafficking in women for sexual exploitation was a serious problem (see Section 6.f.).

 

The law forbids forced or bonded labor by children; however, trafficking in children for sexual exploitation or begging were serious problems (see Section 6.f.).

 

d. Status of Child Labor Practices and Minimum Age for Employment

 

The Labor Code sets the minimum age of employment at 16 years and limits the amount and type of labor that can be performed by children under the age of 18. Children between the ages of 14 and 16 legally may work in part-time jobs during summer vacation. The Ministry of Labor may enforce minimum age requirements through the courts; however, there were no reports that this enforcement took place. According to the CRCA, an estimated 30,000 to 50,000 children under the age of 18 work either full or part time; some children as young as 4 years of age were employed, and some children work as many as 16 hours a day. According to the CRCA, the majority of child laborers find work as street or shop vendors, farmers or shepherds, drug runners, textile factory workers, shoeshine boys, or prostitutes (see Section 5). In Tirana and other cities, it is common to see children, mostly Roma, working as beggars or selling cigarettes and other items on the street; the police generally ignored this practice. According to NGO reports, labor inspectors who are charged with investigating child labor complaints have not given out any fines, penalties, or convictions to those who violate child labor laws.

 

The CRCA noted that in a March 1998 study carried out with the Ministry of Education in 11 cities throughout the country, more than 17 percent of children surveyed had abandoned their studies in order to work. The State Committee on Children also noted that there are approximately 800 street children in Tirana. According to unofficial statistics provided by UNICEF, there are more than 2,000 Albanian children in Thessaloniki, and approximately 6,000 children all over Greece; most of these children work or beg. Italian sources believe that there are more than 6,000 unaccompanied minors in Italian institutions such as orphanages and child centers.

 

In April the Government ratified ILO Convention 182 on the worst forms of child labor.

 

The law forbids forced or bonded labor by children; however, trafficking in children for sexual exploitation and to a lesser degree for begging rings was a serious problem (see Section 6.f.).

 

e. Acceptable Conditions of Work

 

The legal minimum wage for all workers over the age of 16 was approximately $50 (6,380 lek) per month, which is not sufficient to provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. Many workers look for second jobs, which are difficult to find. Remittances from those working abroad are very important for many families. The law provides for social assistance (income support) and unemployment compensation, but these are very limited, both in terms of the amounts received and the number of persons actually covered. The average wage for workers in the public sector was approximately $100 (14,000 lek) per month. Persons who work and live in urban areas earn almost 50 percent more than those who live and work in rural areas, and poverty is greater in rural areas. Nationwide more than 17 percent of the population lives under the official poverty line. No data is available for private sector wages, but they are believed to be considerably higher than in the public sector.

 

The legal maximum workweek is 48 hours, although in practice, hours typically are set by individual or collective agreements. Many persons work 6 days a week. By law overtime pay must be provided and there are mandated rest periods; however, these are not always observed in practice.

 

The Government sets occupational health and safety standards; however, it had limited funds to make improvements in the remaining state-owned enterprises and a limited ability to enforce standards in the private sector. Actual conditions in the workplace generally were very poor and often dangerous. A number of job-related deaths were reported in the press during the year, especially in the construction industry. In such cases, the victims' families did not receive any financial support from the state social security administration because the workers often were not insured. The Labor Code lists the safety obligations of employers and employees but does not provide workers with the right to leave a hazardous workplace without jeopardy to their continued employment.

 

f. Trafficking in Persons

 

New legislation passed in January 2001, criminalizes trafficking in persons and provides penalties for traffickers; however, trafficking in persons, particularly women and children, remained serious problems. Albania is a country of origin and a transit country for trafficking. Police corruption and involvement in trafficking was a problem.

 

Although the number of Albanians subjected to trafficking to other countries has decreased, Albania remained a significant country of origin. Most trafficked women and young girls are transported to Italy, Greece, and to a lesser extent, other European countries such as Belgium and the Netherlands. Due to the poor economic situation, many women and young girls from all over the country--particularly Berat, Fier, Lushnje, Shkoder, and Vlora--were lured by men and women working in organized criminal groups who promised them jobs in Italy and Greece. Some men, primarily in the north of the country, also marry women and girls under false pretenses and take them abroad as prostitutes. Other forms of recruitment include promises of marriage, and to a lesser extent, the selling of victims to traffickers by family members, or kidnaping, including from orphanages. Most of these victims were taken to the southern port city of Vlora for transport by speedboat to Italy, although the port of Durres increasingly was a transport point.

 

Most trafficked Albanians increasingly fall into the 14 to 17-year-old age group; according to the AHRG, 25 percent of Albanian trafficking victims were minors.

 

The police were often directly or indirectly involved in trafficking. The Ministry of Public Order has established an Anti-Trafficking Unit, an Organized Crime Section, and an Office of Internal Control which pays particular attention to police involvement in human trafficking; however, these structures were largely ineffectual for most of the year due to lack of staffing and corruption. By year's end, the Ministry of Public Order had increased staffing to antitrafficking units at its headquarters and installed regional chiefs in 10 of the country's 12 prefectures. Nevertheless, the Ministry of Public Order failed to follow up on high-profile trafficking and corruption investigations, and the Office of Internal Control did not prosecute any police officers for corruption.

 

ALBANIA - SOCIAL SECURITY

Social Security Office of International Programs:

 

http://www.ssa.gov/SSA_Home.html

 

ALBANIA - STANDARD WORKWEEK

The legal maximum workweek is 48 hours, although in practice, hours typically are set by individual or collective agreements. Many persons work 6 days a week. By law overtime pay must be provided and there are mandated rest periods; however, these are not always observed in practice.

 

(Section 6.e. Acceptable Conditions of Work, Albania – Report of Human Rights Practices, 2001, U.S. Department of State.)