ZAGREB, 29 Oct 2021 - Parliament amended the Minimum Wage Act by majority vote on Friday and as of next year employers will have to contract the minimum wage with employees in the gross amount, or face a fine between HRK 60,000 and 100,000.
As of next year, the gross minimum wage will be HRK 4,687. Now it amounts to HRK 4,250.
The government decided yesterday that as of next year the net minimum wage will amount to HRK 3,750, an increase of 10.3%. For the first time, the minimum wage will exceed 50% of the average net wage.
Employers who pay below the minimum wage will also be fined, as will those who sign a contract with an employee in which they renounce the payment of the minimum wage.
Parliament rejected a conclusion by Katarina Peović of the opposition Workers Front under which the government should make sure that the minimum wage was a dignified wage. Anything else , she said, is contrary to the constitution.
Parliament also amended the Voluntary Health Insurance Act and now 120,000 insurees, mainly pensioners, will get free supplementary health insurance.
The amended law raises the income threshold from HRK 1,600 to 2,000 a month and for a single insuree from HRK 2,047 to 2,500. For that purpose HRK 16.8 million has been set aside in this year's budget and HRK 101 million for 2022 and 2023.
MPs also endorsed a corruption prevention strategy for the 2021-30 period.
Amendments to the farmland law was sent into a second reading.
A bill by Anka Mrak Tritaš of the opposition GLAS to cut the tax on feminine hygiene products did not receive majority support. However, MPs endorsed a conclusion by the ruling HDZ group tasking the government with analysing period poverty within six months and taking action to eliminate it.
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