Ombudsperson Institution opposes retroactive repayment of salaries following coefficient revision

According to the Ombudsperson’s assessment, public employees should not be required to repay the amounts they received after their salary coefficients were reduced. This position was made known through a summary of the opinion published by the institution on the issue.

The case was initiated ex officio after the Ombudsperson registered a series of complaints. According to the data, the situation affects a broad group of state administration employees and has raised concerns about the practices followed.

The institution’s analysis focused on the process of correcting the coefficients, which followed the entry into force of the Law on Salaries in the Public Sector. On this basis, the Ombudsperson argues that revising the coefficients constitutes an administrative action and should therefore comply with the requirements of the Law on General Administrative Procedure.

The opinion emphasizes that administrative actions with retroactive effect are permitted only when expressly provided for by law. However, there is no evidence to date that the relevant institutions applied these rules during the process of reducing the coefficients.

According to the Ombudsperson, any change to employees’ income made without fulfilling legal requirements violates the principle of legal certainty and their legitimate expectations. Moreover, this salary correction mechanism may also have infringed the property rights of those affected.

“The obligation for employees to retroactively repay the salary difference does not appear to comply with the principles of the rule of law,” the opinion states, KosovaPress reports.

Consequently, the Ombudsperson called on the Department for the Management of Public Officials and other responsible bodies to comply with the legal framework in force and guarantee the principle of legal certainty for all employees in the state sector.