The competition for the election of the director of the Bol Tourist Board was annulled. Marinkovic sent a request to review the constitutionality of the law

The election for the director of the Tourist Boards, which started this year, some are still ongoing or will be announced, in some destinations they take place at the most inconvenient time - just before the start of the tourist season.

How it transmits Brac today, the election in the municipality of Bol for the managerial position of the Tourist Board of Bol indicates the problem, as well as potential future lawsuits. 

The tender in question was announced on April 1, and the deadline for applying to the tender is 21 days. On May 05, the Tourist Board of the Municipality of Bol was supposed to interview the candidates who applied, and get acquainted with their four-year plan and work program, as much as according to the provisions of the new Of the Law on Tourist Boards and the Promotion of Croatian Tourism in the future, the mandate of the directors of tourist boards should last.

On the day when the three candidates for the director of the Tourist Board of Bol were to be presented to the members of the Tourist Board, the competition for the election of the director of the Tourist Board was annulled.

The day before, he was the director of the Bol Tourist Board for many years and the first man of Bol tourism Markito Marinkovic thanked the members of the Tourist Board for the cooperation and trust they have given him all these years as the director of the Bol Tourist Board. However, Marinković also emphasized on that occasion that he did not apply for the position of director of the Tourist Board in Bol, because that would significantly reduce his acquired labor rights. 

Namely, as a long-term director, Marinković has a contract with the Tourist Board for an indefinite period of time and according to him, it is simply unacceptable for him that a contract for an indefinite period of time becomes a contract for a definite period of time. He refers to the valid and legal employment contract he has with the Tourist Board, concluded in accordance with the Statute of the Tourist Board of the Municipality of Bol from 2009. 

In a statement, Marinkovic said that he was supported by the interpretation of the Ministry of Tourism from 2012, to which he refers. In this respect, the position of the director of the tourist office is equal to the positions of other employees in the tourist office, and therefore there is no obstacle to concluding an employment contract for an indefinite period, in accordance with the Labor Act, as a general regulation, explicitly it is written in the response of the Ministry, which clearly and unequivocally states that the director of the Tourist Board of Bol has the right to an employment contract for an indefinite period of time ", he said Marinkovic.

Such an interpretation of the Ministry of Tourism stemmed not only from the Statute of the Tourist Board, but also from the then Law on Tourist Boards and the Promotion of Croatian Tourism, which did not prescribe that directors of tourist boards do business with fixed-term employment contracts. Only the new Law from 2019, which entered into force at the beginning of 2020, prescribed that tourist boards should announce a competition for the election of the director of the tourist board for a four-year term from 1 January 2022. 

Also, Marinković states that a month and a half ago, he submitted a request to the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia to assess the constitutionality of the Law on Tourist Boards and the Promotion of Croatian Tourism. 

New provisions relating to the obligation to call for tenders for the selection of directors, and the conclusion of fixed-term employment contracts for a period of four years, could lead to a series of labor disputes if initiated by current directors with open-ended contracts. This means that labor disputes could have their epilogue in court.

Source: Brac today / Free Dalmatia / Photo: Dieter_G, Pixabay.com