At the end of 2018, 26 legislators at the RS National Assembly, nine delegates at the Council of Peoples and two RS government ministers did not renew their terms. They are entitled to a six-month pay while doing nothing. They will lose severance if they find another job during that time.
Four former legislators received the unearned salary for nearly a month, while the remaining 22 are still on the payroll. The RS National Assembly staffers say that everyone gets the same monthly amount – 2,550 KM.
In the RS Council of Peoples, nine delegates receive severance in the amounts ranging from 2,603 KM to 3,743 KM a month.
Two former ministers also applied for the unearned pay, but the RS cabinet officials did not say what amount Predrag Gluhaković and Milenko Savanović receive every month. A minister’s base salary is 3,315 KM and is increased for every year of service.
Apart from the president, legislators, delegates and ministers, all persons appointed by the RS National Assembly are also entitled to severance which makes for dozens of officials at the entity and state level.
Last year, CIN did an investigation which found that there were no hard and fast rules or oversight over the recipients of post-term severance in the RS. These led to abuse of the perk in the past by officials who received severance while earning money on the side.
Two officials from two terms back, instead of returning to their tenured jobs at university, asked for severance. They froze their tenure and went on to do other things – Željko Mirjanić taught at a university department based on another contract, while Goran Mutabdžija wrote a book.
During that time, a delegate Fehret Terzić received severance even though he was about to retire. He told CIN that no one told him that he could not have it both ways.
Having finished their 2014 terms 53 officials from the RS National Assembly, the Council of Peoples and the RS government applied for severance. They had cost the budget for nearly 843,000 KM.
This perk was abolished at the state level, but there has yet to be discussion about doing the same at the entity levels.
