2.10.5 Inspection procedures and Disability Insurance Act, bullying, the problem of a single public utility institute and its efficiency were also discussed. The Ombudsman still expects clarifications from the Ministry of Justice. Cooperation with the Labour Inspectorate of the Republic of Slovenia (IRSD) and the Public Sector Inspectorate was good; our communication usually took place in writing. We had meetings with the Chief Labour Inspector and the Chief Inspector of the Public Sector Inspectorate. 2.10.7 Violations of employees’ rights in Slovenian Armed Forces We established that several cases occur and situations arise in which individual inspectorates declare themselves incompetent and ‘send individuals from door to door’. In this regard, we emphasise the role of the Inspection Board, which should coordinate and ensure cooperation between all inspection services. We must again mention the shortage of staff in the inspection services. Due to their limited number, inspectors are unable to respond efficiently to reports or to their own observations and findings, so violations are not eliminated, while the preventive effect of inspection procedures is also questionable. We again point to the obligation of inspection services to inform reporters of the receipt of their reports no later than within 15 days, in accordance with the Decree on administrative operations and principles of good administration, and also of the fact that reporters will be informed about measures taken by the inspector only if they explicitly request to be informed of the result of the inspection as per Article 24 of the Inspection Act. The misuse of management and command acts for decision making on employment rights, early old age retirement of military personnel, the right to collective representation and to conclude collective agreements, the discharging of ill and injured members of the armed forces, the payment of allowances for regular standby duty, conclusion of fixed-term employment contracts and age limitation of 45 years, mobbing, bullying and low wages were issues discussed particularly in connection with employees in the Slovenian Armed Forces. We discussed these matters with Andreja Katič, the Minister of Defence, and Dr. Andrej Osterman, the Chief of the General Staff of the Slovenian Armed Forces. We have been monitoring the above issues for some time, and made special mention of them in the 2012 annual report. Example: The Labour Inspectorate of the Republic of Slovenia (IRSD) supposedly failed to respond to a report for over one year A trade union contacted the Human Rights Ombudsman about the lack of response from the Labour Inspectorate of the Republic of Slovenia to a report claiming irregularities in a private company regarding a union member. We asked the IRSD to reply to the complainant, and the IRSD complied with our request. 2.10 EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS 2.10 EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS The complainant attached to his complaint the report addressed to the IRSD of 20 December 2013, from which it was evident that the complainant also requested that the IRSD informs him of its findings. According to the complainant’s claims, the IRSD failed to respond to this request. The complaint was justified. 4.1-11/2015 2.10.6 Workers in the public sector In 2015, we considered 79 complaints in this field, somewhat less than in 2014, when we examined 89 complaints. However, the merits of resolved complaints increased in 2015, amounting 21.1 per cent and 20.3 per cent in 2014. Several cases involved mobbing, ill-treatment and bullying at work; many letters were anonymous, since the complainants refused to provide their names out of fear of retaliation and possible loss of employment. We have mentioned the unsuitable legal arrangements and that jurisdiction for taking action in such situations is divided between the IRSD, the Public Sector Inspectorate, the Defence Inspectorate and the Advocate of the Principle of Equality in several annual reports in the past, and demanded suitable solutions for victims of illtreatment, bullying and mobbing. We cannot avoid the situation in Slovenian prisons. The Ombudsman and the current Minister of Justice and his colleagues discussed this pressing issue at a meeting at the end of 2014. This topic was also addressed at a meeting with the representatives of the Union Confederation of the Prison Administration in June 2015 at the Ombudsman’s head office, where staffing, insufficient expert training of judicial police officers, their unsuitable equipment, hindrance of the Union’s work, the rights of occupational therapists as per the Pension 120 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS OMBUDSMAN OF THE REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA FOR 2015 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS OMBUDSMAN OF THE REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA FOR 2015 121