2.14.2 Training and employment of the unemployed Again we cannot ignore complaints about the selection of workshops, seminars and their providers. Complainants were dissatisfied, since it was not clear when and under which conditions the ZRSZ referred an unemployed person to training or education. It seemed as if the ZRSZ had no advance plan or strategy, and as if preliminary knowledge, competences, interest and motivation of individual participants were irrelevant. Certain complainants stated that the ZRSZ had not offered them any form of additional training or participation at a seminar for several years. For this reason, we repeat the recommendation from 2014 in its entirety. The Ombudsman informed the ZRSZ’s representatives of the unacceptability of such lengthy decision making at the meeting held on 15 June 2015. They expressed their surprise that the decision was taking so long and immediately ordered the regional unit to resolve the case while observing the Ministry’s decision. Following the Ombudsman’s intervention, the complainant finally received at least some funds by means of which he would be able to ensure himself and his family social security. 4.2-13/2015 2.14.3 Treatment of the unemployed 2.14 UNEMPLOYMENT 2.14 UNEMPLOYMENT The fact that the Government adopted the Active Employment Policy Measures Implementation Plan for 2016 and 2017 at its regular session on 21 January 2016 is commendable. EUR 182,570,956.00 (budget of the Republic of Slovenia and the ESF funding) will be earmarked for the active employment policy; a total of 48,905 persons will be included in the programmes. More than EUR 100 million will be available in 2016, which is 35 per cent more than in 2015 or almost the same as in 2014. Unfortunately, complaints regarding work of the ZRSZ’s employees or how they treat unemployed persons were also received in 2015. The unemployed frequently feel deprived of human dignity and feel that they were invited to the ZRSZ’s adviser only to meet the requirement of a regular visit to the ZRSZ; whereby, the advice or service which they receive when visiting the ZRSZ is not verified or recorded anywhere. What is even more, if they fail to attend the meeting, they are subject to severe sanctions, i.e. deletion from the register of unemployed persons or the loss of cash social assistance for the time of their unemployment. But what happens to public employees of the ZRSZ if they fail to perform their work well in terms of professionalism and ethics? Because we noted that dates for meetings are determined some time in advance and it is possible that individuals forget the dates of their appointments and then lose certain rights, we propose to the ZRSZ that they consider additional notification a few days before the anticipated date of the meeting. Furthermore, the effect of frequently replacing advisers assigned to unemployed persons should also be examined. Example: Decision on the request for the recognition of the right to cash benefits during unemployment made only after the Ombudsman’s intervention When the Human Rights Ombudsman discussed a case of a complainant (whose rights as an insured person arising from an employment relationship were denied by the Pension and Disability Insurance Institute of the Republic of Slovenia (ZPIZ), although his employer had settled contributions following a court order, because he was settling contributions for voluntary supplementary pension and disability insurance himself for prudential reasons (the Ombudsman pointed out this violation of the rights of a worker with a recognised reemployment right in the 2014 annual report, p. 273) at the time of judicial proceedings when the illegality of the termination of the employment relationship was being examined and was also determined), the Ombudsman also established another violation affecting the complainant subsequently. Later the complainant’s employment relationship was terminated by his employer (judicial proceedings in this case are still underway) and he filed a request for recognition of the right to cash benefits during unemployment. The Employment Service of Slovenia (ZRSZ) rejected his request because he supposedly failed to meet the condition of the insurance period prior to the occurrence of unemployment: the decision was obviously based only on the review of the ZPIZ’s record. The complainant filed a complaint about the decision with the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities. The complaint was approved in April 2014. The decision of the ZRSZ’s regional unit was annulled and returned for reconsideration, with the emphasis that the complainant had been successful in judicial proceedings against his employer, and the instruction that the authority of first instance must verify whether the employment relationship was established retrospectively on the basis of the court decision. In May 2015, the Ombudsman was informed that the authority of first instance had still not made a decision after one year, in spite of the simplicity of the case. 144 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 145