It seems that some public services employees, also known as “uhljebs”, have their expensive shoe buying habits financed from the state budget.
A citizen of Zagreb was recently so shocked with what she saw in a shop at the City Centre West shopping centre in Zagreb that she decided to share her experience with her followers on the social media, reports Jutarnji List on October 8, 2018.
Her story goes like this:
While she was looking around in a shop, a lady came to the cash register wishing to buy a pair of Michael Kors shoes, which cost around 1,500 kuna or 200 euro. She told the shop assistant that she would need a so-called “R1” receipt, which can be used to charge the expense to a company.
The real surprise came when the buyer started dictating to the shop assistant the name of the company for the receipt. The company, or rather the public institution in question, was the Social Welfare Centre from Zaprešić near Zagreb.
The citizen who wrote the post wondered who was it possible for anyone to buy a pair of such expensive shoes and then charge them to an institution dealing with some of the most vulnerable groups, especially at such a high price.
The answer to the question came from a representative of the institution itself. “Our workers who work in the field have managed to put into the collective agreement a provision which forces the employer to provide them with a pair of shoes and a bag once a year. They have the right to spend up to 500 kuna and charge it to the institution they work for. In order for them to exercise this right, they have to provide an R1 receipt as proof of purchase, after which they receive a refund from the institution. If they wish, they can spend more money, but the employer will not refund more than the maximum amount determined in the collective agreement.”
This has been confirmed by the head of the Social Workers Union, Jadranka Ivezić, pointing out that the obligation for employers was put in the collective agreement five years ago. She added that they did not define what kind of shoes and bags could be purchased as part of the agreement.
“Look, these people spend a lot of time in the field and it is up to them to decide what kind of shoes they wear. Of course, they will not walk around in ugly shoes, but they will also not walk in 10 cm high heels,” she concluded.
We can only wonder what social welfare recipients think when there are visited by a social worker whose shoes are more expensive than a monthly social allowance for a whole family.
Translated from Jutarnji List (reported by Dora Koretić).
