Another administrative deadlock is affecting the justice system, this time not at the decision-making level, but over employees’ salaries. The judicial administration of the Court of First Instance of General Jurisdiction Tirana has filed a collective complaint with the Ombudsman, seeking intervention over the non-execution of salaries for August 2026.
Employees: We have worked, but the salary has not been paid
The complaint states that judicial civil servants and support staff regularly carried out their duties during August and ensured the continuity of the court’s work, but the payment was not executed within the legal deadline.
According to them, up to the moment the complaint was filed, they had not been officially and clearly informed of any legal basis that would justify the non-payment of salary for the work performed.
Suspicions fall on the deadlock created after the magistrates’ salary case
The administration links the situation to the issues created after decision no. 15, dated February 17, 2026, of the Constitutional Court on magistrates’ salaries, but underlines that the status and pay of judicial administration employees are legally separate from those of magistrates.
At the heart of the complaint is precisely this contradiction: a dispute related to one category of salaries, according to the employees, is producing consequences for another category that is not part of the debate.
The HJC has also requested the immediate execution of salaries
According to the complaint, the High Judicial Council, in a letter dated September 3 addressed to the Ministry of Finance, clarified that the salaries of the judicial administration and support staff are not affected by Constitutional Court decision no. 15/2026, nor by HJC decision no. 435/2026.
In the same letter, according to the version presented in the complaint, the HJC requested the immediate execution of the August salaries. Despite this, the payments do not appear to have been made.
An explanation has been requested from the Ministry of Finance, but no response has been given
The employees say that on September 9, 2026, they also approached the Ministry of Finance to obtain information on the reasons for the non-payment of salaries, but by the time the complaint was drafted they had received no response.
This lack of official clarification is one of the most problematic points of the case, as it leaves it unclear whether this is a blockage, a suspension, or a chain of inaction among the responsible institutions.
Verification sought on the institution holding up the payments
In the request addressed to the Ombudsman, the administration of the Tirana Court asks that official information be obtained from the HJC, the Ministry of Finance and the responsible Treasury structures, in order to verify who is preventing the execution of the salaries.
If it turns out that an administrative obstacle exists, the employees ask that the responsible institution be identified, along with the act on which the action or inaction was based and the relevant legal basis. They argue that the failure to make payment for a month of completed work violates their legal rights and may also affect the normal functioning of the court.
The complaint stresses that the issue does not only have a financial effect on the employees, but also affects the effective functioning of the courts, and therefore requires priority treatment.
Beyond the debate over magistrates’ salaries, the case raises a broader question about how an institutional deadlock can translate into a direct penalty for the staff who keep the public justice service running.