The question raised by former Karposh mayor Stevcho Jakimovski looks simple, but it pokes exactly where it should: can 500,000 workers be fired over three days of absence, while only the mayor of Karposh gets to sit at home with no explanation?

At a press conference, Jakimovski claims that the current mayor, Sotir Lukrovski, hasn't shown up to work for a whole week, ever since his sick leave expired on May 30. He cites the Labor Relations Act, article 82, under which three consecutive unjustified absences lead to dismissal without notice. According to him, Lukrovski has no official leave, no vacation, no active sick leave - and he goes so far as to claim the previous sick leave was bogus, and that doctors refused to issue another one.

The accusations are serious and, of course, come from a political rival - so they should be read with that reservation. Jakimovski makes no secret of the fact that he wouldn't pass up a new candidacy if early local elections are held, which gives him a clear motive to hit the sitting mayor. That doesn't make the question invalid, but it does make it political, not just legal.

The government's reaction was predictable. Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski stated that Lukrovski's health requires rest and redirected the questions about the sick leave to the director of the Health Fund. Translation: nothing to see here, look the other way. But the citizen who has to clock in every morning so as not to lose his job reads this story differently. If the rules on absence apply ironclad to the ordinary worker and elastically to officials, then the problem isn't one mayor - it's that the law, like so much here, has two speeds. Jakimovski's question, whatever his motives, remains unanswered.