Victims of Defense Ministry’s Illegal Activities

Victims of Defense Ministry’s Illegal Activities

Does the Defense Ministry of Georgia intend to re-draft 7-months-pregnant ladies?!

A number of government employees have lost their jobs due to the reorganization that took place at the Defense Ministry, as well as many other State Institutions. Staff reorganization was carried out with widespread violations and now the Ministry administration is trying to remedy the situation without really addressing or correcting those same violations. In the summer of 2004, by Ministerial Decree, six military officials that were on maternity leave at the time were dismissed from their jobs. However, according to Article 164 of the Georgian Labour Code pregnant women as well as women with children under three years old should not be dismissed from office.

The Decrees No. 1/543 as of 24 July 2004, No. 1/603 as of 9 August 2004 and No. 1/810 as of 4 October 2004, issued by the Defense Minister of Georgia, were the official documents calling for the dismissal of the six military officials of medical units and the National Guard, who were on maternity leave at the time that the orders were given.

The women affected were Sergeant Sh. S., Senior Medical Nurse of the Anesthesiology and Resuscitation Department, Sergeant M. T., Acceptor-Sorter, Medical Nurse of the Evacuation Unit, Sergeant N. G., Hospital-Attendant of the Evacuation Unit, Private K. L., M. K. – Attending Physician-Neuropathologist of the Hospital Division of the National Guards’ Medical Unit, and Lieutenant M. G., Attending Physician-Therapeutist of the Hospital Division of National Guards’ Medical Unit.   According to the Ministerial Decree issued on 24 July 2004, all of these women were temporarily given over to human resources for consideration, and then, as a result of 4 October Decree, were dismissed without any preliminary notification.

It should also be noted that these women, who were on maternity leave at the time, only learned of their dismissal on March 7th, 2005, when they were summoned to the Central Department Administration of the National Guard. Despite the fact that the order for their dismissal had been written and signed in November of 2004, they had previously been told by the same administration that personnel on maternity leave would not be made redundant and that they were guaranteed their jobs.

As it was explained to the six women at the Ministry of Defense, their dismissal was accidental and erroneous; however, after the arrival of the new management at the Ministry the women were denied their former positions, and were instead offered the option to be re-drafted into military service. It is unclear, however, why they would offer to draft 6-7 month old pregnant women, and whether there would be any legal basis for doing so.  The women explained in an interview with HRIDC that “in order to remedy the situation the administration wants us to forget that we were on maternity leave and appoint us anew, which is absolutely unacceptable to us. The head of the Human Resources Department, our Commander and Head of Staff and our Leader and Commander-in-Chief tell us directly that we will be re-drafted and our record of service will not be lost. But we don’t understand how women who are 6-7 months pregnant can be re-drafted, and how we will retain our record of service if we are indeed re-drafted.”

According to Article 11, Paragraph 9 of the Georgian Law “About the Status of Military Officials,” maternity leave (including pregnancy, birth-giving and the child-caring period) is given to a female military official in accordance with the Georgian Labour Code, which says that it is unlawful to dismiss an employee that is on leave or temporarily disabled.  Also, according to Article 164, Paragraph III of the same Code, it is unlawful to dismiss pregnant women or women with children under the age of 3, under the initiative of administration, except in cases of the complete liquidation of a particular organization, enterprise, or institution.

The six military officials of the Defense Ministry Medical Unit and National Guard’s Medical Units intend to defend their rights in court. The have already filed a suit in the Vake-Saburtalo district court, where their interests will be defended by Human Rights Information and Documentation Center.

Nino Bestavashvili