The purpose of this study is to provide for access to the employee for compensation for the injury suffered during the work and the employer’s liability arising from the injury suffered by the employee during the work, which is included in the field of labour law.
According to Article 234 of the RA Labour Code: “Material liability of an employer emerges when:
(1) the employee not insured from accidents at work and from occupational diseases has contracted an occupational disease, has been maimed or has died;
(2) the damage has been caused as a result of loss, elimination of property or becoming unfit for use;
(3) other violations of the property rights of employees or other persons have been committed.
The employer shall compensate for the damage caused by him or her in the manner prescribed by the Civil Code of the Republic of Armenia.”
However, a study of the official website of the RA Judiciary http://court.am/ showed that the classification of civil cases pending before the courts of general jurisdiction does not include cases of the persons suffering from professional illness or impairment as a result of breaches or inadequate provision of work safety and health standards and the Employer’s material liability issuing from the aforesaid.
The observation of the case search section of the official website of the Judicial Information System http://datalex.am/ also allows to conclude that the realization of the right to compensation for persons suffering from a professional illness or disorder in the field of labour law regulation is not sufficiently important. Judging from their reports, the Office of the Public Defender of the Chamber of Advocates testifies, noting that there are not many applicants for such work disputes.
In its 2018 report, the Human Rights Defender states: “The rights of workers in Armenia are not fully protected, numerous violations of labour rights occur throughout the year, and legislative gaps and inadequate regulation in turn lead to a number of issues. Apart from the above mentioned, the main causes of the violation of labour rights are also the lack of awareness about the mechanisms of protection of labour rights, as well as the low level of protection of workers’ rights. ”
Based on the above, we have to state that the system of complete protection of the employee’s rights is not yet in place in Armenia.
To correct the situation, “Araza” Benevolent NGO implemented within the framework of the sub-grant project “For the Protection of Labour Rights” implemented in the scope of the EU funded “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” Project, in cooperation with the Educational Research and Consultation Center in Armenia conducted a monitoring of Dispute Settlement Policy to Determine the Right to Compensation for Damage to Worker During Work and the prerequisites for implementation of the national mechanism for the protection of workers’ rights through extrajudicial labour relations to develop a package of proposals aimed at improving the sector, which will contribute to raising the awareness of stakeholders.
Within the framework of the project:
- Investigation of legal acts regulating the sphere of labour relations In the light of the obligations assumed a according to the International Labour Organization Conventions ratified by the Republic of Armenia and the revised European Social Charter..
- Study of the 2008-2018 Investigation of court cases on labour relations in the Courts of First Instance of the Republic of Armenia.
- Study of the process of applications on the Regulation of Labour Relations sent in 2013-2018 to the health and labour inspection body, the Human Rights Defender and Public Defender’s office of the Chamber of Advocates of the RA, lawyers, trade unions and human rights NGOs.
- Sector focus group discussions on possible ways of identifying and overcoming problems in the area of labour law regulation.
The following is a summary of the results of the work carried out under the Project:
