In the court of primary jurisdiction of Center and Nork-Marash communities of Yerevan proceedings on the suit of journalist Shushanik Abrahamian-Hairapetian against “Armenpress” news agency started. The plaintiff demands to be restored in the job previously occupied and a salary payment for the unintended idleness.
Shushanik Abrahamian-Hairapetian worked as “Armenpress” correspondent in Mountainous Karabagh since October, 1998. In October 2000 she returned to Yerevan and continued working for the same agency. On March 1, 2001 she and the agency signed a temporary labor contract (the contract mechanism has been operational in “Armenpress” since 1998), which was further extended till June 30, 2001. As Yerevan Press Club was told by the Executive Director of “Armenpress” Hrayr Zorian, when the contract expired Shushanik Abrahamian-Hairapetian was dismissed from work, according to Item 2 of Article 32 of the RA Labor Law Code. This Item stipulates the expiry of the contract term to be sufficient for the discontinuation of the contract, excluding the cases when the labor relations factually continue and none of the parties requires their discontinuation.
Shushanik Abrahamian-Hairapetian, on her behalf, substantiates her suit saying that after the contract expired, she still went on with her work till July 12. “My dismissal notice, dated June 29, 2001, was given to me only on July 12, after the “Armenpress” Director returned from a business trip to France. In my opinion, in this way the notice violated the Article 33 of the RA Labor Law Code, which gives legal grounds to my suit”, Ms. Abrahamian-Hairapetian said. According to the Article mentioned, if after the contract expires, the labor relations factually continue and none of the parties requires their discontinuation, the contract is extended by indefinite time.
The first court session was to be held on September 20. Yet it did not take place as the defendant failed to attend the session. “I received no official subpoena informing me of the start of the proceedings”, Hrayr Zorian, the Director of “Armenpress”, said. “The phone call from the court asking why we were absent from the session was a compete surprise to me.”
The judge in the charge of the case, Edik Avetisian, appointed the next session date to be October 1.
