Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor

Anna Makaryan works at the Institute of Economics after Mikael Kotanyan of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) of the Republic of Armenia. Last year, in January 2023, Makaryan and her husband decided to adopt a child. However, the process did not go as planned as the latter encountered artificial obstacles in her workplace. 

Makaryan wanted to visit the orphanage for several days and communicate with the child. As the meeting with the child was allowed only on working days, she had to take time off. On January 27, for the first time, Makaryan wrote a written application to the head of the institute, David Harutyunyan, with the request to get five days of leave by using her annual leave entitlement. However, she was refused, being notified that she can only receive partial leave if there is an agreement between the employer and employee. For the second time, Makaryan tried to apply, asking for a full holiday, but was refused again. 

On February 1, Makaryan sent a written note to the head of the institute, stating that she would not work for the second half of the day as she had to go to Gavar to meet the child. As a response to the notice, Makaryan did not receive a refusal. 

Several days later, Makaryan was notified that she had been subjected to a disciplinary penalty by the directorate and was reprimanded for leaving the workplace during working hours without notice. On February 16, Anna applied  to the RA NAS directory, asking for cancellation of the reprimand and attaching all the documents regarding the applications to the Gavar orphanage reference, but did not receive any response from the directory of the Academy. 

After the second reprimand, she could have been fired from the work, and by not having a job, Makaryan could not adopt a child. 

It is essential that the two main cornerstones of penalizing Makaryan were her fight against plagiarism and the choice of the "wrong" director. The relationships between NAS director Davit Harutyunyan and Makaryan deteriorated when, in 2022, during the election of the director, Makaryan voted for another candidate. In addition, Makaryan informed the director that there were instances of plagiarism in the joint article of the director and scientific secretary of the institute. After these incidents, the relationship between Makaryan and the director became rather tense. 

In 2023, HCAV, in the framework of the program “Decent Work Now,” undertook the protection of Anna Makaryan's rights. Tiruhi Vardanyan, the former lawyer of the Organization,  presented the interests of Makaryan first in the civil court of the general jurisdiction of Yerevan city, then in appellate courts. On June 2, 2023, the court of first instance decided to refuse our request, that is, to void the decision of the RA NAS about subjecting Makaryan to a disciplinary penalty. Appealing the decision of the First Instance in the Appellate Court, we reached the expected success; the Appellate Court declared the order of the director of the “Institute of Economics named after M. Kotanyan of the NAS RA” invalid. Makaryan will not be subject to a disciplinary penalty. 

The appellate court justified its decision, recording that the employer ignored the claimant's three leave requests submitted prior to the alleged disciplinary violation. Then, on February 1, 2023, the plaintiff was absent from the second half of the day, about which she had submitted a written application. In the absence of a negative response to the request, disciplinary punishment could not be applied.