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Armenia - Compensation & Benefit Legislation

CAPITAL

Yerevan

 

CLIMATE

Hot summers and cold winters.

 

LANGUAGES

Armenian (96%), Russian (2%) and other (2%).

 

LEGAL SYSTEM

Based on civil law system.

 

CURRENCY

Armenia Dram (1 USD = 571.9800 AMD as of March 15, 2002)

 

ARMENIA - COST-OF-LIVING

ERI's Relocation Assessor is a recommended source for cost-of-living data.

 

ARMENIA - EMBASSY/CONSULATES

U.S. Embassy at Yerevan

18 Baghramyan Avenue

Yerevan 375019

Republic of Armenia

Telephone: (3742) 526-870

Fax: (3742) 151-550

http://www.arminco.com/embusa/

 

Embassy of the Republic of Armenia at Washington D.C.

2225 R Street, NW

Washington D.C. 20008

Telephone: (202) 319-1976

Fax: (202) 319-2982

http://www.armeniaemb.org

 

ARMENIA - HOLIDAYS

 

ARMENIA – LEAVE

Annual Leave: Minimum 15 days paid annual leave each year.

 

Maternity Leave: Minimum of 140 days to maximum of one year partially paid leave (paid by employer), plus and additional year unpaid.

 

ARMENIA - MINIMUM AGE

According to the law, 16 years is the minimum age for employment. Children may work from the age of 14 with the permission of a medical commission and the relevant labor union board. The law is enforced by local community councils, unemployment offices, and, as a final board of appeal, the courts. Children under the age of 18 are not allowed to work in difficult or dangerous jobs, night labor, or jobs that require over 6 hours of work per day, although children 16 years of age or older may apply for waivers in the latter two cases.

 

According to the Ministry of Social Welfare, some children up to the age of 12 years are involved in family businesses, as well as some other business activities, such as agriculture where such activity is not forbidden by law. Children are forbidden specifically from engaging in arduous, or dangerous employment, even if it is their families' business, without permission by the Ministry of Social Welfare; the Ministry grants such permission only on a case-by-case basis and only for children 12 years of age or older. The Government has not ratified ILO Convention 182 on the worst forms of child labor.

 

(Section 6.d. Acceptable Conditions of Work, Armenia – Report of Human Rights Practices, 2001, U.S. Department of State.)

 

ARMENIA - MINIMUM REMUNERATION

The Government sets the minimum wage by decree. The monthly minimum wage is approximately $9.00 (5,000 drams) and is insufficient to provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family.

 

(Section 6.e. Acceptable Conditions of Work, Armenia – Report of Human Rights Practices, 2001, U.S. Department of State.)

 

ARMENIA - REMUNERATION

ERI's Geographic and Salary Assessors are recommended sources for international remuneration covering 189 countries.

 

ARMENIA - REPORT OF HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES (2001, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE)

Section 6 Worker Rights

 

a. The Right of Association

 

The Constitution provides employees with the right to form and join trade unions although it stipulates that the right to form associations--including political parties and trade unions--may be limited for persons serving in the armed services and law enforcement agencies. In practice, labor organization remained weak because of high unemployment and the weak economy. The absence of active unions and of accurate employment data precludes a reliable estimate of the percentage of the workforce that is unionized.

 

The Constitution provides for the right to strike; however, workers have neither the financial resources to maintain a strike nor enforceable legal protection against retaliation, and existing unions play a relatively passive role.

 

Unions are free to affiliate with international organizations; however, none had done so at year's end.

 

b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively

 

Although the Law provides for the right to organize and bargain collectively, collective bargaining is not practiced. Voluntary and direct negotiations do not take place between unions and employers without the participation of the Government, because many large employers remain under state control.

 

The Government encourages profitable enterprises to establish their own pay scales. Factory directorates generally set the pay scales without consultation with employees. Labor disputes are arbitrated in regular or economic courts.

 

There are no export processing zones.

 

c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor

 

The Constitution and the law prohibit forced and bonded labor; however, trafficking in women was a problem (see Section 6.f.).

 

The Constitution and the law prohibit forced and bonded labor by children; however trafficking in girls was a problem (see Section 6.f.).

 

d. Status of Child Labor Practices and Minimum Age for Employment

 

According to the law, 16 years is the minimum age for employment. Children may work from the age of 14 with the permission of a medical commission and the relevant labor union board. The law is enforced by local community councils, unemployment offices, and, as a final board of appeal, the courts. Children under the age of 18 are not allowed to work in difficult or dangerous jobs, night labor, or jobs that require over 6 hours of work per day, although children 16 years of age or older may apply for waivers in the latter two cases.

 

According to the Ministry of Social Welfare, some children up to the age of 12 years are involved in family businesses, as well as some other business activities, such as agriculture where such activity is not forbidden by law. Children are forbidden specifically from engaging in arduous, or dangerous employment, even if it is their families' business, without permission by the Ministry of Social Welfare; the Ministry grants such permission only on a case-by-case basis and only for children 12 years of age or older. The Government has not ratified ILO Convention 182 on the worst forms of child labor.

 

The Constitution and the law prohibit forced and bonded labor by children; however, trafficking in girls was a problem (see Section 6.f.).

 

e. Acceptable Conditions of Work

 

The Government sets the minimum wage by decree. The monthly minimum wage is $9 (5,000 drams) and is insufficient to provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. The majority of the population (approximately 54.7 percent), lives below the poverty line and approximately 23 percent of the population is considered extremely poor (as a result of economic dislocations caused by the breakup of the Soviet Union, the 1988 Spitak earthquake, the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, and disruptions in trade resulting from a blockade by Azerbaijan and Turkey. A significant amount of economic activity, perhaps as much as 40 percent, takes place without being recorded or taxed by the local authorities. The extent to which this affects the overall economic situation is unknown.

 

The majority of industrial enterprises either are idle or operating at a fraction of their capacity. Some furloughed workers continued to receive minimal partial compensation from their enterprises, but most no longer received any payment if they were not working. Under the law, if an employee loses their job, 2 month's salary must be paid as compensation.

 

The standard legal workweek is 40 hours; many persons work multiple jobs in order to provide for basic necessities. The law provides for annual and sick leave; there are not mandated rest periods. Compensation for overtime work is required; however, it depends on the position and type of employment.

 

The Constitution provides citizens with the right to clean and safe workplaces. Soviet-era occupational and safety standards remained in force; however, in practice conditions were very inconsistent. Labor legislation places responsibility on the employer and the management of each firm to ensure "healthy and normal" labor conditions for employees, but it provides no definition of healthy and normal. Workers are reluctant to complain or remove themselves from hazardous working conditions as they risk losing their jobs.

 

f. Trafficking in Persons

 

The law does not prohibit specifically trafficking in persons, although it does prohibit exploitation by force of persons for financial gain; trafficking in women and girls abroad for prostitution was a problem. There were reports that corruption by Government officials facilitated trafficking.

 

Armenia is a country of origin for trafficking, and trafficking in women and girls is more of a problem than the Government and women's organizations have recognized openly. Although specific information on trafficking is difficult to obtain, experts from international organizations estimate that every year approximately 700 women are trafficked primarily to the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf States, as well as to Turkey, Russia, Germany, Greece, and other European countries to work as prostitutes. Women were trafficked from Yerevan, Gyumri, and Vanadzor.

 

There is no specific law prohibiting trafficking in persons. Traffickers may be prosecuted under different articles of the Criminal Code: For example, illicit seizure of non-property documents (passports or other personal documents), as well as use of these documents, may be punished by imprisonment up to 1 year; falsification and selling of documents, by imprisonment up to 5 years; pandering, by imprisonment up to 5 years; bogus marriage and bogus divorce with mercenary ends or other reasons, by imprisonment up to 1 year; extortion (coercion of a person, or coercion by publishing compromising information about a person), by imprisonment from 2 to 4 years; coercing of a woman to perform sexual intercourse by a person on whom this women is financially (or economically) dependent by imprisonment up to 7 years. The Criminal Code specifically prohibits keeping brothels, although prostitution itself is legal.

 

ARMENIA - SOCIAL SECURITY

Social Security Office of International Programs:

 

http://www.ssa.gov/SSA_Home.html

 

ARMENIA - STANDARD WORKWEEK

The standard legal workweek is 40 hours. The law provides for annual and sick leave; there are not mandated rest periods. Compensation for overtime work is required; however, it depends on the position and type of employment.

 

(Section 6.e. Acceptable Conditions of Work, Armenia – Report of Human Rights Practices, 2001, U.S. Department of State.)