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Azerbaijan - Compensation & Benefit Legislation

CAPITAL

Baku

 

CLIMATE

Steppe, dry and semiarid.

 

LANGUAGES

Azeri 89%, Russian 3%, Armenian 2% and other 6%.

 

LEGAL SYSTEM

Based on the civil law system.

 

CURRENCY

Azerbaijan Manats (1 USD = 4,826.0000 AZM as of March 15, 2002)

 

AZERBAIJAN - COST-OF-LIVING

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

 

AZERBAIJAN - EMBASSY/CONSULATES

U.S. Embassy at Baku

83 Azadliq Prospekti

Baku, Azerbaijan

Telephone: [9] (9412) 980335

Fax: [9] (9412) 983755

http://www.usembassybaku.org/

 

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

2741 34th Street, NW

Washington D.C. 20008

Telephone: (202) 337-3500

Fax: (202) 337-5911

E-mail: azerbaijan@azembassy.com

http://www.azembassy.com/

 

AZERBAIJAN - HOLIDAYS

 

AZERBAIJAN – LEAVE

Annual Leave: Minimum 21 days paid annual leave each year.

 

Maternity Leave: Up to 126 days paid maternity leave.

 

AZERBAIJAN - MINIMUM AGE

The minimum age for employment is 16 years. The law allows children ages 14 and 15 to work with the consent of their parents and limits the workweek of children between the ages of 14 and 16 to 24 hours per week.

 

However, children at the age of 15 may work if the workplace's labor union does not object; there are no explicit restrictions on the kinds of labor that 15-year-old children may perform with union consent.

 

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

 

AZERBAIJAN - MINIMUM REMUNERATION

The Government has set by decree the nationwide administrative minimum wage at approximately $5.00 (27,000 manats) per month. This wage is not sufficient to provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. The recommended monthly wage level to meet basic subsistence needs was estimated to be approximately $50 (215,000 manats) per person. Most workers earn more than the minimum wage.

 

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

 

AZERBAIJAN- REMUNERATION

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

 

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

Section 6 Worker Rights

 

a. The Right of Association

 

The Constitution provides for freedom of association, including the right to form labor unions, but there are some limits on this right in practice. Branches of the government-run Azerbaijani Labor Federation seek to organize most industrial and white-collar workers; the Federation claims some 300,000 members. The semi-independent Azerbaijan Trade Union Confederation (ATUC) has 1.5 million members, of which approximately 800,000 are active. The overwhelming majority of labor unions still operate as they did under the Soviet system and remain tightly linked to the Government. Most major industries are state-owned. Police, customs, and military personnel are prohibited from forming unions. Trade unions are prohibited by law from engaging in political activity, but individual members of trade unions have no such restrictions.

 

In 1997 the State Oil Company (SOCAR) formed a progovernment union, the Azerbaijan Union of Oil and Gas Industry Workers, which took over the former Independent Oil Workers Union without a vote of the union membership. It continues to operate without a vote of its rank and file workers. An independent group of oil workers, the Committee to Defend the Rights of Azerbaijani Oil Workers, operates outside of established trade union structures and promotes the interests of workers in the petroleum sector.

 

According to International Confederation of Trade Unions' (ICFTU) Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Unions Rights during the year, "one of the most serious problems facing unions in the country is that union dues are rarely transferred to them. As a consequence the unions do not have the resources to carry out their activities effectively. The ATUC has listed approximately 40 enterprises in almost all sectors where dues have not been transferred.

 

The Constitution provides for the right to strike, and there are no legal restrictions on this right. The law prohibits retribution against strikers. During the year, there were several peaceful strikes to demand salary increases or payment of unpaid wages.

 

Unions are free to form federations and to affiliate with international bodies. In November 2000, the ATUC became a member of the ICFTU.

 

b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively

 

The law provides for collective bargaining agreements to set wages in state enterprises and a labor inspectorate was established; however, these laws have not produced an effective system of collective bargaining between unions and enterprise management. Government-appointed boards and directors run the major enterprises and set wages. Unions do not effectively participate in determining wage levels. In a carryover from Soviet times, both management and workers are considered members of professional unions.

 

There is antiunion discrimination by foreign companies operating in Baku; however, there were no reports of government antiunion discrimination. Labor disputes are handled by local courts. The ATUC sometimes helps plaintiffs with lawyers and legal advice.

 

There are no export processing zones.

 

c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor

 

The Constitution allows forced or compulsory labor only under states of emergency or martial law or as the result of a court decision affecting a condemned person; however, while the Government has not invoked the forced labor clause; women were trafficked for the purpose of prostitution (see Section 6.f.). Two departments in the General Prosecutor's office (the Department of Implementation of the Labor Code and the Department for Enforcement of the Law on Minors) are responsible for enforcing the prohibition on forced or compulsory labor.

 

No constitutional provisions or laws specifically prohibit forced or bonded labor by children; however, trafficking of children was a problem (see Section 6.f.).

 

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

 

The minimum age for employment is 16 years. The law allows children ages 14 and 15 to work with the consent of their parents and limits the workweek of children between the ages of 14 and 16 to 24 hours per week. However, children at the age of 15 may work if the workplace's labor union does not object; there are no explicit restrictions on the kinds of labor that 15-year-old children may perform with union consent. The Ministry of Labor and Social Security has primary enforcement responsibility for child labor laws. With high adult unemployment, there have been few, if any, complaints of abuses of child labor laws. At year's end the Government had not ratified the International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 182 on the worst forms of child labor.

 

The law does not prohibit specifically forced and bonded labor; however, trafficking of children was a problem (see Section 6.f.).

 

e. Acceptable Conditions of Work

 

The Government has set by decree the nationwide administrative minimum wage at $5.00 (27,000 manats) per month. This wage is not sufficient to provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. The recommended monthly wage level to meet basic subsistence needs was estimated to be $50 (215,000 manats) per person. Most workers earn more than the minimum wage. Idle factory workers earn a fraction of what they received a decade ago. Many rely on the safety net of the extended family. Many have second jobs or makeshift employment in the informal sector, such as operating the family car as a taxi, selling produce from private gardens, or operating small roadside stands. As many as 2 million people relied on remittances from relatives working in Russia, but this support dropped after the 1999 Russian financial crisis. Combinations of these and other strategies are the only way for broad sectors of the urban population to reach a subsistence income level.

 

The legal workweek is 40 hours. There is a 1-hour lunch break per day and shorter breaks in the morning and afternoon. The Government attempts to enforce this law in the formal sector, but does not enforce it in the informal sector where the majority of persons work.

 

Health and safety standards exist, but are ignored widely. Workers cannot leave dangerous work conditions without fear of losing their jobs.

 

Foreign workers are protected under the law and enjoy the same rights as citizens.

 

f. Trafficking in Persons

 

There are no laws that specifically prohibit trafficking in persons although traffickers may be prosecuted under other laws; trafficking in persons was a problem. The country primarily is a country of origin and a transit point for trafficked men, women, and children. There were unconfirmed reports that corruption by officials facilitated trafficking.

 

Azerbaijanis are trafficked into northern Europe, particularly to the Netherlands and Germany, where many unsuccessfully seek asylum. Traffickers usually sent women to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Iran, Turkey, or Western Europe, mainly Germany, to work as prostitutes. Women from Iran, Russia, and sometimes Iraq are transported through the country to the UAE, Europe, and occasionally the U.S. for the same purposes. Traffickers generally target women; however, there also were cases in which men and children were victims of trafficking. Traffickers either may be foreigners or ethnic Azerbaijanis who act as middlemen for large trafficking syndicates headquartered abroad.

 

There is no specific law prohibiting trafficking in persons; however, traffickers may be prosecuted under articles prohibiting forced prostitution and labor. Under the new criminal code, the act of forcing an individual into prostitution carries a 10 to 15 year jail term, which is a harsher sentence than in the previous code. During the year, four persons who international organizations consider to be traffickers were prosecuted under forgery laws in the criminal code

 

AZERBAIJAN - SOCIAL SECURITY

Social Security Office of International Programs:

 

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

 

AZERBAIJAN - STANDARD WORKWEEK

The legal workweek is 40 hours. There is a 1-hour lunch break per day and shorter breaks in the morning and afternoon. The Government attempts to enforce this law in the formal sector, but does not enforce it in the informal sector where the majority of persons work.

 

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