Statements

The magistrate court of Tkibuli satisfied the claims of the civil servants T.T and E.G., who were represented by ISFED, and annulled the decision regarding their dismissal from service and enlistment into a reserve. By the same decision, the City Hall of Tkibuli municipality was instructed to issue a new act on the basis of a thorough study and investigation of the circumstances. According to the explanation given by the court, the need to dismiss the plaintiffs from job in the conditions of reorganization was not properly justified by the City Hall of Tkibuli Municipality. 

T.T. had been working in Tkibuli City Hall since 2014 and before her dismissal, she held the position of the head of the organizational department of the second rank of the secondary structural unit of the administrative service of Tkibuli Municipality City Hall. Egnate was employed in Tkibuli City Hall since 1999. Before his dismissal, he held the position of senior specialist of the third rank of the first category of the administrative service of Tkibuli City Hall. Disciplinary measures were not taken at any time during their work in the municipality and their evaluations were impeccable.

Unfortunately, the court has not drawn its conclusion regarding other claims, such as, in case of the reinstatement of the employee, what will be the severance pay for the missed working days and class allowance; in case of impossibility of reinstatement, will the defendant required to pay compensation. As a result, the dismissed persons will have to appeal the decision to a higher instance.

It should be noted that as a result of the October 2021 Municipal Elections, a new mayor - Davit Cherkezishvili - was elected in Tkibuli City Hall, who immediately began to make personnel changes according to his personal views. Soon after his election, in December, the mayor employed people engaged in his pre-election campaign through labor contracts. On February 17, 2022, the official reorganization started by the order. Those released as a result of the reorganization were officially informed that their positions were canceled as a result of the reorganization. However, as it became known later, the number of the City Hall staff did not decrease, and that there were vacant positions. According to the practice of the Supreme Court of Georgia, the reorganization process carried out in the public institutions must meet the standards established by the law and court decisions, which was not clearly respected by the Tkibuli City Hall.

In the process of reorganization, the administrative body did not follow the principle of selecting the best; the professional skills, qualifications and other mandatory characteristics of the officials were not evaluated in terms of determining the suitability of their candidacies for the position of equal/or lower rank. No alternative or equivalent lower-ranking position was offered to those dismissed. The decision taken by the administrative body should be based on solid arguments, and the official subject to reorganization should have a feeling that the authorized person has considered and evaluated his/her professional and personal skills.

It should also be noted that the fund for the monthly salary of officials of Tkibuli City Hall has increased as a result of the reorganization.

As a result of the reorganization, on the one hand, the need for reducing the staff is made and, on the other hand, the increase in the salary fund is observed. These two are mutually exclusive and indicate the possible priority of the leadership's own interests in the process. 

ISFED’s lawyer Megi Bakuridze is defending the interests of the dismissed public officials in the court. 

ISFED, with support from the USAID Rule of Law Program and the Open Society Foundations, is implementing the Strategic Litigation Project, which provides free legal aid to individuals fired on allegedly political grounds.

If you believe that you have been dismissed from your job on political grounds, call or write to us: 0 800 100 143; info@isfed.ge