The employees of the Constitutional Court exploded: they appealed to state institutions before the president of the court, Dainius Žalimas himself

The eight signatories to the complaint, among whom, according to sources, are from the judges of the CC, are outraged that they will not be able to go on regular vacations in the summer months of this year.

Until then, it had been the order of the institution for several years that in the summer the CC did not work for a month and a half, and the employees were on vacation at the same time.

CC employees call this a violation of employee rights, and D. Žalimas is also accused of “psychological violence”.

D. Žalimas himself says that he knows nothing about such a complaint, and also assures that he has not heard any complaints from employees regarding the nonexistent leave.

Meanwhile, the State Labor Inspectorate has launched an investigation into the complaint, and its boss, the Republic of Lithuania’s Chief State Labor Inspector Jonas Gricius, says he sees signs of a labor conflict in the situation.

Indignant publication on Facebook

The CC employees’ complaint was born after the latter read the fact that CC will not take vacations this summer, as usual until now, on the Facebook account of the president of social networks of CC D. Žalimas.

On June 29 of this year, D. Žalimas wrote on the Internet: “I wonder why nobody has offered to sew the robes of the judges so far. For practical reasons. At least for the summer season. While it may be a good thing that no one offers it, such an outfit would be too relaxing and tempting to get caught in sandals. Just a hundred meters from the beach of the Constitutional Court (as in Batumi, for example), just without the sea. And from Gediminas Avenue, the heat and the roar of tourists flow. But why am I here? Let’s change! No, this summer the Constitutional Court will not be leaving as usual in a month and a half. There will be no summer break for the judges. Well, if it’s a vacation, it’s just individual people, and it’s only for a relatively short time. It just happened like that. It is a non-standard year in all respects. “

Such text, according to the complainants, was the drop that filled the glass of his patience.

“Employees of a state institution find out about their institution’s plans on the manager’s private Facebook page. Is this normal? Mr. Žalimas is” non-standard years “and, therefore, the employees of the Constitutional Court are not They will have a normal vacation! But each of us have children, parents, loved ones, plans. The team is excited, people are nervous. Already in the middle of the year, the acting head of the CC did not coordinate or coordinate any problem related to the leave with employees. Our team worked hard during the quarantine, and the summer holidays are not I. My pags. A gift of greenery or grace for a team. This is a right we have earned, “say employees of the CC in the complaint.

Greening: I have not heard any complaints

When asked to comment on the situation, the acting head of the Constitutional Court, D. Žalimas, sent his responses in writing through Giedrė Maksimaitytė, a public relations adviser.

“The administration of the Constitutional Court is not aware of the recourse mentioned before the State Labor Inspectorate and the Government of the Republic of Lithuania. There have been no complaints about annual leave in the Tribunal itself, “the letter said.

The representative of D. Žalimas says that “CC employees are not deprived of the opportunity to take vacations during the summer months”, and in response to the question why holiday hours for CC employees have not been planned so far, says the coronavirus is to blame.

“Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the quarantine announced in the spring disrupted the normal annual vacation planning process, with each worker being individually consulted on their summer leave to optimally balance the worker’s needs and the public interest I remind you that the President of the CC decides only on the leave of the judges and the Secretary. The chancellor of the CC decides on the leave of all other employees “, G. Maksimaitytė gave him the answer of D. Žalimas.

Without the chancellor – since February

Delfi recalls that Ingrida Danėlienė worked as Registrar of the Constitutional Court from 2015 to February of this year.

The woman voluntarily resigned. This was explained by her future career at the Constitutional Court: in December of last year, the President of the Seimas Viktoras Pranckietis presented the candidacy of I. Danėlienė to the Seimas as candidates for the post of judge of the Constitutional Court.

However, the Seimas did not approve the proposed candidates for a Constitutional Court judge.

Vaidas Lubauskas has been appointed temporary head of the CC Chancellery, and he still holds this position.

The duties of D. Žalimas, the judge responsible for the activities of the CC and the former president of this court, are also temporary. His term as president of the CC ended in March of this year.

Accused of psychological violence.

CC employees, who have approached various state institutions, say it would be worth talking to D.’s employees about their vacation times in Žalimas, not on social media, but on the computer.

“It has to be discussed not with Facebook, but with the team, and the employees do not have a few days, but all the permits that we all have by law. We all have lives and plans, not only D. Žalimas and his cynical desire to save on vacation in this way, and when new CC judges are appointed, to receive higher severance pay. The fact that no one informs us, leaving us and our families in complete ignorance, is the most serious violation not only of the labor relations but also human rights. This is the safest psychological violence perpetrated by D. Žalimas against employees. The damage has already been done, and the full licensing in July-August will continue to apply. We will no longer allow our Families and loved ones are harmed, we will not allow them to worry about a person’s personal selfishness, we will no longer allow them to break the law. We have been silent for a long time, but the situation it has become quite bad, ”we wrote in the employees’ complaint to the State Labor Inspectorate.

Among the complaints is the legitimacy of the powers of the government.

Meanwhile, G. Maksimaitytė, the representative of D. Žalimas, says that this summer the Constitutional Court must resolve a series of important cases, one of them, as a matter of urgency.

“Therefore, this year will not be the usual 1.5-2 months. Pauses in the procedures. The permission of the judges and employees is organized in such a way that the uninterrupted work of the CC is guaranteed, in particular, the efficient handling of As a result, most judges and staff leave the first two weeks of August. Of the 45 employees of the CC Chancellery, 35 people have already been granted annual leave during the summer months, “states the reply.

D. Žalimas himself admits that the CC is waiting for a summer of work, in the same publication on Facebook, which caused the anger of the employees.

“The Constitutional Court will have a busy summer schedule:

– An application for removal from office of President of the Civil Cases Division of the Supreme Court of Lithuania will be considered out of order;
– The request regarding compliance with the amount of compensation for the use of land easements established for the benefit of electricity grid operators with the Constitution has already been examined in the written procedure;
– There is a pending case in two non-return requests;
– Very close requests for the procedure for allocating funds from the state budget for research of universities and research institutes, a new version of the Referendum Law;
– The Government’s request for laws that establish the financing of certain programs, funds or institutions is important to plan the state budget;
– Relevant applications for higher education institutions for people over 65 years old. the right of professors and research workers (art) to work at the Vilnius University, the obligation of a higher education institution to revoke the qualification of a higher education institution;
– Requests from groups of Seimas members regarding the competence of directly elected mayors and the powers once again granted to the Government are no less important for the life of the state.

And almost twenty other petitions and even more individual constitutional complaints waiting their turn … Some of the issues listed simply cannot be postponed. That is what we will not delay. Although I do not rule out the possibility that some cases are heard with feet soaked in cold water. Because it is obvious that summer will definitely not change their agenda for ours, “says D. Žalimas in a famous Facebook post.

Delfi recalls that the CC is awaiting the examination of the complaint presented by the members of the group Seimas and about the legality of granting powers to the renewed Government of Saulius Skvernelis. Parliamentarians doubt whether the government formed after the election of the country’s new president did not need Seimas approval for its program.

See signs of a labor dispute

Meanwhile, the head of the State Labor Inspectorate J. Gricius says that the complaint received from CC employees has been accepted for investigation and as a result an investigation has been launched.

“We have launched an investigation into the complaint. We need to know all the circumstances, listen to both parties, and assess what the prior practice was of persuasive employee leave, and how much that practice was, so to speak, customary, and to what extent it was regulated by law. In any case, I see signs of a labor dispute in this situation. In that case, the quickest and most fair way would be to hear the complaint in the Labor Disputes Commission, whose decisions have the force of a binding order The complaint has not yet been investigated, “said J. Gricius, the head of VDI, who was interviewed by Delfi.

Observing the dates of the examination of the complaints announced publicly by the Constitutional Court and the adoption of decisions, it can be seen that, p. Last year, the Constitutional Court was on leave from mid-July to the end of August, in 2018 from mid-June to the end of July, and so on.

Skvernel had not heard any complaints

The complaint of eight CC employees was also addressed to the State Labor Inspectorate before the Seimas committees, the Head of Government S. Skvernelis, the Minister of Social Security and Labor, Linas Kukuraitis, and the Administration of National Courts.

However, the latter affirm that they do not intervene in the examination of said complaint, although they admit that they are familiar with it.

The exception is Prime Minister S. Skvernelis, whose adviser, Tomas Beržinskas, transmitted the following response from the Head of Government: “The Prime Minister is not familiar with the complaint.”

Meanwhile, Rūta Andriuškaitė, Head of the Communication Division of the Administration of National Courts, sent the following position from the institution: “The Administration of National Courts has received an appeal from the employees of the Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court does not belong to the ordinary system of general jurisdiction and specialized courts, therefore, the National Courts Administration does not serve this court and does not have the right to evaluate and examine the information presented in accordance with its jurisdiction. “

Agnė Širinskienė, the chairperson of the Seimas Law and Order Committee, “peasant”, confirmed that she had seen a complaint to Seimas committees by CC employees, but said that parliamentarians would not investigate it because “politicians have no right to interfere in the work of the competent authorities, in this case