Plumber sacked for supporting independent candidate

Mikalai Zalozny is a member of the initiative group of parliamentary candidate Leanid Padbyaretski.

He met pressure at work long ago, Viasna human rights centre reports.

Pavel Shyshou, the head of dormitories in Mikalai Zalozny's area of responsibility, required him to tell for which candidate he worked and to which opposition party he belonged. Mikalai Zalozny says he faced pressure at work after he was told he was a member of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party. The activist was deprived of bonuses for July and August and received reprimands. He began to receive only base salary without extra pay. He was offered to resign or sign a new employment agreement with a very low salary.  Mikalai Zalozny refused to sign the new agreement.

Human rights activist Barys Bukhel notes the dismissal was caused by significant changes in work conditions.

“Working conditions were deliberately worsened for the employee (his salary was decreased). He didn't agree with that and resigned with two-week compensation. We will see if this situation complies with the Labour Code. If we find any violations of the labour legislation, we will go to a court to appeal against the imposed sanctions and dismissal,” the human rights activist says.

Parliamentary candidate Leanid Padbyaretski is surprised by the incident.

“I think it is political discrimination. Involvement in political campaigns should not be a reason for exerting pressure on members of initiative groups, whether someone's bosses like it or not. We will look into the situation,” Leanid Padbyaretski says.