“Gazprom Armenia” Inspectors Forced to Pay Off Customers’ Debts: Civil Initiative

In the last two months, the inspectors of “Gazprom Armenia” company had to pay off gas debts of the citizens in the areas under their supervision out of their own pockets, Ani Kaghinyan, “Let's Prevent the Hike in Gas Prices” civil initiative member told Epress.am. According to the activist, their initiative has been alerted of the situation by a number of inspectors. 

“The social conditions of the citizens have worsened, so they are trying to save gas, asking the inspectors to give them time to repay the debts. If, for example, they agree that they would pay on the 25th of the month, but are unable to find the sum, the company management forces the inspectors to pay from their own salaries, on the grounds that they were the ones to come to an agreement in the first place,” Kaghinyan said. 

Since the beginning of the year, she said, the company has even been taking away the credit cards with which the inspectors receive their salaries.

This, as stated by the member of the initiative, is not the only violation of the Labor Legislation by “Gazprom Armenia.” When signing an employment contract, the company, allegedly, forces the inspectors to also sign documents on the termination of the contract with an open termination date. This practice, according to Kaghinyan, has been implemented ever since the days when the company was called “ArmRusGazard.”

“These documents remain with the management, and when the inspector does anything that goes against the policy of the company's management, these contracts come into force, and the inspector is let go,” she said,

An Epress.am reporter spoke to “Gazprom Armenia” spokesperson Shushan Sardaryan, who said that the inspectors who have faced this problem should apply to the management. 
 
When informed by our reporter that the inspectors wished to remain anonymous out of the fear of losing their jobs, Sardaryan responded that she had no knowledge of the employees being forced to pay off the customers' debts.

“We have a hotline, anybody with a complaint can call it. A complaint has to have an addressee, doesn't it?” Sardaryan said.

As for the employment contracts, Sardaryan said that she had to raise the issue with their attorneys, and today, April 4, is not a business day.