Svetlahorsk: social activist denied employment

Civil society activist Ihar Pesikau has been trying to get employed for several years already. The local authorities are consequently making him a “social parasite”.

Using the legal ways to get employed, Ihar Pesikau keeps receiving refusals at various levels. Earlier, the activist allowed critical remarks in the local press about the actions of the state officials who closed a sports school in 2009. That's how trainer Ihar Pesikau lost his job. In 2012 he tried to become a candidate for the House of Representatives, but was not registered for formal reasons. Instead, he became persona non grata for the local officials.

Having received another employment denial, the activist went to court. April 2, 2015, the Svetlahorsk District Court turned his lawsuit against the refusal of the state educational establishment “Social education center of Svetlahorsk", which he deemed as unreasonable, unlawful and discriminatory.

January 27 Ihar Pesikau, as unemployed, was officially directed to the social education centre by the Department for Labour, Employment andSocial Protection of the Svetlahorsk District Executive Committee in order to be employed there. However, the head of the centre refused to do it referring to the lack of vacancies.

“As I learned the employer was going to employ a citizen of a foreign country, the self-proclaimed People's Republic of Donetsk, and issued an appropriate order on February 5,” argues the resident of Svetlahorsk.

Mr. will appeal this decision at the Homel Regional Court. “My qualifications and experience fully meet the requirements of the office position, as I used to work as a teacher in educational institutions subordinated to the department of education of the Svetlahorsk District Executive Committee from 1982 to 2010. I have a higher pedagogic education, which corresponds to the qualification requirements for the position of a teacher at a social education centre. However, the employer refused to employ me without checking my qualification. By the way, according to the legislation, foreign immigrants can be employed to a vacancy only when it proves to be impossible to employ Belarusian citizens or foreign citizens who reside in Belarus,” commented Ihar Pesikau.

Earlier he tried to get employed in Svetlahorsk, but received employment denials for various reasons. Appeals to courts brought no results.