Hakob Karapetyan: "Hayk Marutyan has awarded 1628 employees of the system a total of 474 million drams"

The press secretary of the Yerevan Mayor Hakob Karapetyan stated on his Facebook page: "Mayor Hayk Marutyan has awarded a total of 474 million drams to 1628 employees of the system before New Year. This data was published by the mayor during a Facebook press conference held on January 21, 2019 (link in comments). Moreover, Marutyan mentioned that he has not allocated any awards for himself.

During the same press conference, the mayor also informed the public that during the first 100 days of his administration, the community saved around 7 billion drams, which is about fifteen times more than the total awarded amount.

The scale of the holiday bonuses was planned back in December 2017. The current municipal authorities distributed the previously planned bonuses unchanged, deciding to use the efficiency assessment factor for future awards, compensating each employee according to that factor.

The city hall has announced that it is ready to publish the list of beneficiaries if the Ministry of Justice concludes that this publication does not violate personal data protection legislation.

In an interview with Factor.am, Gevorg Hayrapetyan, the head of the Personal Data Protection Agency at the Ministry of Justice, partially presented the stance on the issue, stating that "this is considered personal data, and the employer can only provide it to a third party with the employee's written consent. According to the law on the protection of personal data in the Republic of Armenia, one of the grounds for the legal processing of personal data, including publication, is human consent, as well as the provisions of the law. In cases of bonuses for identifiable individuals, we are dealing with employment relations and personal data of the employee, therefore, Article 134 of the RA Labor Code applies, according to which the employer is obliged not to disclose the employee's personal data to third parties without the employee's written consent, except in cases where it is necessary to prevent a danger to the employee's life and health, as well as in other cases provided by law."

The city authorities believe that the implementation of awards is an effective tool for increasing work efficiency and encouraging the involvement of qualified personnel. The practice of awarding will continue, and the decision to award a particular employee or the amount of bonuses will be determined by assessing the previous period.