Employer Cannot Dismiss Employee for Not Being Vaccinated or Tested, Zhora Sargsyan

The employer cannot dismiss an employee if they have not been vaccinated or tested. This was stated by Zhora Sargsyan, head of the Department of Labor and Employment of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, during a news conference at the Armenpress press club today.

“Yes, there is the health minister's order No. 65, but the Labor Code does not have a corresponding basis that would allow the employer to dismiss an employee if, for example, they have not been tested. This must be clearly established. The state, as an employer, is now circulating a new draft to amend the Law on Public Services, which clearly outlines these regulations. According to these, if an employee does not get tested and, for example, does not show up for work for 30 days for that reason, the employer can dismiss them. If the draft is approved, then subsequently such regulations can be applied to public officials and public service personnel, meaning they can be dismissed,” Sargsyan said.

“For other cases, there are no such regulations, and there isn't even a draft for amendments. The employers are the state and the private sector, and the state is making such proposals, but there is no such consideration regarding the private sector since this is viewed in the context of public health, not employer-employee legal relations. Here it is not considered as employer-employee legal relations, which would lead to the termination of the employment contract,” Sargsyan elaborated.