The Irish subsidiary of a Russian plane leasing company, Avia Capital Leasing Ltd, has been ordered by the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) to compensate its former workers over €30,000 as a result of violating employment rights. The ruling was made despite the company’s claim of inability to pay redundancy due to financial sanctions from the European Union following the Ukraine invasion.
The verdict permits employees to file a reclaim for redundancy against the national social insurance fund. This leaves a chance for the state to subsequently seek reimbursement from the employer. Sofija Krascuka and Alexandra Skavronskaja had filed complaints regarding their employment rights against Avia Capital, with most of the compensations pertaining to unauthorized deductions from their salaries in March and April 2022.
In a separate case, a technical manager, Anton Gremin, was granted compensation for unpaid notice earlier in the week. Regardless of awards summing to €31,738 being dispensed to its three staff, the WRC agreed in their ruling that due to EU sanctions imposed in April 2022, Avia Capital, a subsidiary of Russia’s second-largest state-owned bank, VTB, was unable to pay them.
In the previous year, the company had informed the WRC that it lacked access to funds held by its parent’s German branch, VTB Bank (Europe) SE. The firm had informed its Dublin office workers on April 26th 2022, that their employment was being terminated that day due to circumstances beyond its control.
Stanislav Dobshevich, the Moscow-based attorney representing the aircraft leasing company, stated during a remote WRC hearing in April 2023, “The matter is quite straightforward – our European bank accounts are frozen. We are willing and had promised to compensate workers in Russia using roubles, but the employees declined our offer,” he added. The company’s remaining director, Mikhail Trufanov, confirmed through an interpreter that the Irish office had been closed.
“Management alleged the company was unable to fulfil financial obligations due to frozen bank accounts,” asserted Ms Krascuka and Ms Skavronskaja in their official grievances, which were initially reviewed at an April 2023 hearing. However, no verification of this was provided by the banks in question, they added.
Both women were informed there would be no severance packages as the company intended to preserve its business operations. Yet, they were presented with a “contract of employment termination” to sign on April 14, 2022. They reported a unanimous refusal by the team to sign.
The late Richard Grogan, a renowned employment law expert, previously represented Ms Krascuka and Ms Skavronskaja, who later retained the services of Enfield-based attorney Terry Gorry as the case progressed.
In his assessment of the trio’s redundancy grievances in individual resolution forms, adjudicating official Roger McGrath described the situation as “unfortunate”. He stated that multiple employees had been left in a difficult position due to sanctions placed on Russian businesses following Russia’s decision to initiate a conflict against Ukraine.
McGrath determined that each worker had been made redundant, and was entitled to a lump-sum payment which they did not receive as the company claimed it was “unable to pay”.
Two months’ worth of salaries were secured for both women by Mr McGrath as compensation for what he referred to as the company’s “unlawful reduction” in March and April 2022. They were also awarded an additional week’s pay each for the company’s failure in providing them with a written employment agreement, a contravention of the Employment Terms (Information) Act.
The company had rejected the complaints, but Mr. McGrath sided with the workers as there was no opposing evidence from the employer. Ms Skavronskaja, who was earning €6,300 a month, was awarded a total of €22,558. Meanwhile, Ms Krascuka, with a monthly wage of €2,750, was handed a judgement of €6,188.
Mr. Gremin was acknowledged with an honorary two-week compensation equivalent to €2,992 as per the Payment of Wages Act 1991. This represented his entitlement to two months’ legal notification. In the previous year’s August, he successfully procured an award of €11,970.80 following a pay dispute resolution by the WRC.
Later in July 2023, Elena Bondareva, a former colleague at the same firm, was also granted a pay order amounting to €5,545.74 under similar conditions. Besides, it was declared she was entitled to legal redundancy pay due to her status.