Between July – August 2010, Ms. Joelle Le Morzellece, the Rector of the French University in Armenia Foundation (UFAR) has illegally dismissed 29 professors employed in different departments, justifying the dismissals with the fact that their employment contracts had expired.

This decision was illegal from its inception since the noted employment contracts’ duration was 1 year – 25.10.2007 – 01.09.2008 and after that period the professors were still employed.

Thus, according to the RoA labor legislation their employment contracts became contracts concluded for infinite duration.

Despite all this, Ms. Morzellece celebrated the 10th anniversary of UFAR and presented the dismissal as a gift to the professors having taught at UFAR for 10 years now.

The dismissed professors sent claims in written form to different state officials and institutions both in Armenia and France. Among them one should mention the claim sent to Mr. Serzh Sargsyan, RoA President, which was in its turn the RoA President’s Administration sent to the RoA Agency of Labour.

The latter conducted certain investigations in UFAR and found out that the employment contracts are considered to be concluded for an infinite duration, thus they cannot be terminated with the basis of expiration, which was to be proved.

The RoA Minister of Education and Science also expresses the opinion that the rights of the professors were violated. Whereas Mr. Arthur Baghdasaryan, the President of Board of Trustees of the French University of Armenia Foundation, neither responded the claim of the professors, nor met them, regardless of the fact that some of the dismissed professors resigned from their moonlighted positions in order to be considered fixed-term employees of the University.

As to Mr. Armen Harutyunyan, the RoA Human Rights Defender, who teaches at the University (but as per our information he was one of the dismissed candidates), and whose son is a student, and also the Head of the Student’s Council of UFAR, responded to the claim after 2 months when 13 dismissed professors had already filed a suit to first instance courts of Arabkir and Kanaker-Zeytun administrative regions in Yerevan with the demand to restore employment and expropriate all amounts for compulsory truancy.

Later the demands to duly register employment in the labor books of claimants and to reimburse all amounts for 7 years of annual vacation were added to the claim.

To justify the last two demands the claimants submitted to the court the bank statements for their accounts held in ACBA Credit Agricole Bank and the written response of the Embassy of France in Armenia.

According to those documents the bank statements convey no information about vacation fees, whereas the University presented a notification confirming the payment of 2004-2009 vacation fees, sealed and signed by V. Meyroyan, the UFAR Administrative and Finance Director.

As to the duly registration of employment in labor books, UFAR refuses to register professors’ employment starting the year of 2000 and makes the registration starting the year of 2004.

They reason this with the fact that the professors did not pay state taxes for the period of 2000-2004, whereas, as employer, the University should have paid the taxes. Thus one can assume that the professors received salaries for 2000-2004 period but were not employees.

It is worth mentioning that in accordance with the court decision, the UFAR was forbidden to conclude contracts for an infinite duration until the final court decision came into force. So, in this regard, the University is not in a very favourable condition and students suffer most: they do not receive education (calculated in class hours) in correspondence with the tuition fee they pay.

Factors contributing to all of the mentioned above are the ignorance and lack of professionalism of the Rectrice of UFAR and her “satellites”, the management crisis in the University and the efforts to recruit staff by nepotism.

The above mentioned people did not get content with recruiting their personal acquaintances into the UFAR teaching staff and taking an advantage of Ms. Morzellece’s weakness and lack of criticality, on illegal grounds dismissed 29 professors.

What can Ms. Morzellece be aware of, if she is not in Armenia for months on yet maintaining her high salary, whereas this time is not wasted by Mr. Arayik Navoyan, the UFAR Deputy Rector.By enacting his administrative methods he violated the rights of both the students, the professors and the administrative staff and created an unbearable and intolerable environment.

As to Mr. Alexander Martinetti, the UFAR Secretary General, he needs to undergo a serious psychological testing since someone like him holding a Bachelor’s Degree and being in such a psychologically unbalanced condition, cannot express opinions about people having twice more professional backgrounds and expertise.

Professors illegally dismissed by UFAR set up a non-governmental organization entitled “Union of Professors” on 25 October 2010. It will continue its activities after the court decision as well.

The Union of professors prepared letters detailing the present situation in UFAR and will send them to the Embassy of France in Armenia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France and Lion-3 University in France.

The next court session will be held on 24 November presided by judge A. Danielyan, who performs his work with high professionalism and in accordance with the RoA law, and only a legal and just court decision will put an end to this conflict.