Astrakhan Regional Court cancels compensation to school principal for unlawful dismissal

The Regional Court granted the appeal of the Committee on Education and Science of the Administration of Astrakhan on its earlier decision on compensation for unfair dismissal of Nadezhda Gogoleva, Principal of the school No. 74. The Principal does not agree with the decision and intends to appeal to higher courts.

Earlier, the "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 23, 2011, Nadezhda Gogoleva, Principal of the Astrakhan school No. 74, was dismissed from the position for the third time during the last 1.5 years. All three times, the decision on her dismissal was made by Sergey Bozhenov, ex-Mayor of Astrakhan.

According to Nadezhda Gogoleva, that was done "without any explanations." Nadezhda Gogoleva herself believes that her dismissal was caused by her active political activity in the oppositional "Spravedlivaya Rossiya" (Fair Russia) Party.

During the court session, representative of the Committee on Education and Science has challenged salaries paid to Nadezhda Gogoleva during her enforced absence at work. Despite the fact that the prosecutors supported Nadezhda Gogoleva, the Regional Court adhered to the Committee's position and pronounced decision to cancel payment for the forced absence at work caused by the unlawful dismissal.

Commenting on the situation, Gor Apyan, the Nadezhda Gogoleva's representative, the member of the Astrakhan regional trade union organization of education and science of the Russian Federation, said: "The labour legislation does not stipulate direct deductions from salaries. The defendant requests to deduct the amount of forced absence from the compensation paid to Nadezhda Viktorovna for her dismissal."

"The compensation for dismissal of an employee and the payment for enforced absence are different kinds of payments. However, the Regional Court decided differently, and we will go forward to seek justice," said the defender.