Another dismissed museum employee wins lawsuit against the Minister of Culture of Georgia

Litigation against the Minister of Culture

Giorgi Jhamburia, another employee of the National Museum of Georgia, dismissed during a “purge” of personnel by the Minister of Culture of Georgia Teya Tsulukiani, has won a lawsuit against her.

Along with recognition of the dismissal as illegal, the court ordered the defendant to pay compensation and the amount of wages from the date of dismissal until the execution of the decision.

Giorgi Jamburia was fired in January 2022. This was preceded by the announcement of a reorganization in the museum, the goals of which, according to experts, were not structural changes and optimization, but the elimination of objectionable personnel:

“Our claim was based, among other things, on assessment of Jamburia’s skills done by the museum as not objective. Thus his dismissal was unreasonable, which the court confirmed.”

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After the appointment of Teya Tsulukiani as Minister of Culture, dozens of employees of the National Museum were fired. The ministry cites “reorganization” as the reason. Some of the dismissed employees have already won court cases.

On October 26, 2022, Guga Gogadze, fired as a result of the personnel purge, won a labor dispute in the Tbilisi Court of Appeal.

“The mass layoff decision made by the court is already the second precedent that will be of particular importance for labor disputes and other dismissed cultural workers,” the Center for Social Justice said in a statement.

At this stage there are ten cases in progress, only three of which have been decided in court; in all three cases the dismissal order was declared invalid, and the defendants were ordered to pay compensation determined by the court. The first to win their trial was Dinara Vachnadze.

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“We call on Minister Tsulukiani to stop the persecution of highly professional personnel in the field of culture because of their dissent and take into account their requirements, allow people with relevant competencies and experience to work and give them the opportunity to continue working to protect cultural heritage monuments, museum exhibits and national treasures of Georgia,” – the Center for Social Justice (CSS), SAIA and ISFED, which represent the interests of some of those dismissed by Teya Tsulukiani, said in a statement.