Manipulations with dismissals in the Ministry of Emergency Situations: was an ex-employee, personally awarded by the minister, deceived?

Former head of the general department of the Material and Technical Supply Department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Azerbaijan, Faig Agalarov, who was repeatedly awarded honorary certificates and diplomas of distinction by the Minister of Emergency Situations, Colonel-General Kamaleddin Heydarov, stated that he was illegally dismissed from his job.

This is reported by BAKU.WS with reference to Qaynarinfo.

According to Agalarov, he worked in the Material and Technical Supply Department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations from 2009 to 2023, holding various positions - from work executor to head of the general department. During his work, he was never subjected to disciplinary action. On the contrary, Agalarov was repeatedly awarded honorary certificates and diplomas of distinction personally by Minister Kamaleddin Heydarov.

Despite the fact that the Material and Technical Supply Department is part of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, it is a civilian agency and does not belong to the civil service. However, in recent years, the ministry has been carrying out the necessary documentation work to transfer the department, like other agencies of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, to the civil service. Agalarov, as the head of the general department, took an active part in this process and supervised the preparation of the required documents.

From October 2023, employees of the department began to register as civil servants. After that, officials of the relevant departments of the Ministry of Emergency Situations instructed all employees to write statements of resignation of their own free will. Many employees were afraid to write such statements and did not comply with this requirement.

Then representatives of the ministry held a meeting and once again stated that in connection with the department's transition to civil service, all employees must write statements of resignation of their own free will, as well as about accepting the same job, which is now considered civil service. It was promised that by order of the minister, all employees would remain in their previous positions and posts, continue their work activities, and no one would be removed from work. The course of this meeting was recorded by employees of the Material and Technical Supply Department as an audio recording.

After this, at the end of October 2023, all employees wrote two statements - about resignation of their own free will and about accepting the same job, and submitted them to the personnel department of the ministry. On this basis, from December, the dismissal of employees and their return to work began. Most of the approximately 120 employees returned to their positions within a few days of the same month. The rest in the following months were employed at their previous place of work or, at their request, at another job within the ministry.

However, several department employees, including Faig Agalarov, were not provided with a return to positions in the Ministry of Emergency Situations, despite repeated appeals with reminders to the ministry leadership. Almost a year after his dismissal, Agalarov realized that the ministry did not intend to reinstate him. Then he officially appealed to the Ministry of Emergency Situations demanding to issue him a copy of the order on termination of the employment contract and return his work record book. On November 29, 2024, the work record book was returned by the Personnel Department, but a copy of the dismissal order was not provided.

The former head appealed to the court on this matter. A few days ago, a hearing was held at which his claim was not satisfied. The reason given was the expiration of the statute of limitations related to the dismissal.

It is worth noting that the head of the Main Department of Personnel Policy of the Ministry of Emergency Situations is General Sevda Shirinova, and the head of the Material and Technical Supply Department is Elnar Imanov.