BRATISLAVA, January 25, (WEBNOVINY) — The Bratislava Regional Court has to wait in the case of the so-called salary discrimination lawsuit of judge O.G. for the decision of the Constitutional Court. The judge is one of about 700 judges who have filed discrimination lawsuits in which they claim around EUR 70 million from the state in compensation, as their salaries are lower than those paid to judges serving at the Special Criminal Court.
Spokesman for the Justice Ministry Peter Bubla said the Constitutional Court has accepted a complaint of the Slovak Republic represented by the Justice Ministry for further proceeding. It complied at the same time with the ministry’s proposal and postponed the enforceability of the decision of the Supreme Court from August 2010 until the day when the decision on the constitutional complaint lodged by the ministry comes into effect. The postponement of the enforceability means in practice that the Bratislava Regional Court cannot continue proceeding in the matter of the so-called anti-discrimination lawsuit of judge O.G.
The constitutional complaint filed by the ministry concerned the decision-making of the Supreme Court on objections of bias towards justices of the Bratislava Regional Court in the so-called discrimination complaint of judge O.G. The Justice Ministry contested the violation of the right of having the case heard before an independent and unbiased court and the right to a judge picked in line with the law. According to the ministry, the contested decision of the Supreme Court was issued by a senate which cannot be considered a senate set up in line with the law and which was not determined in line with the work schedule. In this case, the Supreme Court president changed the work schedule in order to entrust one single senate with cases of exclusion of regional court judges, which the ministry believes is circumventing the law-set principle of random assignment of cases to judges. The ministry has appealed the resolution in question also because biased judges who have filed similar lawsuits were not excluded from the decision-making process in the case solved at the Bratislava Regional Court.
Judges are suing Slovakia for alleged discrimination claiming that they receive lower salaries than their colleagues at the Special Court established to deal with cases of high profile corruption and organized crime. Current leadership at the Ministry of Justice, which represents the Slovak Republic in legal disputes, has adopted a clear position in this matter – it considers the lawsuits ungrounded and calls on courts to dismiss them. The ministry has also pointed out that judges that filed these lawsuits and decide on the same kind of disputes are biased and should be excluded from deciding on these cases. “The Ministry of Justice under my leadership is behaving like a responsible attorney of a client, which is the Slovak Republic and its citizens. I am sending a word to all Slovak citizens that we are determined to defend their interests by all available means and instruments,” says Minister of Justice Lucia Zitnanska.
The Ministry of Justice is also involved in more proceedings, where other institutions like Parliament, Cabinet or individual courts feature, besides consistent argumentation in over 200 disputes in court. The ministry has also filed a complaint at the Constitutional Court regarding the alleged discrimination lawsuits.
SITA