Claim against discrimination

On August 9, for the first time ever a lawsuit on illegal difference in salaries of expats and local citizens in foreign companies has started in Atyrau City Court #1.
In May, during the meeting with media the Head of Labor and Public Social Protection Department Timur YESTEBAYEV (on photo) stated that the state agency had lodged a claim against one of the Agip KCO contractors. The case was the discrimination of Kazakh citizens determined in disproportionate difference in salaries of local and expat specialists in foreign companies.
- We intend to establish to satisfaction of the court that this is discrimination and we hope that the case will be a precedent for other foreign companies in our oblast, - then stated Yestebayev.
According to the Head of Press Service of the Oblast Court Boranbai GALIYEV, the respondent party of this unprecedented case is Kazakhstan Caspian Offshore Industries LLP, a joint venture of Rosetti Kazakhstan LLP and MART Machine Building Plant LLP, founded in July 2008 to complete works in oil and gas sector of Caspian region.
Labor Department commented that the mentioned company pays 30,585 tenge per daily hour to an expat electrical technician, but only 10,000 tenge to a local specialist for same job. The difference is 20,585 tenge.
A 2nd category expat instrumentation specialist earns 1.1mln tenge per 28-day rotation. A local specialist holding the same position gets 280,000 tenge for a rotation. There is an apparent difference. The employer’s explanations are the same old story – it is the alleged higher standard of living in expat's home country , lack of qualified workforce in Kazakhstan, etc. However it is obvious that the court pays attention to the legal evaluation of the disproportion, but not the economical point.

By Laura SULEIMENOVA