A few days ago, David Manukyan, political scientist, member of “I am against” initiative, stated that the initiative has received calls from employees of a number of organization that they are forced to choose pension funds, which the employer has no right, as the Constitutional Court has suspended the pension reform law regarding this clause. A number of secondary schools and kindergartens are among these organizations. These organizations are “ArmSwissBank”, “Electric Networks of Armenia”, and “Garant Insurance”. Aravot.am received clarifications from the listed companies regarding the widespread alarm calls. Natalia Sarjanyan, Head of ENA Public Relations and Media Department, stated that not pressures are imposed on anybody and conveyed the following, “I am hearing something like that for the first time that people are said, moreover, are forced to choose a fund. There is no such thing. At this point, nothing is withdrawn, because the law is suspended. The law with regard to funds is suspended, we are the talks about.”
Aravot.am has sent a written request to the Ministry of Education regarding the same matter. Ministry informed us that the answer would follow soon. We received the following written response from ArmSwissBank, “In response to your request, we inform that ArmSwissBank CJSC once again staying faithful to its principles will display political neutrality regarding the RA Law on Funded Pensions and law enforcement issues. In the meantime, the Bank will be guided by the requirements of RA legislation. At the same time, we would like to inform you that ArmSwissBank CJSC would compensate its employees for deducted amounts of their net salaries caused by the mandatory payments defined by RA Law on “Funded Pensions”.
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
