Compensation to be paid to 26 former “Maestro TV” employees by Studio Maestro Ltd – BMG has won a labor dispute over four years, in all judiciary instances. The Supreme Court of Georgia, by its decision of February 3, 2021, upheld the decision of the Tbilisi City Court of June 25, 2018. The case concerns the lawsuit of 27 employees of BMG, who were fired by “Maestro TV’s” management on June 14, 2016. Employees filed a class-action lawsuit against the employer, although one of the employees later withdrew the lawsuit. The court annulled Studio Maestro Ltd’s dismissal orders and ordered the company to pay a full one-year salary, salary arrears, and a penalty for breach of contract as compensation to former employees, which is calculated from 2016 and is 0.07% of the monthly salary of former employees. The interests of the former employees of “Maestro” were defended by the Georgian Trade Union Confederation lawyers.
On February 10, 26 former employees of “Maestro” sent an official appeal to government agencies. The recipients are:
- Ministry of Justice of Georgia
- Parliament of Georgia
- Georgian National Communications Commission
- LEPL National Agency of Public Registry
- LEPL Revenue Service
- City Court of Georgia
- Court of Appeals of Georgia
- Supreme Court of Georgia
- Public Defender of Georgia
“Do not allow “Maestro” to avoid financial responsibility” – it is written in the open appeal:
“We would like to inform you that twenty-seven BMG employees were fired by the management of “Maestro TV” (Studio Maestro Ltd.) on June 14, 2016. We, employees, filed a class-action lawsuit against the former employer on July 1, 2016, although one of the employees later withdrew the lawsuit. Our interests were defended in court by the Georgian Trade Union Confederation. Our claim was the annulment of orders, reinstatement in service, compensation for loss of pay, payment of salary, reimbursement of unused leave, and a penalty for breach of contract.
The four-year labor dispute between BMG members and Studio Maestro Ltd. ended with our victory. The Supreme Court of Georgia, in its decision of February 3, 2021, upheld the decision of the Tbilisi City Court of June 25, 2018. The Court of Appeals upheld this decision on December 23, 2019, which was also appealed by Studio Maestro in the Supreme Court, while the Supreme Court upheld the decision. The court annulled Studio Maestro Ltd’s dismissal orders and ordered the company to pay a full one-year salary, salary arrears, and a penalty for breach of contract as compensation to former employees, which is calculated from 2016 and is 0.07% of the monthly salary of former employees.
After four years of waiting, we proved our truth. All three instances of Georgian Courts met our demands. Now we are left with only one demand – the effective and timely execution of the Supreme Court decision. Given that Studio Maestro Ltd. and we operate in the field of media, we have reasonable doubts that in the coming days, Studio Maestro Ltd. intends to carry out such financial-legal processes within the organization, which will prevent them from the enforcement of the decision of the Supreme Court of February 3, 2021, as well as the fulfillment of financial obligations to us. This deliberate act will, once again, disregard and abuse our rights and deprive us of the chance to get what belongs to us after a long wait and once and for all, end this long-standing dispute, which was undoubtedly a tremendous psychological pressure for each of us.
We want to inform you that in the context of the dispute, we have repeatedly appealed to the court to apply a measure to secure the claim because we realized that the company could take specific actions to avoid liability. Still, the court rejected the motion, arguing that “Maestro TV” was a media outlet and refrained from interrupting broadcasting. However, today this risk is real.
For almost six years, we have never felt the interest and support of any government organization in our trials or towards the fact that the scheduling of trials was very protracted in each instance, which in practice was very strange (not to mention the procedural violations of deadlines).
We ask you to take an interest in this case, follow the processes mentioned above, and do everything to prevent Studio Maestro Ltd from avoiding financial responsibility.”
