The Irish arm of a Russian aircraft leasing firm facing a series of pay and unfair dismissal claims says its staff refused to be paid in roubles after it was hit by sanctions last year.
Avia Capital Leasing Ltd secured adjournments at the Workplace Relations Commission on Tuesday in two employment rights cases taken by former staff, arguing it was not properly on notice. The adjournment will also allow an Irish legal professional to continue to look for a waiver from the sanctions regime to represent them.
A senior finance manager, Alexandra Skavronskaja, and her colleague, Sofija Krascuka, have both alleged breaches of the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977, the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act 1973 and the Payment of Wages Act 1991 against the company – with Ms Skavronskaja further alleging a breach of the Organisation of Working Time Act 2004 over her holiday entitlements.
The company, a subsidiary of the second-largest bank in Russia, the state-owned VTB, said today it has no access to funds lodged with its parent’s German division, VTB Bank (Europe) SE.
“The issue is pretty simple – we don’t have bank accounts which aren’t frozen in Europe,” the firm’s Moscow-based lawyer, Stanislav Dobshevich, said in a submission to a remote hearing.
In complaint forms submitted to the WRC, opened at separate hearings today, both complainants alleged they got their pay for March 2022 late and were not paid at all for April that year.
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“Management claimed [the] company couldn’t complete payments due to blocked bank accounts; however, bank representatives didn’t confirm this information,” they said in their complaints.
They each said they were told there would be no redundancy payments as the company intended to continue its operations – but were asked to sign an “employment termination agreement” on April 14th that year.
“Everyone from [the] team didn’t agree to sign,” the workers stated in their complaint forms.
The complainants further allege the firm told them in an email: “The presence of signed agreement[s] will strengthen the company’s position in negotiations with banks to fulfil obligations.”
Notices of termination came on April 24th, 2022, effective April 26th, the complainants said – Ms Skavronskaja stating that this was the “next business day” for the firm.
“We are actually willing to pay wages to employees and moreover, [they] were promised to pay for their troubles in roubles in Russia, where the entity only has option to pay,” Mr Dobshevich said. “Employees refused [our] proposal to receive wages in roubles in Russia, on a separate account where we can actually perform the payment,” he added.
Mr Dobshevich added that the company had not received the complaint forms, as the company had shut down its Irish offices – adding that its Irish directors and legal secretaries had resigned when the sanctions hit.
Speaking via an interpreter, the firm’s remaining director, Mikhail Trufanov, confirmed that the firm’s Irish offices were closed.
VTB Group head of legal affairs, Anna Radzina, told the tribunal that the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, BaFin, had blocked its division there from taking instructions from VTB headquarters in St Petersburg, and that a liquidator had been appointed.
Ms Radzina said it was not clear whether any funds would be returned to Avia Capital Leasing in Ireland in that process.
There was no objection to the company’s adjournment motion from Ms Krascuka, but it was resisted by Ms Skavronskaja.
The workers both said they had instructed the legal firm of the late Richard Grogan, but represented themselves at hearing.
Adjudicating officer Roger McGrath suggested they seek advice elsewhere on their redundancy entitlements.
Mr McGrath said he would prefer for the cases to go ahead, but “in the circumstances” he would put them back – adding that it was likely to be a number of months before their cases would be listed again.
