Are labor laws enforced in Uzbekistan?

On April 7, social networks reported that the Minister of Employment and Labor Relations Sherzod Kudbiyev held a meeting in Namangan region.

The event was devoted to development of family entrepreneurship and was attended by representatives of regional, city and district administrations, bankers, as well as employees of other government agencies.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor Relations said that the event was organized within the framework of the law, that is, a decision was made taking into account the norms of labor legislation.

As stated at the Ministry, according to Article 130 of the Labor Code, involvement of individual workers to work on weekends by order of the employer is allowed only in exceptional cases on the grounds and in the manner established in the collective agreement. 

The Ministry also stressed that overtime, weekends and public holidays are paid no less than double the amount paid. In this case, specific amount of payments are established in the collective agreement. In addition, at a request of the employee, work on a holiday or a day off can be compensated by providing another day off. 

According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor Relations, everything was within the law.

It should be recalled that in August 2018, the Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Abdulla Aripov ordered state agencies and local authorities to develop specific working regulations. The corresponding document was signed on August 24. According to the document, activities should be carried out only on schedule, a maximum of 2-3 times a week. At the same time, this event should be allocated 1-1.5 hours. If this is an event of republican significance, then a maximum of 2 hours should be spent. Events should not be organized early in the morning or late in the evening. 

Recently, Kun.uz conducted a survey on the Telegram-channel “Your opinion”. According to the Labor Code, normal duration of working time may not exceed 40 hours per week. Respondents were asked “whether they comply with this norm in Uzbekistan”. Out of 154 respondents, 91% said that the above norm was not being observed in Uzbekistan. Only 9% of respondents believe that this norm is still observed in the republic.

According to one of the Kun.uz sources, in one of the state institutions in Tashkent there is a special Telegram group administrator, which is an employee of the HR department. An interesting fact is that all employees are required to wait for a special signal from management to leave work. Even if the employee has done all the work and he has absolutely nothing to do, he should sit and wait for this signal. The message can come at 9, 10 or 11 pm, depending on the mood of the leadership. If you quit your job, the employee may even be dismissed.

Unfortunately, despite various statements and norms of legislation, labor standards are simply not respected in many places.