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Czech MP questions Pelivan case

Croatian Times

A Czech MP has warned that an anti-discrimination claim against the Czech Republic in the European Court of Human Rights launched by a Croatian journalist is damaging the country’s reputation.

Snjezana Pelivan took her case to the Strasbourg court after she was sacked by the Prague-based Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) – which is financed by the US Congress - five years ago claiming that the Czech Republic failed to protect her rights.

Now Czech MP Vaclav Exner has written to Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer about the case.

He wrote: "There is a danger of further internationalization of the court litigation, for Ms. Pelivan requests that Croatia is invited to the proceedings of European Court in her case. Is your government considering the active approach to the solution of the problem -- for instance, by negotiations with the Radio, with the parties involved in lawsuits, and with American institutions, in order, on one hand, to curtail the practice and consequences of applying ‘the policies of the Company’ (evidently, only in Czech Republic), and, on the other hand, to stop the campaign in mass media and the lawsuits that will not end necessarily in favour of the Czech Republic?"

The case has attracted international attention.

Pelivan claims she was sacked without warning or being given a reason for her dismissal. She said there were no disciplinary measures taken beforehand and she received no compensation for her years worked at the station.

Rights groups claim that as a foreigner working for a US employer outside the United States, she, unlike RFE/RL American employees, was explicitly excluded from protection by American labour laws and jurisdiction of American courts but that because her contract with RFE/RL stated that her labour relations are governed by US laws, Czech courts denied her the protection of Czech labour legislation that covers Czech employees of the American Radio in Prague.

In her Application to the European Court of Human Rights, Pelivan claims that the Czech Republic not only accepts direct discrimination of the Radio's foreign employees but, by its court decisions, contributes to the status of legal vacuum created for them by RFE/RL. That is totally inadmissible in the country, which is a member of European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

Exner warned the case "applies potentially to over three hundred RFE/RL Prague employees who are not Czech or American citizens" and that what he says is a discriminatory employment "policy of the Company" did not exist when RFE/RL was located in Munich, Germany, prior to its relocation to Prague, and is not used presently in any of RFE/RL 19 foreign bureaus.

"What is your position concerning that fact? Are you going to take any steps in order to preclude the damage to the reputation of our country?" he said.

Tag cloud relations  employer  Prague  reputation  American  Czech  laws  Radio  court  Exner  European  stated  lawsuits  Human  discrimination  protection  Pelivan  Court  Croatian  labour

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