A cassation court for administrative cases has settled the dispute over how the work of personal assistants in Qyzylorda should be paid: the 1.3 environmental coefficient will be applied to their remuneration after all. This is reported by infohub.kz.
According to NUR.KZ, citing the Telegram channel "Current News of Cassation Courts," the cassation instance upheld the rulings of the lower courts. Under those rulings, the Qyzylorda employment and social programs department must recalculate payments for the services of three personal assistants.
Since January 2022, the plaintiffs had been providing services as personal assistants to people with first-group disabilities who have difficulty moving. The work was performed 8 hours a day, from 240 to 248 hours a month, continuously throughout the year, and the assistants received monthly payment for the work performed. In addition, mandatory pension contributions and mandatory social health insurance contributions were withheld and transferred from their income.
The plaintiffs asked that a coefficient of 1.3 be applied to payment for their services because they live in environmentally unfavorable conditions. However, the local executive body refused to grant their application.
The first-instance and appellate courts upheld the plaintiffs' claims. The defendant filed a cassation appeal asking that the court rulings be overturned. The cassation court agreed with the conclusions of the lower courts.
The court noted that, in accordance with the Law "On Social Protection of Citizens Affected by the Environmental Disaster in the Aral Sea Region," Qyzylorda is classified as a zone of environmental crisis. Under that Law, the population living in the given territory is assigned a coefficient of 1.3 for wages because of residence in environmentally unfavorable conditions.
The cassation court found that, despite the formalization of relations between the plaintiffs and the local executive body on the basis of a civil-law contract, in practice there were signs of an employment relationship between them. In particular, the personal assistants performed work on a permanent basis in the established manner, provided services 8 hours a day, worked without days off and systematically received monthly payment for the services rendered. At the same time, their ability to work elsewhere was limited.
The court pointed out that, in accordance with the Labor Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the main signs of an employment contract are personal performance of work, submission to the work schedule and receipt of payment for labor. The presence of these signs must be taken into account when determining the actual nature of relations between the parties.
In addition, the assessment and transfer of mandatory pension contributions and mandatory social health insurance contributions for the personal assistants was also assessed as a circumstance confirming the fact of payment for their labor and the existence of an employment relationship.
In this connection, the cassation court concluded that the coefficient of 1.3 must also be applied to the guaranteed amount paid to personal assistants.