During the change of government in Armenia in 2018, one of the most important promises of Nikol Pashinyan was that there would be no mass-firing during his tenure. He announced that on April 30 during the meeting with the MPs. In fact, time showed that those were just words. During these months, a lot of news had been received that the newly-appointed officials of different departments were organizing mass dipossal of employees. For example, at the St. Gregory the Illuminator Medical Center, the newly appointed director fired the employees at his will, and Hayk Marutyan, in his turn, was dismissing the heads of the departments after being elected as mayor. Marutyan either replenishes the staff members with his actor-friends and close associates or gives the preference to the members of the My Step Alliance.
Mass dismissal has also been carried out in Shirak province. Maralik resident Misha Zhazhoyan has published an open letter, which rang alarm bells that mass dismissal had been taking place in Shirak province despite Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s assurance that professional employees would continue to work. He presented the case related to the director of the Maralik Health Center as proof of the aforementioned. The next case is again related to the healthcare sector.
The regional coordinators for the Ararat, Aragatsotn, Kotayk and Shirak provinces of the “Republican Veterinary-sanitary and Phytosanitary Center of Laboratory Services” SNCO complain that the SNCO operates unjustly and illegally as a result of which 14 people were dismissed without any grounds.
Immediately after the "Revolution", the authorities began with cleansing in the State Revenue Committee, which is currently one of the most well-known corrupt structures due to the multi-million problematic cash awards for the employees. By Nikol Pashinyan's decision, the Deputy Chairman of the State Revenue Committee Adjunct to the Government of the Republic of Armenia Vakhtang Mirumyan, the First Deputy Chairman of the State Revenue Committee Adjunct to the Government of the Republic of Armenia Samvel Avetikyan, the Chief of Staff of the State Revenue Committee Adjunct to the Government of the Republic of Armenia Artak Sahakyan, and the Deputy Chairman of the State Revenue Committee Adjunct to the Government of the Republic of Armenia Armen Sakapetoyan were dismissed.
These are just a few small episodes about how the new authorities keep their promises in the context of not organizing mass dismissal.