Discussion „Anti-Crisis Measures, Freedom of Enterprise, Equality, and Human Rights“ hosted by HRMI looked into the recent wave of criminal prosecution of business owners and young mothers for presumably abusing the social security system by increasing salaries of the latter shortly before maternity leave.
The main question which with participants dealt was whether an increase in pay agreed upon between an employer and an employee shortly before the latter's maternity leave entails criminal responsi-bility. The prevailing view was that an increase in pay is a matter of agreement between the parties. In case an agreement is not related to an increase of responsibility, but pursues higher parenthood allowance in the future - under current legislation the size of an allowance depends on the size of pay during the last months of employment -one may speak about the breach of good morals. This, in turn, may serve as a ground for civil action against parties in order to recover funds received through the abuse of law, but does not lead to criminal prosecution.
Participants have characterised the criminal prosecution campaign - over 600 criminal investigations have been initiated during a short period of time by prosecutorial offices around the country - as political. Ingrida Montvidiene, Vice-President of the Lithuanian Bar Association went so far as to say: "People cannot and should not be prosecuted for using their rights. Our government proclaimed pro-family policies, but this is, in my opinion, family genocide.“
At the end of the event, expecting mothers and young parents initiated coordinated efforts to defend those who are affected by the prosecution campaign. A number of participating lawyers offered their pro bono services to counteract actions of public prosecutors.
Among the participants were Kestutis Cilinskas, a lawyer and civic activist, Vytautas Bakas, Chair of the trade union of pre-trial investigation officers, Paulius Markevicius, a lawyer and Member of the Working Group on Implementation of Orhus Convention, Egidijus Morkunas, Member of the Council of the Lithuanian Bar Association. The discussion was moderated by Henrikas Mickevicius, HRMI Executive Director.
© 2012 Human Rights Monitoring Institute