Judge M. Dobrovolskis announced that he will not participate in the meeting of the Council of Judges held on Friday, as he has gone abroad.
“The situation is such that the judge himself wrote that he will not participate because he is currently flying somewhere. The circumstance of the judge’s non-participation in appointing the chairman of the court is, of course, not completely insignificant. What do my colleagues think, would it not prevent us from considering this issue?”, asked the Chairperson of the Council of Judges, Sigita Rudėnaitė, during the meeting.
Kristina Serdiukienė, a member of the Council of Judges and chairwoman of the Klaipėda district court, who also applied for the head of the Klaipėda district court and participated in the selection, insisted that Mr. Dobrovolskis himself must attend the meeting.
“I suggest, I think and I am convinced that when participating in such a high position and deciding the question of advice, the aspiring judge must participate. We must listen, vision, goals, we must be able to ask questions. Advice is not a formal matter. The work regulations of the Council of Judges provide that the applicant must attend the council meeting,” said K. Serdiukienė.
Chairman of the Šiauliai District Court Gražvydas Poškus proposed to consider the issue even without the applicant’s presence.
At that time, the member of the Council of Judges, the chairman of the Lithuanian Court of Appeal, Nerijus Meilutis, suggested that the issue of the head of the Klaipėda District Court be resolved more quickly, because this court has not had a permanent head since July.
“Regarding Kristina’s statement – since Kristina herself participated in the selection, in addition, a commission was formed and we went to Klaipėda itself to explain the situation in the district court. There are all sorts of interesting relationships between neighborhood and county. Since every councilor’s will is respected, I would suggest adjournment. I think Kristina will have questions to ask why we have to deprive her of the opportunity so that everyone can find out, hear and consider,” said N. Meilutis.
The Chairperson of the Council of Judges, S. Rudėnaitė, supported the proposal to postpone the hearing.
After the selection for the heads of the Klaipėda District Court, President Gitanas Nausėda appealed to the Council of Judges by decree for advice on appointing 47-year-old M. Dobrovolskis as the head of the Klaipėda District Court.
VDI investigation in court
The data collected by Elta show that there was tension in the Klaipėda courts, the State Labor Inspectorate was also investigating the situation. VDI informed Elta that the inspection in the Klaipėda district court headed by K. Serdiukiene was carried out from March 29 to April 22 this year.
“The inspection was carried out on a general basis, that is, to assess how the employer complies with the mandatory requirements of the legislation related to the prevention of violence and harassment. Taking into account the violations and problematic issues identified during the inspection, the president of the court was served with a demand, as well as recommendations related to improving the prevention of violence and harassment at work,” VDI informed Elta. She did not comment on the details of the investigation.
The investigations were conducted according to the complaint of the employees of the Klaipėda district court. Part of the investigation was carried out and completed by the Klaipėda District Court, and the other part was transferred to the Department of Prevention of Psychological Violence at Work of VDI for investigation.
After it became clear that the chairman of the Klaipėda district court, K. Serdiukienė, is applying for the position of chairman of the Klaipėda district court, the Klaipėda district court asked the Council of Judges to assess whether, due to the objectivity of the investigation, it is possible to continue this investigation and start another investigation based on another complaint.
The administrative secretary of the Klaipėda district court, Dovilė Radžienė, informed Eltas that there are about 40 judges and close to 150 court employees working in the court she represents.
in 2023 in December, 12 employees of the Klaipėda district court, who work under employment contracts, filed a complaint against the chairman of the Klaipėda district court, M. Dobrovolski, regarding the non-increase in wages. A preliminary investigation was conducted on the basis of the aforementioned complaint, and the Council of Judges formed a commission to examine it.
According to D. Radzienė, the insufficient financing of the court due to the salary of the employees is a very sensitive problem. Salaries for court employees (civil servants and employees working under employment contracts) are financed by only 66.7 percent of the actual need. This situation basically arose due to insufficient court funding for the salaries of employees and low salaries in general, compared to other public sector institutions.
“Because it is a continuous situation where the court is underfunded, each budget year ends with a debt that is carried over to the next year’s budget expenditure, meaning that the debt increases every year. in 2023 the court had a salary fund debt of EUR 75,125.59. In such a situation, the possibilities of raising wages for employees are difficult. in 2024 Appropriations for the court for wages for civil servants and employees working under employment contracts have been slightly increased, so in 2024 the salaries of the employees have been reviewed,” the court spokeswoman said in her reply.
According to preliminary calculations, in 2024 at the end, about 310 thousand are expected. lack of euros to pay wages.
The president of the court is popular among the employees
M. Dobrovolskis has been working at the Klaipėda District Court since 2014, from July 2019 to July of this year, he served as the chairman of this court. At the end of the term, the selection was announced, M. Dobrovolskis and K. Serdiukienė participated in it. The selection commission recognized M. Dobrovolskis as the most suitable candidate, he received six votes – that is, the votes of all the members of the commission, there were no objections to his candidacy. The candidate scored more than 106 marks.
In the opinion submitted by the chairman of the Lithuanian Court of Appeal, M. Dobrovolskis is described as business-like, who listens and constructively accepts opposing opinions, communicative, hardworking, and responsible.
It is noted that the applicant has significant experience in administrative and management work, solves the problems that have arisen in a timely manner, and takes care of equalizing the workload of court employees. From the anonymous survey of employees conducted at the Klaipėda District Court (67 respondents took part in it), the absolute majority expressed their support for M. Dobrovlski.
2024-09-01 15:36:24