If an employee goes to work for another employer during the employee’s forced idle time in Armenia, nine months' salary from the previous workplace must be paid to this employee. Deputy Minister of Justice Armenuhi Harutyunyan stated this during the debates on the bill on amendments and additions to the Labor Code of Armenia at Thursday’s meeting of the Standing Committee on Labor and Social Affairs of the National Assembly.

At the same time, as the deputy minister mentioned, if the employee was temporarily unemployed for less than nine months during the forced idle time in Armenia, then the money should be paid specifically for this period.

She added that according to the current legislation, it is possible to calculate the forced idle time before the judicial act enters into force. But in reality, this process takes so long that the employee on forced idle time prefers not to wait and immediately go to work—sometimes even to a higher paid one.

"At the same time, he continues to be considered involuntarily unemployed," explained the member of the Armenian government.

But now if it turns out that a person switched to a job with a lower salary during the forced idle time in Armenia, the salary difference must be compensated. After some debates, this bill was approved by the aforesaid parliamentary committee.