In Kazakhstan Protecting Workers’ Rights Might Get You Fired
A lawyer was dismissed after defending the interest of workers instead of siding with his employer
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Lawyer Kadyrbek Tabyldiyev lost his job at KazGlobalSolution at the end of 2024 after defending dozens of employees dismissed for demanding better working conditions.
In January, Tabyldiyev filed a lawsuit challenging his dismissal. By March, the Atyrau District Court ruled in his favor, declaring the dismissal illegal. But the case did not end there: in July, KazGlobalSolution appealed, disputing his reinstatement, his compensation for moral damages, and penalties for delaying his wages for six months.
According to the trade union of mechanical engineers, which represents both the workers and Tabyldiyev, the conflict reflects more than a labor dispute; it highlights KazGlobalSolution’s resistance to the trade union’s efforts to defend workers’ rights.
Pressure, Threats, and Firings
KazGlobalSolution specializes in the construction of oil and gas pipelines and the supply of infrastructure for oil and gas production. Chapa Chaglar has been the CEO of the company since June 2024, the company. The founder, Telzhan Balzhigitov is the brother of Seitzhan Balzhigitov, a deputy of the Atyrau regional council.
This was not the first lawsuit of this kind for the company. According to publicly available data, KazGlobalSolution had previously been involved in 39 civil and 3 administrative court cases, most of which concerned violations of the Labor Code.
Tabyldiyev joined KazGlobalSolution in May 2024 as a legal consultant and was appointed head of the legal department on July 1 of that same year.
At that time, the company employed about 1,600 people, mainly shift workers at the Tengiz and Karabatan fields. Most of them previously worked at Yuss Support Services. In 2023, the company lost a tender and its contracts were transferred to new companies — Caspian Offshore Construction Realty, GisKashagan, and KazGlobalSolution. Tengizchevroil, the operator of the massive Tengiz field, signed five-year contracts with each of these organizations.
When companies fail to win a tender, their employees often leave and join the companies that obtain the contract. Often, these new companies have a similar ownership structure to their predecessors. However, this was not the case with KazGlobalSolution.
When Tabyldiyev was hired, he was tasked with defending the company’s interests in labor disputes against the trade union. Today, Tabyldiyev is forced to defend his own rights in court.
The conflict began after KazGlobalSolution employees demanded that the company comply with the country’s Labor Code: paying bonuses for hazardous working conditions, covering their travel expenses, and cooperating with trade unions. After refusing these demands, the company instead decided to fire some of its employees, in some cases even citing their membership in the trade union as the reason.
“Positive results can only be achieved if they take the requirements of the Labor Code seriously and show respect for trade unions,” Tolegen Kazangapov chairman of the mechanical engineers’ trade union.
In August 2024, the laid-off workers approached Tabyldiyev, asking him why they were dismissed for demanding bonuses which they were entitled to and why their wages were calculated incorrectly.
Tabyldiyev started negotiations with the CEO, who waved him off. After the lawyer asked the founder to intervene, Tabyldiyev and Chaglar’s relationship soured.
As a result, Tabyldiyev decided to file a lawsuit and send an official request for inspection to the National Security Committee, the prosecutor’s office, and other relevant authorities. The Atyrau Labor Inspectorate took up the case.
The trade union had made its first appeal to the Labor Inspectorate in 2023 regarding KazGlobalSolution’s failure to offer proper workplace conditions and the illegal dismissal of workers. At that time, the Inspectorate did not find any violations.
The union then filed a lawsuit in civil court, which led to three inspections at the end of November 2024. According to an employee of the Labor Inspectorate, the checks resulted in KazGlobalSolution being fined approximately 2 million tenge ($3,750) for violating workers’ rights.
According to Tabyldiyev, the company began to pressure him after he decided to take the side of the trade union: “After the labor inspectorate fined them, mass layoffs began. I was accused of fueling the conflict, but I was simply doing my job.”
As the pressure and threats against him intensified, Tabyldiyev decided to join the trade union in December 2024, but this did not improve his position.
“After I joined the union, the pressure increased. They forcibly asked me to resign, threatening me, citing information about my family, residence, and children,” Tabyldiyev told Vlast.
Fearing for his family, the lawyer complied. Tabyldiyev wrote a letter of resignation on December 11, 2024, but withdrew it soon after. KazGlobalSolution’s CEO, however, immediately accepted the resignation. Weeks later, he filed a lawsuit for reinstatement.
“The employer’s refusal to cooperate with the trade union and his disregard of legal requirements violates Kazakhstan’s Labor Code. This directly interferes with the activities of an independent workers’ association and violates the principle of freedom of association,” said Tolegen Kazangapov, chairman of the mechanical engineers’ trade union.
Coda
At the end of March 2025, the Atyrau City Court partially agreed with the claim by the trade union on behalf of Tabyldiyev. The court found his dismissal illegal, obliging KazGlobalSolution to reinstate the lawyer in his position and pay a compensation of 6 million tenge ($11,260).
When asked about the allegations of coercing employees and their litigation in court, the company’s lawyer, Oleg Polenin, responded in writing to Vlast: “I have no right to discuss the details of the case with third parties.” KazGlobalSolution did not respond to Vlast’s request for a comment.
Back in 2024, the dismissal of all employees who were members of the mechanical engineers’ trade union was recognized as illegal in a district court. Some were reinstated, while others received compensation. According to Tabyldiyev, almost all of the reinstated employees subsequently resigned.
According to the lawyer, his dismissal is part of an effort to pressure the union. He claims the company “blacklisted” employees associated with the union, either firing them under false pretenses or deciding not to renew their contracts.
Kazangapov notes that both companies and authorities think that the trade union’s job is to destabilize labor relations. Instead, he believes that trade unions reduce conflicts between employees and employers.
“Positive results can only be achieved if they take the requirements of the Labor Code seriously and show respect for trade unions. Otherwise, we are not only dealing with a labor dispute, but with a systemic undermining of the foundations of labor rights,” Kazangapov told Vlast.
After KazGlobalSolution appealed the verdict earlier this year, the Atyrau Regional Court ruled in their favor on July 17, declaring Tabyldiyev’s dismissal lawful. The lawyer was ordered to return 1.8 million tenge previously paid to him for forced leave.
Tabyldiyev was bewildered by the court’s decision: while recognizing the dismissal as legal, the judge did not cancel the order to compensate for moral damages. Additionally, the court’s calculation of KazGlobalSolution’s fine for withholding wages was inaccurate.
“When I asked the judge why [the claim for] moral damages was upheld, I was told: ‘You were out of work for two months because you were fired illegally.’ But the court itself recognized the dismissal as legal. This is a contradiction,” the lawyer noted. “But I intend to defend myself to the end, all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary.”
An edited version of this article was translated by Albert Otkjaer.
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