Protecting the labor rights of citizens at the present stage
Labunets Diana Igorevna, student
Scientific adviser: Malinenko Elvira Vladimirovna, candidate of legal sciences, associate professor
South-Russian Institute of Management (branch) of the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Service under the President of the Russian Federation (Rostov-on-don)
This article analyzes and characterizes the modern right to work and the protection of employment relations in the Russian Federation. It has been revealed that many workers remain unprotected in their constitutional right to work in the current difficult epidemiological situation.
Keywords: right to work, protection of labor rights, employee, employer.
At the present stage of social development, the Russian state is characterized as a state that realizes all the constitutional rights of citizens, some of which is the right to work. As a result of the constitutional enshrining of this right, the possibility of a person for the realization of a number of other social and labour rights, the process of socialization and labor adaptation is realized.
Based on an analysis of the concepts and contents of different interpretations of the right to work in accordance with regulations, it can be concluded that all alone agree that the right to work implies both a set of guarantees and responsibilities.
In the modern sense, the «right to work» was formed with the adoption of the norms of the Labour Code of the Russian Federation (the RF TC). The characterization of the right-to-work institution later emerged as workers' rights were violated and required legislative protection. It was noted in this regulation that the protection of the labour rights of citizens is one of the most important types of legal guarantees.
Examining the basic characteristics of the right-to-work institution, it should be noted that this legal institution should be regarded as a set of established rules and legal safeguards that protect workers from arbitrary violation of their labour rights. The legal guarantee should be understood methods and ways of protecting the labor rights of citizens, which are regulated by the law. The totality of legal guarantees can be divided into two categories, namely procedural and legal guarantees and substantive guarantees. The protection of the right to work is a material and legal guarantee.
The need to address this issue is due to such a social factor as the need to create a more effective system of protection of labor rights of the weakest side of employment relations — the employee.
Thus, according to the Federal Labor and Employment Service, 325.8 thousand violations were detected in 2019, according to the Federal Labor and Employment Service. Most offences are in the area of occupational health, pay and rationing, employment contracting and providing workers with personal and collective protection.
Analysis of these statistics leads to the conclusion that there is now a need to improve the mechanisms for protecting the rights and legitimate interests of workers, especially workers, as the weakest subject of labor relations. But it is unfair not to say that employers also sometimes find themselves in a position where they need legal assistance. For example, such an example is the problem of termination of an employment contract if the employee does not appear in the workplace for a long period of time and does not notify the employer of the reasons for his absence. In accordance with the RF TC, dismissal in this case is possible only after the absence of valid reasons, which should be set out by the employee in the explanatory note. And if the employee is absent, the explanatory too can not be. It turns out to be a vicious circle.
In addition to the above problems, some of the characteristics of labour relations in 2020, caused by the spread of the new coronavirus infection and the government's employment measures, should be highlighted. Thus, in connection with the spread of the new coronavirus infection (COVID- 19), restrictive measures have been introduced to ensure the health and epidemiological well-being of the population in the Russian Federation, aimed at minimizing social contact between people. By presidential decree of March 25, 2020, No. 206 «On the declaration of non-working days in Russia» (2) (2) (These by-laws gave an approximate list of organizations whose activities could not be suspended. At the same time, the activities of individual organizations could be completely suspended or limited.
In the context of general self-isolation, employees of many organizations and enterprises whose activities do not involve a remote format of performing duties and do not fall under the category of «continuously operating organizations», according to the Decrees of the President of the Russian Federation of April 2, 2020. No. 239 «On measures to ensure the health and epidemiological well-being of the population in the territory of the Russian Federation in connection with the spread of a new coronavirus infection (COVID-19)" and of 28 April 2020 No. 294 «On the extension of measures to ensure the health and epidemiological well-being of the population in the territory of the Russian Federation in connection with the with the spread of the new coronavirus infection (COVID-19)" are forced to experience difficulties associated with loss of employment, reduced wages, failure to provide social guarantees, etc.
In such circumstances, there is a huge number of violations on the part of employers who seek to reduce losses and maintain their position in the market of services and goods. At the same time, not all employers remain conscientious executors of the requirements of labor legislation. In particular, because the concept of «non-working days with the preservation of wages» in the current version of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation (TC of the Russian Federation) as such is absent. Many of them are looking for «legitimate» ways to reduce the payouts that workers rely on, fixing the state of forced downtime, arranging redundancies, or simply forcing workers to fire of their own accord.
Thus, according to the information posted on the website Online Inspection.rf, on February 1, 2020, received 4,025 applications, and as of April 1, 2020 — already 7,930, and as of October 1, 2020, only on issues of wages received 14,449 questions. This resource has been created by the Federal Labor and Employment Service and allows you to apply to the Labour Inspectorate to exercise their right to protect violated labour rights or to receive free advice on employment relations.
It was found that there was a problem of low-level theoretical knowledge of one's rights. In addition, often, especially in the face of unemployment, workers are simply afraid to aggravate relations with employers, which also prevents them from defending their rights.
However, in any case, violations of labour laws in certain volumes will always exist. That is why workers as the least protected side of labor relations should have the opportunity to protect their labor rights.
In general, the study concluded that the existing system of protection of workers' labour rights, in general, meets the needs. But, in our opinion, it is necessary to significantly change the level of responsibility of the employer for violations of the labor rights of the employee, as well as to improve the level of legal culture of the parties to labor relations, especially the employees themselves, increasing, among other things, their knowledge of possible ways and procedures to protect their labor rights. The introduction of the mediation institute, the application of which should help to resolve possible conflicts between the employee and the employer, without bringing their permission to court, is also considered to be appropriate.
References:
- Samvelyan K. G. Forms and ways to protect the rights and legitimate interests of subjects in labor law. StudNet. 2020. T. 3. No 9. P. 1031–1037.
- Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated 25.03.2020 N 206 «On the declaration of non-working days in the Russian Federation»/SFOR «Consultant Plus».
- Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of 02.04.2020 N 239 «On measures to ensure the health and epidemiological well-being of the population in the Russian Federation in connection with the spread of new coronavirus infection (COVID-19)"/SFOR «Consultant Plus».
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