Lietuvos darbo teisės modernizavimo perspektyvos

Abstract

The article analyses the need and possibilities to improve national labour law. The author reveals the recent changes in the economic and social environment and their impact on the legal regulation of employment and industrial relations and then discusses the modernity criteria in labour law which might help to assess the legislative reforms. Due to the direct linkage of labour law with the state or regional social policy and the necessity to harmonize the permanently opposing interests of major social groups, namely employees and employers, the author suggests that the modernity of national labour law should be evaluated on the basis of the quality of legal regulation of labour relations rather than on the basis of the number of legislative novelties which reflect the social compromises achieved in view of strengthening of competitiveness of the local employers or adaptation to the contemporary economic, social and technological changes.
The quality of the legal regulation is identified as a primary indicator of the modernity of labour law. It consists of the three legal characteristics of labour law regulations, namely the degree of conveyance of the socio-political compromise in the legal norms of labour law, the correspondence to modern changes in social, economic and other work-related areas of life and an effectiveness of implementation of labour standards. Examining how separate institutes of Lithuanian labour law correspond with all these criteria, the author expresses his opinion on the necessity and the possibilities of modernization of the current labour law regulations with regard to the covenants not to compete, working time, overtime work, home work, termination of the contract of employment. Giving examples of imprecision, obscurity and backwardness of diverse norms of Lithuanian Labour Code, the author maintains that the further refinement of national regulation is an indispensable precondition for modernization of labour law regardless of variations in the state social policy. The effectiveness of the legal norms of labour law is undermined by the weaknesses of the system of supervision and control of labour legislation. The author suggests enhancing transparency and effectiveness of the system of sanctions and mechanism of protection of the infringed rights as a precondition of proposed liberalization measures.