Social Guarantees for Artists in Lithuania and the European Union
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Abstract
All citizens of the Republic of Lithuania over 16 years of age have the right to insure with voluntary social insurance. There are two types of insurance – voluntary pension insurance and voluntary social insurance for sickness and motherhood allowances. In the case of pension insurance, contributions are paid quarterly, and those contributions are 50 percent of the basic pension, while sickness and maternity contributions are paid at least once per quarter and the sum of the contribution can vary from 10 to 200 Litas per month. Social guarantees for artists constitute a specific sphere of regulation. The main problem is that artists in accordance with their work specifics do not have a stable income, and their nature of work is not defined as regards work time, work place, work tools, and an employment contract itself. For instance, a sculptor can work at home (workshop) at the time suitable for his creative inspiration (day or night), using his own work instruments, and the work may take a few years. Payment for a concluded work can be done in advance (provided that there is a contract-giver) and after the conclusion of works. This and other reasons complicate the relations of artists and Sodra, the State Social Insurance Fund Board of the Republic of Lithuania (e. g., issues on how many months per year an artist is working, what is his length of service, income, the problem of contribution periodicity, etc.). Therefore, it is hard to solve the administrative difficulties that are connected with applying Sodra’s tax to artists. Even if these problems are solved, there still arises a problem of great importance taking into account the future problems of Sodra, i. e. the problem of the reality of earned pensions to all insurants, especially to the artists, whose legal status in case of pension receiving is not strictly defined. The article analyzes the experience of other European Union member states in the field of artists’ social guarantees.
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Section
Articles
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Authors retain copyright of their work, with first publication rights granted to the Association for Learning Technology.
