Labour disputes: some conformity issues of pre-trial and judicial practice

Straipsnis skirtas originaliai, Lietuvos teisės doktrinoje nenagrinėtai temai – ikiteisminės ir teisminės darbo ginčų praktikos problemoms. Darbo ginčų ikiteisminė praktika pradėta kaupti tik po 2013 m. sausio 1 d., pasikeitus Darbo ginčų komisijų formavimo tvarkai. Dabar šios komisijos nuolat veikia prie teritorinių Valstybinės darbo inspekcijos padalinių. Autorius, turėdamas praktinės darbo šiose komisijose patirties, analizuoja konkrečias bylas, atskleidžia teigiamas ir neigiamas darbo teisės reformos puses bei jos įtaką ikiteisminei ir teisminei darbo ginčų praktikai. Aptariamos Darbo ir Civilinio proceso kodeksų harmonizavimo, nacionalinės teisės reformos bei Europos Sąjungos teisės individualių ir kolektyvinių ginčų srityje derinimo problemos. Prieinama prie pagrindinės išvados, kad darbo teisės sisteminė reforma turi būti tęsiama, ją įgyvendinant konceptualiai ir sistemiškai derinant visas teisės šakas. Tai sudarytų sąlygas harmonizuoti įstatymines kodeksų nuostatas ir vienodinti nacionalinę ikiteisminę bei teismų praktiką. Siekiant tobulinti Valstybinės darbo inspekcijos misiją šioje srityje, reikėtų nuolat rengti atitinkamus mokymus į darbo ginčų komisiją deleguotiems darbuotojams ir socialiniams partneriams. Tai neabejotinai veiktų taikos sutarčių dinamiką.The article deals with the original topic – it analyses the conformity issues of pre-trial and judicial practice of labour disputes. This issue has never been addressed by the Lithuanian law doctrine before. It has become possible to generalise pre-trial practice of labour disputes only after 1st January 2013 when the order of the formation of the Labour Disputes Commission changed. Now the commissions are institutions acting on permanent basis and are established under territorial divisions of the State Labour Inspectorates. The author, who has practical experience in the activity of Labour Disputes Commissions and who analyses specific cases, reveals the positive and negative aspects of the labour law reform, as well as its influence on pre-trial and judicial practice. The article also addresses other issues, related to harmonization: the Labour Code and the Code of Civil Procedure of the Republic of Lithuania, individual and collective labour disputes, and the conformity of the national reform to the EU law. After having discussed the above mentioned issues, the author infers the following: the system reform of labour law should be continued; the principle of flexibility being established in the area of labour law relations, new forms of labour and labour contracts, the decreasing involvement of the state in the area of labour law relations, abolition of excess restrictions for business, etc., ask for the reform to be executed on conceptual grounds, systematic linkup with all the branches of law should be further developed. The issue of a united labour dispute institute should find its reputable place in common doctrine and system of labour law. There should appear more scientific and tailored research about general assumptions and causes of labour disputes, the similarities and differences of the defence procedures of violated rights, by stressing the benefit of the judicial procedure. In order to perceive the nature of the pre-trial individual labour dispute procedure and its future vision, a complex research needs to be performed regarding all non-trial procedures existing in our country. The outcomes of the research are to be evaluated in terms of the European Union law and the national laws of the EU member states. The legal provisions of the Labour Code and the Code of Civil Procedure of the Republic of Lithuania should be harmonized by law-making in order to unify pre-trial and judicial practice. It is necessary to uniform pre-trial practice of the State Labour Inspectorate under the Ministry of Social Security and Labour of the Republic of Lithuania, Labour Dispute Commissions under territorial divisions of the State Labour Inspectorate, the participation of the members of Labour Dispute Commissions in trainings should become a necessary attribute of their professional and public activity, additional leverages to increase the number of peace settlements within Labour Dispute Commissions are to be searched for