Legal Regulation of Labour Relations and Civil Service: Similarities and Differences

This scholarly paper for master degree deals with analysis of similarities and differences in legal regulation of labour relations and civil service and defines problematic of their dissociation. The research hypothesis is made that regardless of certain advantages the Civil Service Law like Labour Law is a separate branch of Lithuanian law system with detached subject and method of legal regulation. This scholarly paper consists of three sections. The first section describes specifics of legal labour and civil service relations formulated in theory and practice of law while indicating features of these relations and their structural elements (subjects, the object and content). In the second section in recognition of civil service as being specific working activity the comparative analysis of different fields of legal regulation of labour relations and civil service is accomplished pointing to their similarities and differences. The research is structured according to the fields of complex legal regulation that were distinguished on the basis of Labour Code of Lithuania Republic and Law on Civil Service of Lithuania Republic: 1) conclusion of an employment contract and admission to civil service; 2) implementation of an employment contract and career of civil servants; 3) wages; 4) responsibility; 5) expiration of an employment contract and firing of civil servants; 6) social and other guarantees; 7) dealing with arguing. The third section of the paper identifies the dissociation problematic of legal labour relations and civil service: complex regulation of legal regulation of civil service is defined and criteria for dissociation of labour and civil service relations are introduced. Relations of civil service are regulated in complex manner: by constitutional, administrative rules and those of Labour Law. The legislator in selection and establishment of framework of civil service legal regulation is tied by rules and principles of Constitution. Incorporation of Administrative Law is supposed by the status of civil servants as of the core subjects of this Law. Regulation of certain institutes of civil service (social and other guarantees, wages) under rules of Labour Law is equated to interaction of specific and general rules. Principles of legal regulation of labour and civil service relations should be treated as the criteria for dissociation of these relations. In the viewpoint of Law methodology the basis for Law segmentation into separate branches is comprised of subject and method of legal regulation. The subject of legal regulation is comprised of specific public relations (relations of civil service) and their regulation is predominated by imperative method therefore in the viewpoint of systematization of the rules of law it should be considered that the legal rules of law regulating civil service comprise a complex (i.e., integrating constitutional, administrative rules and those of Labour Law) branch of Law