Actual problems of labor law of Ukraine and the institute of labor law

Abstract

Central institute of Labor Law of Ukraine can be called – working hours. Also, such an institute is associated with the interests of at least two entities, namely the employer and the employee. The legal norms of this institute are bound with other legal institutions related to provision of employees with the right to rest, to solidify the labor measure, generally related to the interests of all parties of the employment contract.

In addition, it is worth mentioning that Ukraine's aspiration for membership in the European Union implies the need to bring its current legislation in line with the legislation of the European Union. In particular, this also applies to changes in the regulation of employees' working hours. And this necessitates the publication of a new labor codified act – the Labor Code of Ukraine, which has been considered for quite a long time by various state authorities that make their proposals.

Chapter IV of the Labor Code of Ukraine (hereinafter referred to as the Labor Code) regulates the matters of working time in Ukraine. However, it should be mentioned that the normative definition of the concept of "working time" is not contained in the Labor Code.

Given that Ukraine has applied for membership in the European Union, it should be noted that in accordance with Art. 2 directive 2003/88 of the European Union, "working hours" means "any period during which an employee works at the disposal of an employer and performs his or her activities or duties in accordance with national law and/or practice".

It should also be noted that working time is an institution of labor law, and therefore contains a set of legal norms that determine the composition, duration, regime and procedure for accounting the working hours.

The difference between part-time work and reduced working hours is that the former can be set for any employee by general agreement of the parties, and the work performed is paid in accordance with the proportional time worked, or depends on the amount of output.

Having analysed the general provisions on working time in Ukraine, it is possible to conclude that the current Labor Code does not define the key concept of Chapter IV, namely the working time. At the same time, a large number of doctrinal works only accumulate and add sometimes impractical adjustments to the concept of working time. In this regard, the draft of the Labor Code of Ukraine proposes a definition of the concept of working hours, which is further considered by the authors herein.