Bagdanskis, Tomas

The employment relationship is the most sensitive public relationship that exists between those who perform work (employees) and those who create jobs (employers). Globalization and new technologies, economic crises, the COVID-19 pandemic, wars (such as in Syria, Ukraine, etc.), the expansion of the World Trade Organization, and other reasons point to the need for change and adaptation to new conditions, including employment relations. The changed relationship between labor and capital has brought the parties’ interests even closer, and has opened up the need for closer cooperation. Law and legal regulation are inevitable for the monitoring of such changes, and require a quick response. Flexicurity is one of the values that is constantly under dispute by lawmakers. However, while adopting labor laws, lawmakers are under pressure from the confrontation between the interests of state, employees and employers; thus, it is extremely difficult to drive innovation in the regulation of employment relations. Even if some amendments are made to labor laws, the subjects of employment relations often are unprepared, untrained and (or) unable to take advantage of such amendments. There is a noticeable trend towards reducing the international labor standards developed by the International Labor Organization (ILO and narrowing the scope of the regulation of issues, such as by excluding material or disciplinary liability), while at the same time much more attention is paid to the quality of the regulation of labor relations.614 The most frequently cited reason for the ILO’s regulatory suspension is the failure to reach a consensus among contracting parties and growing economic pressures.

The aim of this article is to analize the legal issues arising out of implementation of the employee‘s duty of confidentiality. The main goals of the article are: - To reveal the concept of the obligation of confidentiality and trade secret; - To discuss employee‘s disciplinary responsibility for maintaining the obligation of confidentiality; - To discuss the differences between confidentiality and non-competition obligations and the issues related to their application; - To discuss the employee's pecuniary liability for the breach of confidentiality obligation.

Nekonkuravimo susitarimu darbuotojas įsipareigoja, pasibaigus darbo sutarčiai, sutartą laikotarpį nustatytomis sąlygomis nekonkuruoti su darbdaviu – nedirbti darbdavio konkurento įmonėje, nesteigti įmonės ar nedalyvauti versle, konkuruojančiame su buvusio darbdavio verslu. Kad sudarytas nekonkuravimo susitarimas būtų pripažįstamas galiojančiu, jis turi neprieštarauti įstatymui. Lietuvoje nėra teisės akto, kuris reglamentuotų nekonkuravimo susitarimus tarp darbuotojo ir darbdavio, todėl tenka remtis teismų praktika ir teisės doktrina. Šios straipsnio tikslas – įvertinti nekonkuravimo susitarimų sudarymo sąlygas Lietuvoje ir pateikti rekomendacijas, kaip tobulinti teisinį reglamentavimą. Nors Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucijos įtvirtinta, kad kiekvienas žmogus gali laisvai pasirinkti darbą, tačiau teisė laisvai pasirinkti darbą nevertintina kaip absoliuti – ji negali būti traktuojama kaip garantuojanti, kad kiekvienas asmuo turės darbą ar gaus konkretų pageidaujamą darbą, taip pat ji neužkerta galimybės tam tikrais pagrindais apriboti jos įgyvendinimą, nustatant atitinkamus pagrįstus ir teisėtus reikalavimus. Darbdaviai suinteresuoti apsaugoti įmonės know-how, klientų sąrašus, kainų politiką, kitas žinias apie įmonės veiklą nuo šių paslapčių panaudojimo konkurencijai su jais. Tokią galimybę turi buvę darbuotojai, todėl darbdaviai siekia su jais sudaryti nekonkuravimo susitarimus. Dėl to tik nustačius teisingą kompensaciją bei kitas sąlygas už nurodytus darbuotojo teisių suvaržymus, šie suvaržymai nevertintini kaip neproporcingi ir pažeidžiantys darbuotojų konstitucines teises. Priešingu atveju nekonkuravimas laikytinas įtvirtinančiu esminę šalių nelygybę ir gali būti pripažintas negaliojančiu, darbuotojui kreipiantis į teismą.

The problems of introduction of flexible work forms into Lithuanian labour law are analysed in the paper. Firstly, the research analyses the grounds for separation of employment relationship and independent contractors in civil relationship as it is established in legal provisions and court practice of the Republic of Lithuania. Secondly, the article also discusses theoretical and practical issues one may face when applying various types of employment contracts, refers to specific legal relations governed by Lithuanian Labour Code standards. Last decades as globalization processes were gaining pace, and market economy conditions changed, labour and production organization models were undergoing transformation. The more complex people’s social relationships are, the greater is the need to regulate these relationships, i. e. to adopt legislation that would create pre-conditions for addressing social interest conflicts2. Thus a need has arisen for a new legal regulation because new activity models do not fit into traditional relationships governed by labour law. Along standard employment relationship, non-standard relationships occur in the market. In 2003 the Ministry of Social Security and Labour of the Republic of Lithuania issued recommendations for employers on flexible work organisation forms and indicated reasons for the organisation of flexible work forms: the nature of work and employee’s demographic and social characteristics; fulfilment of family duties; health condition; unfavourable work environment; employee’s age; studying and studies.

The article discusses theoretical and practical issues one may face when applying various types of employment contracts, refers to specific legal relations governed by Labour Code standards, and raises issues that would help to solve the existing troubles. Last decades as globalization processes were gaining pace, and market economy conditions changed, labour and production organization models were undergoing transformation. The more complex people’s social relationships are, the greater is the need to regulate these relationships, i. e. to adopt legislation that would create pre-conditions for addressing social interest conflicts1. Thus a need has arisen for a new legal regulation because new activity models do not fit into traditional relationships governed by labour law. Along standard employment relationship, non-standard relationships occur in the market. In 2003 the Ministry of Social Security and Labour of the Republic of Lithuania issued recommendations for employers on flexible work organisation forms and indicated reasons for the organisation of flexible work forms: the nature of work and employee’s demographic and social characteristics; fulfilment of family duties; health condition; unfavourable work environment; employee’s age; studying and studies.

This article discusses the problematic aspects relating to the employee privacy in his workplace and its limits reacting to employer‘s interests. It contains analysis of National, European and transatlantic legislation of privacy in the workplace and concentrates on the electronic privacy (e-mails, communications, etc.). The article is based on legal acts and judgements of the Supreme court of Lithuania, European Court of Human Rights and other countries courts judgements in order to provide the legislative execution practice as well as reveal the problems in this field of labour law.

Collective labour disputes are inevitably related to the institutes of a dispute, since the employees and employers often fail to reach a consensus on a particular issue. Moreover, the employers do not always follow the agreed terms and conditions of the collective agreement. In order to disclose the problems of the settlement of collective labour disputes in Lithuania, it is necessary to analyse the conception and classification of the institutes of dispute, distinguishing the conception of collective labour disputes, the procedure of settlement of such disputes, and possible methods of settlement with the emphasis on the institutes of a strike. This article also seeks to reveal the peculiarities of the cases that settle individual labour disputes, the subject of which at least partially includes the provisions of the collective agreement, and collective labour disputes regarding the legality of strike.

The increasing demands for flexibility on the labour market jeopardize employment security. Most countries are reinforcing relationship known as the “flexicurity” thesis. One of main aspects of flexibility is using principle “easy hire, easy fire”. Using comparative data for Lithuania and Slovakia, we assess the differences across the countries in the field of termination of employment contracts. The outcomes confirm that different countries are using same principles for termination of employment relations. It must be stated that employment security is in higher level than flexibility in terms of termination of employment relations. It is relatively difficult for an employer to fire employees because of the notices and the necessity for a reason for the dismissal. By such formal and strict firing process, the countries create hesitation among employers to hire when the economy is changing.

The research analyses the grounds for separation of employment relationship and independent contractors in civil relationship as it is established in legal provisions and court practice of the Republic of Lithuania. Firstly, criteria for separation of civil and labour legal relationship are analysed. Secondly, Lithuanian judicial practice is examined. Since employment contracts are closely related to undeclared work, thirdly, practise of recognizing of undeclared work is used as criteria for identification of employment relationship. The criteria of illegal and undeclared work revealed in court practice are discussed. The changing nature of employment, atypical workers and independent contractors create many problems for separation of these relations.

On 19 May 2011, the Lithuanian Parliament adopted the Law on Temporary Agency Employment to implement the EU Directive on temporary agency work. Up to now there has been no special regulations for the so called “personnel lease”, although Lithuanian companies have been using such service since 2003. The law basically followed the recommendations of the Directive without setting additional restrictions. Temporary agency workers will be subject to the same conditions as permanent workers of employment agency clients are regarding working and leisure time regime and work safety. The Law on Temporary Agency Employment will enter into force on 1 December 2011. The purpose of this article is to analyze the EU Directive on temporary agency work transfer to the Lithuanian legal system and the peculiarities of the theoretical and practical problems associated with the new regulation. Conclusions and suggestions for the improvement of the legal provisions are presented.