Government protects employee rights

The Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine continues to improve legal regulations in the field of labor relations. A special workgroup made a number of important amendments to draft a presidential decre on integration between the State Employment Service and State Inspection of Ukraine on Labor Issues, the Information-analytical Bulletin of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine informs.

Natalia Korolevskaya, Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine, is confident that the new department will efficiently protect every citizen at each stage of interaction with employer.

According to the finalized draft Decree, the main objective of the unified department is to ensure efficient protection of every employee at each stage of labor process starting from recruitment and ending with termination of labor relationships with the employer.

Experts say the integration of services is a part of anti-crisis package, which aims to enhance protection of employees’ rights, improve the legal regulations of labor market on the whole, and ensure social and economic incentives for employers. The first part of the package includes continuation of reform in the employment system and introduction of new incentives for employers to create the new jobs. The second part is a series of anti-crisis actions including introduction of new modern mechanisms for protection of employees’ rights.

According to Ministry of Social Policy, in the 9 months of 2013, the Employment Service received 1.5 million requests from Ukrainian citizens. These requests are processed by 15,490 employees in 573 offices of the Service, in other words, every worker of Employment Service is in charge of 96 requests. Meanwhile, according to experts, Ukraine has 20 million of able-bodied population, over 13 million of which is formally employed and pay fees to Social Insurance Fund. Protection of labor rights for this category is ensured by 733 inspectors in 27 regional offices. Also, the country has 1,310 businesses with wage arrears to employees, which also requires attention of competent services. Experts say this field requires reallocation of resources to improve quality of services for citizens. In this regard, the initiative of Ministry of Social Policy more than appropriate.

Experts say the establishment of unified service will ensure new opportunities for implementation of Law on Employment, especially, in terms of incentives for creation of new jobs. "Employees of the unified service will be able to work with employers more closely directly at enterprises, rather than sitting in offices. In turn, in a short period of time, employers will be able to get the most of comprehensive services. After all, instead of two bodies, interaction will take place with representatives of Labor and Employment Service only," Korolevskaya said.

Reforms of labor legislation are relevant for Ukraine due to trends of mutual integration with the EU, where legal regulation of labor relations is of special significance. The EU's European Employment Strategy is a basic tool of defining employment priorities. National legislation working at the state level determines the features of the labor market and does not conflict with general rules of the European Union.