The employers’ freedom of discretion when changing the employment contract terms under the EAEU legislation

About the author:

Anna M. Krinina, Lecturer, Department of Labor Law and Social Security Law, Orenburg Institute (branch) of the University named after O. E. Kutafin (MSAL), Orenburg, Russia; k_anna_m@mail.ru, https://orcid.org/0009-0001-2733-9827

Abstract:

Economic integration, designated as the main objective of the unification of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Armenia, does not cover the issues of harmonization of labor legislation. However, its common historical and doctrinal sources in these countries form the basis for a comparative study of individual institutions, identification of useful experience and the most effective legal regulation for improving domestic legislation. The subject of the research in this article was international labor standards, labor codes of the EAEU member states, materials of Russian judicial practice, as well as scientific literature on the issue. Using general scientific methods (deduction, induction, analysis), formal and comparative legal methods, this article examines the legal possibilities existing in the EAEU member states for changing the terms of the employment contract at the discretion of the employer through temporary transfers due to emergency circumstances, temporary transfers to another employer, relocation, as well as changes in the terms of the employment contract for organizational and technological reasons. The author has formulated conclusions regarding the need to eliminate logical contradictions when using the term “transfer”, proposed ways to improve the effectiveness of legal regulation in terms of establishing the upper regulatory limit for the duration of temporary transfers due to emergency circumstances, as well as reducing the notice period for changes in the terms of an employment contract for organizational reasons.

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