GUARANTEES OF LABOUR RIGHTS OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS: PROBLEMS OF IMPLEMENTATION AND PROSPECTS FOR IMPROVEMENT

Abstract

The article presents a comprehensive study of the guarantees of labour rights of local self-government officials as an integral element of their special legal status. It is argued that these guarantees have a dual legal nature, because they are formed at the intersection of labour, municipal, administrative and social legislation. Labour rights of local self-government officials are not limited to the general rights of an employee guaranteed by the Constitution of Ukraine and the Labour Code of Ukraine; they are specified through special guarantees related to access to service, stability of official status, fair remuneration, professional development, social security, rest, protection against unlawful dismissal and effective challenge of personnel decisions. The article proves that the current legal regulation of labour-right guarantees for local self-government officials remains fragmented and does not ensure a sufficient level of legal certainty. This fragmentation results from the simultaneous application of the Constitution of Ukraine, the Labour Code of Ukraine, the Law of Ukraine ‘On Local Self-Government in Ukraine’, the Law of Ukraine ‘On Service in Local Self-Government Bodies’, subordinate legislation on remuneration and special norms adopted for the period of martial law. The main implementation problems are identified as follows: uncertain correlation between general labour law and special service legislation; instability of material guarantees and excessive dependence of remuneration on subordinate regulation; insufficient procedural clarity of personnel decisions; weakness of preventive and restorative remedies; and the impact of martial law on the scope of certain labour guarantees. The author proposes a classification of guarantees of labour rights of local self-government officials into normative-legal, organisational-service, material-financial, social-security and procedural-protective guarantees. It is concluded that there is a need for legislative systematisation, a clearer determination of the limits of application of the Labour Code of Ukraine to service relations in local self-government bodies, improvement of the remuneration model, strengthening of procedural guarantees at the stages of recruitment, service and dismissal, as well as harmonisation of national regulation with European standards of local democracy and public service.