ENSURING THE INTEREST OF THE PARTIES TO THE EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP DURING A DOWNTIME IN A PANDEMIC

Abstract

The paper considers legal regulation of remuneration of labor during downtime through no fault of an employee. Our purpose is to determine how does reduced remuneration of labor during downtime through no fault of an employee complies with positive law, legal principles, ideas and values of national law, as well as with the balance of employees’ and employers’ interests and responsibilities of. Scientific novelty. We stand up for a thesis about an urge to save the employee’s average earnings during downtime through no fault of an employee. The issue of remuneration during downtime remuneration is not paid essential attention even in specialized monographic studies on remuneration and guarantees in labor law. Historically, the most employee-favorable legal regulation of downtime remuneration took place in the period 1918–1930; the least favorable - in the period 1930–1970; modern legal regulation of downtime remuneration is a bit more favorable, but it is still a direct legacy of the worst examples of soviet labor law. In the normative-doctrinal aspect, it is proposed to postpone the moment when employee gets the right to ordinary (full) remuneration earnings from the moment of actual employee’s performance of work under employment contract to the moment when an employee takes all reasonable dependable measures (considering his labor function) so that he is ready to actually perform the work stipulated by employment contract. It is proposed to consider the payment of downtime to be not a guarantee payment, but a regular element of wages. It is stated that the legal regulation of reduced remuneration during downtime through no fault of an employee does not comply with positive law, legal principles, ideas and values, as well as with the balance of employees’ and employers’ interests and responsibilities of. In conclusion, in this regard, the following is proposed: 1) to amend the national labor law so that employee would retain average salary during downtime through no employee’s fault; 2) to revise the doctrinal qualification of remuneration of labor during downtime through no fault of an employee as a guarantee payment, referring it as an element of the basic salary instead.