The Impact of the Armed Conflict on Labour Law: The Case of Ukraine

Abstract

Background: The full-scale military aggression against Ukraine by the Russian Federation has dramatically affected all walks of life in the country, and the world of work is certainly not exempt from this. During the first months of the war, the operation of many enterprises was significantly disrupted; a substantial proportion of the working-age population was conscripted into the armed forces, some were forced to seek employment in regions of the country not affected by the hostilities or even had to change occupations entirely. This circumstance necessitated the adoption of appropriate legislative measures to stabilise labour relations in the light of wartime. The article focuses on the specifics of Ukrainian labour law in wartime conditions, reveals the difficulties of legal regulation of labour in connection with martial law, and highlights the pos- sible ways of solving the challenges for labour law in the period of armed conflicts based on the experience of Ukraine. Methods: The methods of legal reasoning and analysis were applied to present the main ap- proaches to legal regulation of labour relations during martial law in Ukraine. Actual statisti- cal and empirical data were used for proper argumentation of the conclusions. The method of analogy was used to assess possible ways of solving the challenges faced by labour law during armed conflicts, based on the experience of Ukraine. Results and Conclusions: The article stresses that there is no single approach towards regulating labour relations during armed conflicts. Such conflicts are always unique, i.e. they differ in scale, intensity, duration, technical capabilities of the parties, types of weapons used, etc. Given the diversity of armed conflicts in the world, it is impossible to develop uniform labour standards applicable, for example, at the international level. This demonstrates the priority of national law in adapting the regulation of labour relations to wartime conditions. In this regard, considering the Ukrainian experience, it is appropriate to take into account that: a) armed conflict is dynamic by nature; thus, it can have different stages of development, which can also affect the world of work and labour legislation may need to be systematically revised to reflect new realities; b) considering that the territory of a country may not be evenly affected by the consequences of an armed conflict, in some cases it might be appropriate to provide for the different legal regulation of labour relations for its different regions; c) armed conflict should never be considered a ‘valid reason’ for unjustified and long-lasting restriction of employees’ rights, as it is at a period when they are more vulnerable and therefore require additional legal protection.