Labour Law and Social Security in the EAEU States During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Experience of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia
The spread of the new coronavirus infection (COVID-19) has affected almost all areas of human activity, but one of the most vulnerable areas covers employment relations. Measures taken to prevent the spread of a dangerous infection entailed the suspension of many organizations, which caused negative consequences such as rising unemployment and falling living standards. Employers faced the need to «reformat» employment relations and organize labor processes in such a way as to ensure social isolation of employees, in particular, by transfer to remote work, despite the fact that this method of labor organization is not regulated in labor legislation. The EAEU member states challenged the tasks of strengthening social support for citizens, revising the system of measures for state benefits and payments. Using the comparative method, the authors analyze specific legislative measures taken in the EAEU member states in order to prevent the spread of the pandemic and mitigate its consequences, reveal the problems of law enforcement due to defects in labor and social legislation. The article provides examples of adaptation of labor and social security legislation to the relations arising within the pandemic. The authors conclude that COVID-19 has formulated a public request for the search for new legal mechanisms to enhance the labor mobility of the population and, to a certain extent, the transformation of modern employment relations.