Historical and legal aspects of regulation of labor relations for ukraine’s citizens working abroad
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15587/2523-4153.2026.360399Keywords:
history of labor law, private international law, EU law, cross-border relationsAbstract
A historical and legal analysis of the legal regulation of labor relations, namely the application scope of labor of Ukrainian citizens abroad, was carried out. At first, the educational literature on the history of labor legal regulation in Ukraine was studied, it was found that in different historical periods this happened differently. Then, the features of legal support for labor activity in the context of membership of states in international communities, in particular in the EU, were identified . Since human labor is used quite often in adverse conditions, EU directives were studied, concerning the exposure of workers to hazardous substances (in particular, crystalline silica), manual handling of loads, work with visual displays, etc. It is obvious that this impact is inevitable, but international agreements are aimed at mitigating it. Next, the decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on the use of labor in the gig-economy is analyzed. The expediency of applying labor law to self-employed persons in this sphere is argued. The correlation between the concepts of "employee" and "self-employed person" in accordance with the legislation of Ukraine, EU law, and decisions of the ECHR is clarified.
The article analyzes the scientific literature on the legal regulation of cross-border relations of self-employed individuals who find opportunities for earning money through technological platforms. The characteristics that determine whether such self-employed individuals should be considered employees are presented.
The content of individual legal documents on the subject under study is clarified, such as the EU Directive on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health of workers at work; the Agreement on the protection of the health of workers through the proper handling and use of crystalline silica and products containing it; as well as the laws of Ukraine "On private international law", "On the professional development of employees". The ECHR norms of the extension of labor law norms to self-employed persons are given.
This article is about to harmonize Ukrainian law with the law of international communities in terms of defining the concept of "employee" and outlining the scope of application labor law norms to cross-border relations, taking into account international trends in the digitalization of labor
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Copyright (c) 2026 Lidia Kupchenia, Pavlo Kolomiiets
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