The dissertation is devoted to the study of non-standard forms of employment
in Ukraine, with reference to the experience of certain foreign countries. The
dissertation defines the theoretical principles of legal regulation of non-standard
forms of employment.
The Section 1 of the dissertation examines the peculiarities of the emergence
and evolution of non-standard forms of employment, analyses the conceptual
apparatus in the field of non-standard employment, and offers the classification of
non-standard forms of employment.
The dissertation features a comparative legal analysis of the emergence and
evolution of non-standard employment in Ukraine and foreign countries. It has been
established that the accelerated development of the above-mentioned forms of
employment in our country began much later than in most Western countries where
the application and development of the above-forms of employment boosted starting
from the 1970s. This circumstance is due primarily to the socio-political factor as
our country had long been part of the USSR and subsequently followed the
“transitional” period that fell on the first half of the 1990s. These factors
significantly “slowed down” the processes of intensive application and, accordingly,
legal regulation of non-standard forms of employment in Ukraine.
The stages of the emergence and evolution of non-standard forms of
employment in Ukraine include: a) the first stage (second half of the 19th century),
caused by the emergence of the labour law and the appearance of certain “standards”
in the application of the right to work and, accordingly, exclusions thereof; b) the
second stage (the beginning of the 20th century – the 70s of the 20th century), which
is characterized by the formation and development of labour legislation and its
extension onto relations of “non-standard labour force”; c) the third stage (70s of the
20th century – the end of the 20th century), which is characterized by detailed legal
regulation of “classic” non-standard forms of employment (temporary employment
(fixed-term employment contracts, short-term and seasonal work), part-time work
as well as home work); d) the fourth stage (the beginning of the 21st century – the
present time), which is primarily associated with the impact of digital technologies
on all walks of life, resulting in the widespread use of the “newest” non-standard
forms of employment, in particular telework and work using digital labour
platforms.
Despite the noticeable dynamics of application in recent years, non-standard
forms of employment have not been duly examined in the science of labour law of
Ukraine. This primarily applies to the conceptual apparatus, as numerous scientific
studies devoted to the problem of non-standard employment offer no single and
agreed position regarding this category and its justified definition. Thus, the reader
comes across such terms as: “atypical employment”, “non-typical employment”,
“alternative forms of employment”, “non-typical forms of employment”, “newest
forms of employment”, “flexible forms of employment”, “non-traditional forms of
employment”. This necessitates introducing a single unified term that would cover
those forms of employment that are qualified in the science of labour law as nonstandard, flexible, atypical or alternative. The “non-standard forms of employment”
should be such a term as it semantically better reflects the labour law content.
Based on the analysis of scientific literature, the dissertation offers a definition
of non-standard forms of employment which should be understood as any forms of
labour activity of natural persons related to the fulfilment of their personal and social
needs aiming to generate income (earn wage), implemented with a deviation from
the criteria inherent in standard employment relationship, but, in most cases, with
the extension to them of the guarantees provided for by the labour legislation. Nonstandard forms of employment are mostly characterized by: 1) a temporary nature
of work and reduced number of working hours; 2) the possibility of performing work
outside the workplace or the employer's territory; 3) wide use of digital technologies;
4) possibility to withdraw from the traditional bilateral model of employment
relationship.
The dissertation features the analysis of scientific works on the classification
of non-standard forms of employment in Ukraine and internationally. The
dissertation distinguishes the following forms of non-standard employment: 1)
temporary employment, which is manifested in fixed-term employment contracts,
short-term and seasonal work; 2) part-time work and on-call work (employment
contract with non-fixed working hours); 3) multi-party employment relationship; 4)
home work and telework; 5) work through the digital labour platforms; 6) disguised
employment and dependent self-employment.
