LITHUANIA’S REFORM OF LABOR LAw

Abstract

This article presents and analyses the main characteristics of the §new Lithuanian Labour Code which was adopted
in 2016 and entered into force on 1 July 2017. The reforms of the Lithuanian labour market have been initiated to meet
the challenges of fierce international competition, to find a new balance between the flexibility desired by business and
the required social protection of workers and to bring the law into the line with contemporary changes at work. The group
of scholars was trusted with the task of preparation of the new draft legislation but the process of adoption of the Labour
Code was not that simple. The Parliament discussed the the draft law for the period of more than one year. After public
protests and trade unions resistance the adopted Code was even vetoed by the President because of alleged lack of ‘social
security and fairness’. The veto of the President was rejected with majority of only three votes but the new Law did not
enter on 1 January 2017 as expected because of the loss of the governing coalition in the general elections. The new
coalition postponed the entry into force of the Code for six months, giving the chance to social partners in the Tripartite
Council to agree on most controversial points of the Code. After the agreement was reached in the Tripartite Council, the
Labour Code entered into force on 1 July 2017.
The article examines and analyses the reasons of the recodification of Lithuanian labour law and the process of creation
of the new Labour Code. Through comparative, systematic and other methods the provisions of the new Labour Code of
Lithuania are examined in accordance with the general characteristics of the code as a legal act and according to what
goals the recoding initiators themselves have raised and how it was implemented in the text of the law. The analysis of
the content of the Labour Code is provided in the subchapters devoted to flexibility and security in employment
relationship, the change of the system of industrial relations (full implementation of the dualistic model of workers’
representation), reinforcement of the principle of non-discrimination and promotion of investment in the qualification of
the employee. The author concludes, that the re-codification will bring significant changes not only in the areas of working
time, dismissal protection, fixed-term employment or other forms of atypical work. The Labour Code of 2016 will
modernize the employment relationship in a much broader perspective—to revive the spirit of cooperation both at
individual and collective level, to increase the judicial protection of employees, to allow for wider acceptance of
technologies, investment in human capital and respect of the employee’s personality and his/her family commitments.
Changes in the collective representation system are also necessary to revitalize collective bargaining and increase industrial
democracy in the workplace.