Key Features of the Labour Law Reform of Lithuania of 2016

Abstract

The article reveals and analyses the key features of the new Labour Code of Lithuania of 2016. The reforms of the Lithuanian labour market were initiated to deal with the issues of the increasing international competition, to find a new balance between the flexibility required by employers and the relevant social security benefits for employees, as well as to bring the law in compliance with the recent developments in the employment sector. At the same time, recodification implies not only changes in the institutions of working hours, protection in the course dismissal, term contract or other atypical forms of employment. The new Labour Code is intended to update the industrial relations on a wider scope: to revive the partnership spirit both on the personal and collective level, to enforce the judicial protection of employees, to ensure a wider application of technologies and human asset investment, to increase the respect for the personality of an employee and his/her family commitments. Changes in the collective representation to boost the collective bargaining process and build up “industrial democracy” in the work place are also called for.