Unfair Employee and Abuse of Rights: the Supreme Court's Vision

Abstract

Unfairness in law in general and abuse of law in particular is a topic that has its roots in Roman law. Unfortunately, this negative social and legal phenomenon cannot be overcome but its manifestations can be minimized, which is facilitated by high-quality legislation and court decisions that suppress specific cases of unfairness and abuse of rights. In our opinion, labor and legal research pays insufficient attention to these issues, or remains at the level of theoretical discourse. The author did not set out to comprehensively cover this topic, but only to draw attention to its existence and importance once again, and to undermine the dominant thesis in labor law and judicial practice about the «sanctity» of the employee and the presumption of unfairness of the employee, since he is the «stronger» party. This approach is firmly rooted in both theory and practice and has its origins in the class theory of the antagonism between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. In modern conditions, it is necessary to talk about the common interest of the parties to an employment contract, the search for a compromise, and good faith towards each other, but definitely not about confrontation. The analysis of the Supreme Court's practice is very important for the further development of research in the field of abuse of rights. This is because the Supreme Court's decisions are quasi-precedents. Thus, these decisions must be followed by lower courts and the Supreme Court's practice actually fills in the gaps in labor legislation. In addition, the generalization of practice can become a reliable source for recodification of labor legislation in the future. The article analyzes the controversial issue of law enforcement. An example of a Supreme Court decision is given, which, in the author's opinion, carries the risk of legalizing the abuse of rights. The author provides counter-arguments that demonstrate the controversial nature of the Supreme Court's legal opinion. Key words: Unfair Employee, Abuse of Rights, labor disputes