Ar dirbant nuotoliniu būdu, darbuotojas turi teisę atsijungti?
Šalčiuvienė, Brigita |
Pagrindinis šio darbo tikslas išsiaiškinti ar dirbant nuotoliniu būdu, darbuotojas turi teisę atsijungti. Teisė atsijungti - tai darbuotojo teisė išjungti skaitmenines priemones ir likti nepasiekiamu po darbo valandų, darbuotojui dėl to nepatiriant jokių neigiamų pasekmių. Išanalizavus ES teisės aktus, ESTT praktiką, Lietuvos ir kitų ES šalių teisės atsijungti reguliavimo ypatumus ir problematiką, paaiškėjo, jog teisė atsijungti turėtų būti laikoma svarbia ES lygmens socialinės politikos priemone ir pagrindine teise, siekiant užtikrinti apsaugą nuotoliniu būdu dirbantiems asmenims. Nors kai kuriais ES teisės aktais, reguliuojami bendri, su nuotoliniu darbu susiję klausimai, būtent, direktyva dėl darbo laiko, direktyva dėl skaidrių ir nuspėjamų darbo sąlygų, direktyva dėl tėvų ir globėjų profesinio ir asmeninio gyvenimo pusiausvyros, direktyva dėl darbuotojų saugos ir sveikatos ir kt., tačiau šiuo metu jokiuose ES teisės aktuose, nėra reguliuojamas atsijungimo nuo skaitmeninių priemonių po darbo valandų (teisė atsijungti) klausimas. Tad 2021 m. priimtoje rezoliucijoje Europos Parlamentas siūlo įtvirtinti teisę atsijungti nuo darbo, priimant atskirą ES teisės aktą, taip užtikrinant saugias ir sveikas darbo sąlygas, įskaitant ir asmeninio bei profesinio gyvenimo pusiausvyros apsaugą. Šiame darbe taip pat buvo aptarta nuotolinio darbo samprata ir jos rūšys, apžvelgiama nuotolinio darbo taikymo specifika Lietuvoje ir kai kuriose kitose ES šalyse. Darbe buvo remtasi mokslininkų nuomone, taip pat ir šio darbo autorės atlikto tyrimo „ Nuotolinio darbo galimybės ir poveikis asmeniniam gyvenimui “, rezultatais. Siekiant išsiaiškinti, teisės atsijungti nuo skaitmeninių įrenginių nedarbo metu taikymo galimybes, buvo apžvelgta Vokietijos, Prancūzijos, Ispanijos ir Lietuvos darbo teisės praktika bei problemos, susijusios su šios teisės įgyvendinimo užtikrinimu. Taip pat buvo analizuojamos pagrindinės, dėl teisės atsijungti, iškylančios problemos: darbo ir poilsio laiko atskyrimas, sveikatos problemos, šeimos ir profesinio gyvenimo ribų ištrynimas. Nuotolinis darbas ir „ nuolat prisijungusių „ darbuotojų kultūra egzistuoja daugelyje Europos šalių, tačiau teisę atsijungti pripažįsta vos kelios iš jų. Nors ne visose ES valstybėse narėse reguliuojama teisė atsijungti, atlikus teisės aktų analizę, galima teigti, kad dirbant nuotoliniu būdu, darbuotojas turi teisę atsijungti.
The main purpose of this work is to find out whether when working remotely, the employee has the right to disconnect. The right to disconnect is the right of the employee to turn off digital means and remain inaccessible after working hours, without the employee experiencing any negative consequences as a result. After analyzing EU legislation, the practice of CJEU, the peculiarities and issues of regulation of Lithuania and other EU countries of the right to disconnect, it turned out that the right to disconnect should be considered an important social policy tool and fundamental right at eu level in order to ensure protection for all employees. Some EU legislation sets out minimum requirements for work that is carried out outside the employer's premises: the Working Time Directive, the Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions Directive, the Work-Life Balance Directivethe Workers' Safety and Health Directive, but currently no EU legislation provides right to disconnect. Although remote work is well known around the world, it became widely used when the Covid-19 pandemic took over the world. The announcement of quarantine, self-isolation, work from home and other restrictions led to the spread of remote work, which has become a necessity in order to maintain the continuity of economic activity. Society has had to adapt to the basic means of managing an emergency - the need to work remotely. The sudden need for remote work has also become a challenge for companies and their employees: proper preparation of the workplace by providing employees with the necessary tools for work, ensuring health and safety requirements, compliance with personal data protection and compliance with other requirements. According to Eurofound research, teleworkers do not record working hours and tend to work longer. It is believed that the main reason is constant availability to the use of ICT. The intensive use of digital tools and long working hours oblige the employee to be constantly available for work purposes. Such overload of the body negatively affects human health, so rest is essential for the well-being and productive work of every person. In this thesis, the concept of telework and its types were also discussed, and the specifics of the application of remote work in Lithuania and other EU countries were reviewed. Thesis was based on the opinion of the researchers, as well as the results of the study " Opportunities for remote work and the impact on personal life " conducted by the author of this work. The aim of the study was to find out the opinion of remote workers about the advantages and disadvantages of using this form of work, how it changed the personal life of employees, whether there is a negative impact on the health of employees. In order to find out the possibilities of applying the right to disconnect from digital devices during out of work hours, the labour law practices of Germany, France, Spain and Lithuania and problems related to ensuring the implementation of this right were reviewed. Despite the benefits of this type of work, such as reduction in travel time and costs, the main issues raised by the right to disconnect have been analyzed in this work: the separation of working and rest time, health problems, and the erasure of family and professional life boundaries. When working remotely, the problem of separating work and rest time, had other consequences: anxiety, insomnia, stress, depression. The CJEU has ruled in cases concerning the separation of work and rest periods that the employer must ensure healthy and safe working conditions, therefore, the main means of implementing the " right to disconnect " should be the introduction of a time tracing system to assess each employee's daily working time. Although teleworking and the culture of " permanently connected " workers exist in many European countries, only a few of them recognize the right to disconnect. As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, with the noticeable growth of teleworking and the need to continue it in the future, it is more important than ever to strike a better balance between the opportunities and challenges associated with remote work and the intensive use of ICT. Despite the existence of a legislative framework aimed at protecting the health and safety of workers with regard to working hours and rest, assessing the consequences of the constant use of ICT for human health and personal life, the European Parliament in order to address this issue, in its 2021 resolution, proposes to enshrine the right to disconnect in all European Union legislation. It is argued that this right should apply to all workers, in all sectors, thereby ensuring safe and healthy working conditions, including the protection of work - lifebalance. In order to answer the question raised in the master's thesis, after the analysis of legal acts, this concludes that when working remotely, the employee has the right to disconnect.