Socio-Economic Component of the State Policy in the Field of Prevention of Criminal Offences Against Labour Rights and Freedoms of a Person and a Citizen

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to reveal the essence and content of socio-economic elements of the state policy in the field of prevention of criminal offences against labour rights and freedoms of a person and a citizen; to consider the main methods of risk management in the construction of the crime prevention mechanism as the ways of ensuring the economic security of the state. Scientific discussion of the problem of correlation of criminal-legal, criminological and economic aspects of reduction of quantitative and qualitative indicators of such socially dangerous acts is presented. The socio-economic determinants of the studied type of crime are characterised. The authors' vision of the peculiarities of labour legislation in the conditions of martial law functioning and their correlation with the intensification of crime and the destabilisation of the economic situation in the country is outlined. The problem of the high level of migration is updated and explained from the point of view of the unsatisfactory economic situation, which complicates the process of employment of young people, and the unsatisfactory level of providing the population with higher education. The need to integrate the social aspect into the labour legislation has been demonstrated by standardising the provisions on the preferred categories of employees, the specifics of their performance of labour duties, etc. Socio-economic measures and means to prevent criminal offences against the labour rights of citizens are proposed. Results. Regulatory legal acts establishing the peculiarities of employees' performance of their labour duties have been regulated, and the Law of Ukraine "On Peculiarities of Regulation of Labour Relations under Martial Law" No. 2136-IX of 15.03.2022, which defines the procedure for interaction between the employer, the state and the employee, regarding the special legal regime, has been singled out. The article provides additional arguments in favour of the need to introduce systemic changes to the Labour Code. It is established that the socio-economic determinants of criminal offences against labour rights of citizens include the following phenomena: 1) martial law and the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic have reduced Ukraine's investment attractiveness, leading to a fall in the labour market, the need to cut jobs and the resulting labour disputes, and the need for employers to resort to criminal violations of employees' rights (gross violation of labour laws, gross violation of an employment contract, coercion to participate in a strike or obstruction of participation in a strike, and so forth); 2) the levelling of the need for conceptual reforms of the concept of sustainable development in the current political and economic environment has led to the end of globalisation and the beginning of localisation, and, as a result, migration of the population causes the loss of labour resources and the retention of employees by illegal means (in particular, through unjustified non-payment of wages, scholarships, and more); 3) regular attacks on critical infrastructure facilities and complications in energy security increase the demand for certain professions (e.g., in the defence industry) and make others irrelevant, which leads to massive redundancies in other professions; 4) financial, technical, organisational, administrative and personnel problems in the work of commercial courts, which makes it difficult for the court to resolve disputes related to business activities.