Dispozityvumo įgyvendinimas Lietuvos darbo teisėje
Freedom of Contract in Lithuanian Labour Law

Summary/Abstract: The freedom to agree on employment conditions in employment contract in Lithuania is discussed in this article. The practice of employment relationship used to be quite conservative in Lithuania but since joining the European Union the employment practice from the Western countries started to spread rapidly. The questions of legitimacy of the new practices such as agency work, noncompete clause or zero hour work arises and are analysed in courts. Authors examine the limits of freedom of contract in employment relationship given in the Labour Code of Republic of Lithuania. The Constitution of Republic of Lithuania provides that each human being may freely choose a job or business, and shall have the right to have proper, safe and healthy conditions at work, to receive fair pay for work and social security in the event of unemployment. These guarantees roll back the frontiers for freedom of contract in employment relationship. In the cases where the Labour Code and other laws do not directly prohibit parties of legal employment relationships from establishing, of their own accord and by agreement, mutual rights and obligations, the parties must observe the principles of equity, reasonableness and fairness. The parties may not establish working conditions, which are less favourable to the employee than those provided by the Labour Code, laws, other regulatory acts and the collective agreement. The understanding of “less favourable” conditions shall be evaluated in every case separately taking into consideration the general level of guarantees given to employees. Authors suggest removing part of guarantees provided in Labour Code leaving more space to agree on it in employment contract or collective agreement. The guide for the state imperative employment regulation could be the rights set in Constitution, European Union labour law and international labour law standards ratified by state. These changes in legal regulation could lead to more active initiatives by employees to agree on working conditions locally and/or collectively and involve parties into constructive social dialogue. The practice of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Lithuania is discussed. The suggestion to provide the rules for noncompete clause in Labour code is given because it limits the right to choose the job freely. The court precedents related to confidentiality clause, changing of essential conditions of the employment contract, compensation of expenses incurred in relation to the employee’s training, part time work, fixed-term contract and other conditions are reviewed in the article.

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