Such opinion was expressed by Chairman of the Standing Committee on Labour and Social Affairs of the House of Representatives Vladimir Vasilenko, and Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Protection of Igor Starovoytov in response to a proposal Human rights activist Leonid Svetik.
Viciebsk human rights activist asked the Parliament and the Ministry initiated the development of the Law, which would regulate the employment of citizens of the country, engaged in providing freelance services.
In his address to the State authorities, he noted that, according to this US Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Department of Labor in 2005, about 10.3 million workers in the US are independent contractors (freelancers), freelancers make up 7.4% of the US workforce.
Frilanserstvo as a way to self-employment did not pass and our country. However, I still do not know how many Belarusians involved in this type of work. But if we start from promotional offers freelancers, then those can count tens of thousands of people in Belarus.
As elsewhere in the world, in Belarus freelance distributed to journalists, photographers, lawyers and attorneys, artists, architects and designers, programmers, optimizers, copywriters, translators, members of affiliate programs, design engineers, builders and representatives of other professions.
The Belarusian authorities have indirectly acknowledged the existence of such categories of workers – freelancers, but include them in the so-called social dependents ("parasites"). Thus, the Belarusian government takes significant part of the country's migrant population from the legal field, deprives them of the opportunity to legally exercise their constitutional right to work.
The absence of Belarusian law that would regulate the rights and duties of individuals providing freelance services, causing significant economic losses to the state. In addition, this fact brings freelancers from the category of taxpayers, pushes them into the labor ghettos, forced to look for opportunities to circumvent the law, creates fear and mistrust of the state as a national institution that through the creation of regulatory Ministers should promote free, harmonious and dignified development of the country's citizen .
For example, freelancers engaged in journalism, a considerable losing their colleagues who work in the media officially registered. In carrying out its professional activities, free journalists cannot receive accreditation under public bodies, they are denied the right to work for a formal event, they are not subject to the law on mass media. A journalist working for foreign publications and editions, are generally considered violators of the legislation in force and are subject to a huge fine by the courts.
Thus, according to human rights activist Leonid Svetik, in respect of freelancers working in journalism, there is discrimination on the grounds of the existence of formal employment or work for foreign media.
This situation will not allow, as in practice, limited to the rights of independent journalists to access information, which leads to a violation of the right of journalists to carry out professional activities and indirect restrictions on the right of citizens to receive full independence and objectivity of information.
Similar problems experienced and freelancers who work in other areas of work, said Leonid Svetik in its appeal to the power bodies of the State.
Members of the Standing House Committee on Labour and Social Affairs refused to the development and adoption of a law that would regulate the issues of providing freelance service like that offered human rights activist. To implement legal, according to lawmakers, enough current Labour Code of the Republic of Belarus. Parliamentarians believe that freelance, in extreme cases, can be carried out within the framework of civil law contracts.
The Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of the Republic of Belarus, having considered a proposal human rights activist, also did not see the need to develop and adopt a special law of the country, which would regulate the activities of citizens engaged in providing freelance services.
The ministry believes that the legislation of the Republic of Belarus The work provides opportunities to organize citizens their work outside the employer preserving all social guarantees provided. This feature, according to officials, is regulated by Chapter 25 of the Labour Code, which regulates questions of labor organization employees homeworkers.
In cases where foreign employers enter into a contract with freelancers, they are not obliged to follow the requirements of the Labour Code. In this case, according to the ministry, the relations developing in areas freelance fall under civil law.
If the candidates to engage in freelancing do not like these two ways of employment – there is a third: According to officials, freelance work can cover enterprise.
However, Leonid Svetik believes that the options proposed by the officials do not fully take into account the specifics of citizens who are engaged in freelancing. According to human rights, especially the adoption of legal act would result in a legitimate form of work freelancers and would have helped a significant group of Belarusian citizens gain the right and obligation to become a full-fledged and law-abiding members of society.
Lyavon Efremenko
