Stages of the Labor Code of the RSFSR (RF) 1971

Abstract

The publication is devoted to the problems of the validity in time of the Code of Labor Laws of the RSFSR (RF) - the third Russian labor law codified act. In the process of its action, the law was subjected to various changes and additions due to circumstances of both an objective and subjective nature. All new versions of the basic sectoral law potentially pose a threat to the stability of legal regulation in the relevant area, may violate the systemic structure of the code, generate contradictions, conflicts and other shortcomings in it. At the same time, through thoughtful amendment legislation, the code can also be improved in substantive, structural and technical-legal aspects and, thereby, maintain and even strengthen its effectiveness. When examining all editions of the code, it is important to determine the reasons for their appearance, expediency, sufficiency. This will allow us to assess the impact of the amendment laws on the industry codified act in terms of its quality. The results obtained in the process of studying the history of editing the Labor Code can be useful for modern practice of improving codified legislation. The action of the Labor Code of 1971 in time has three stages. Each of them had new editions of the Code, but the conceptual basis, consistency, scale and frequency of revisions were different. At the first stage (1972-1987), the Labor Code was the most stable, new editions appeared quite rarely, were generally consistent and systematic, did not run counter to the principles laid down in the Code in 1971. At the second stage (1988-1991), the intensity of amendments to the the Labor Code increased, their volume increased, while some amendments in the conceptual plan began to diverge from the original provisions of the Code. The amendments as a whole successfully adapted the Labor Code to changing labor relations in the context of the transition to a “regulated market economy”, but at the same time were often chaotic. At the third stage (1992-2001), the Labor Code was subjected to a significant revision due to radical market transformations. The dynamism of the amendments has increased, and the Code itself has lost stability, and such shortcomings as incompleteness and haphazard due to the lack of a clear concept of reforming labor legislation have also become clearly manifested. However, it was in the editions of the Labor Code of the 1990s. many progressive provisions were laid down, which became the regulatory basis for the new codification of Russian labor law.