Contract of Employment

Contract of Employment 

under Soviet law, an agreement between a worker and an enterprise, institution, or organization, according to which the worker is obligated to work in a given job (specialty, qualification, or function) and to adhere to the rules of the internal work order. In turn, the enterprise, institution, or organization is obligated to pay the worker a wage and to ensure the conditions of labor provided by labor legislation, the collective agreement, and the agreement between the parties. The conditions of labor, including payment, that are provided by labor legislation and the collective agreement are not worked out by the parties in a contract of employment; however, the obligation of the administration to provide these conditions derives from the contract. If the conditions of a contract of employment worsen the position of the employee in comparison with or in contradiction of standards specified in labor legislation, the contract is void.

A contract of employment may be concluded for an indefinite term, for a definite term not exceeding three years, or for the period needed to complete a specific job. This is usually determined by direct agreement between the employee and the manager of the enterprise or institution.

A contract of employment may be concluded in oral or written form. Hiring is formalized by an order or instruction of the management presented to the employee for his signature.

A contract of employment providing for work of an indefinite period may be dissolved by the employee on the condition that he give one month’s written notice. On the initiative of the management, a contract of employment may be dissolved only in cases specified by law and only with the consent of the local, factory, or plant committee.

In capitalist countries a labor contract is legally a contract of personal hiring, but in economic terms it is a contract of forced sale of man power by an employee to a capitalist.

REFERENCE

Smoliarchuk, V. I. Sotsialisticheskii trudovoi dogovor. Moscow, 1974.