Investors’ Forum invites Seimas to let the new Labor Code into force on the 1st January 2017.  According to the leaders of the association, political statements about the possibility to postpone the enforcement of the new law will definitely have a negative impact on both businesses and the international image of Lithuania.

“On the one hand, many companies which operates or plan its operations in Lithuania, have devoted time and resources to prepare their activities under the new law. Therefore, inconsistent or inconsiderate behavior of the government may result in loss of business. On the other hand, such actions generally do not promote investors’ confidence in the state, because the strategic laws are changed and delayed even before they come into the force“, says Rolandas Valiunas, Chairman of the Investors’ Forum Board.

Investors’ Forum identified the most important reasons why the new Labor Code should come into the force at the beginning of the new year.

1)     Both business and public authorities are preparing for the new regulation of labor relations. For the implementation of the new social model the State budgeted about a quarter of a billion euros for the next year.

2)     It is unlikely that such a critical change could be in line with all the social partners in half a year. Until the decisions will be made, labor relations will be regulated under the Labor Code, which was inherited from the Soviet era and are not in line with current realities,

3)     There are doubts in current suggestions to revise the new Labor Code in the Tripartite Council, which represents only a small part of job creators and workers. It is far more appropriate to consider changes of the law in a newly composed board, and we need new Labor Code to form it.

4)     The State has provided the entire system to observe a functioning and impact of the new law. Investors’ Forum members believe that any further amendments to the law should be made only on the basis of the objective data and analysis of the social model‘s impact.

5)     Very serious negative signal is sent to local and foreign investors due to the delay of the strategic reform, which is closely monitored by many international organizations.

 

Investors‘ Forum already for a decade has been consistently urging the authorities to take the significant labor relations reform and introduce more flexible regulations in this area.

 

 

For further information please contact:

Lukas Savickas

Mob. (+370) 6108 5986

E – mail: lukas@investorsforum.lt