To the issue of the legal status of war veterans and their labor guarantees
Authors: Novikov Evgen 
Published: October 2024

Problem setting. For war veterans, as a socially vulnerable group of the population, it is extremely important to realize the right to work with the help of labor guarantees established by law, since work can be an effective way to return a war veteran to civilian life, providing him or her with adequate mental and/or physical activity and distraction from the military past. Labor law is faced with the task of defining the specifics of the legal status of war veterans in terms of realization and observance of their labor rights, and ensuring proper protection of their rights in case of violation. Purpose of research is to analyze the concept of “war veterans” and its composition, to study the legal status of persons recognized by law as war veterans and to improve it, and to review labor guarantees for war veterans as an important element of their legal status. Analysis of recent researches and publications. The doctrine of labor law studied the rights, freedoms and obligations of servicemen, for example, we note the monographic study of V. Pashynskyi, L. Medvid, B. Shamrai, devoted to the legal status and social protection of servicemen, the article of M. M. Shumylo, which examined the guarantees of labor rights of persons called up to the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the war, and the article by N. V. Khortiuk, which focused on the concept and features of military personnel as subjects of labor law. At the same time, no scientific research has been conducted on labor rights and guarantees of war veterans as subjects of labor law. The closest in terms of subject matter is the scientific article by V.P. Kokhan, which is devoted to the mechanisms of employment of war veterans based on the results of professional adaptation. Article’s main body. The article analyzes the concept of “war veterans”, its composition, examines the legal status of persons recognized by law as war veterans, and proposes to improve the legal status of war veterans. The author determines that the legislation links the granting of veteran status with the time limits of a particular war. The disadvantage of this approach is that the separation of the time of experience gained by military personnel leads to an unfair comparison of the contribution of the military who stood up for defense in other historical periods, and as a result, these categories of persons and their family members receive different compensation payments and benefits. This situation is a violation of the principles of equality and fairness of social security law and a manifestation of discrimination in the field of social protection against war veterans. Conclusions and prospects for the development. The article proposes to change the legislative approaches to the concept of “war veterans” and to determine the legal status of this category of persons on the basis of their combat experience rather than the timeframe of military conflicts. The author reviews the labor guarantees of war veterans as an important element of their legal status. It is noted that labor guarantees are an important tool for protecting the labor rights of war veterans who have returned to civilian life, since they are an effective legal mechanism for realizing the social and labor rights of this category of persons. In the field of labor, additional labor guarantees established for war veterans help not only to protect labor rights, but also facilitate a painless and quick transition from military service to civilian life.