THE INFLUENCE OF DIGITAL REALITY ON THE REGULATION OF LABOR RELATIONS
Authors:   Higher School of Economics, Management and Law of the Northern (Arctic) Federal University named after M.V. Lomonosov (Arkhangelsk, Russian Federation), Zykina Tatyana A. 
Published: December 2021

The article deals with the introduction of digital technologies in the sphere of labor regu-lation, under which labor law, in order to remain an effective regulator, is trying to be modi-fied, introducing new types of objects (the Internet, digital platforms) and subjects (artificial intelligence, virtual personality) into the structure of legal relations. At the same time, the content of legal relations also changes. The author supports the po-sition of those researchers who propose to include digital legal relations into a separate group. Among the digital legal relations, it is proposed to isolate digital labor relations. Moreover, it is argued that in the sphere of labor there may be two types of digital legal relations, de-pending on the volume of use of digitalization tools. In the first case, digitalization only com-plements the classical labor relations, for example, through the use of electronic labor books or an electronic digital signature; in the second case, digitalization penetrates deeper, and the interaction of the parties is carried out at a distance, without physical contact, which is re-placed by digital technologies. The author proposes to divide digital labor relations into two groups, depending on the period of employment of the parties to the employment contract in the virtual environment. The first group includes digital labor relations related to the use of exclusively remote labor. The second group of digital labor relations involves the alternation of work in the office with a remote work. Remote digital labor relations, regardless of the group, have many differences from usual labor relations. The peculiarities of such work affect the procedure for concluding employ-ment contracts, which implies, in particular, the exchange of electronic documents between the employee and the employer when hiring. The existence of digital labor relations is caused by the specifics that are manifested in their implementation in a special virtual environment, on digital platforms, without real (or limited) communication of the parties to the legal labor relationship. Such specificity requires of employees and employers to have information knowledge and skills in addition to their professional ones, as well as to ensure their safe Internet cooperation and the exercise of digital rights. It is noted that work in the virtual space has led to a blurring of the criteria between em-ployment and self-employment. The difference exists in the field of social protection: it is provided if work is carried out on the basis of an employment contract, if not, there is no pro-tection at all. But the very process of work, freedom in choosing periods of work and rest, focus on the result, the ability to use any territory as a platform for the performance of their duties - makes work for hire and work for oneself very similar phenomena. In a democratic state, it is necessary to expand the scope of labor regulation to include the regulation of the work of the self-employed.