Peculiarities of the Legal Status of a Police Officer as a Participant in Labor Relations

Abstract

It is concluded that a police officer, as a participant in labor relations, is a person possessing a special labor legal capacity, which is confirmed by his or her appointment to a position within the bodies or units of the National Police of Ukraine. As a result, the officer acquires a specific range of rights and duties.

It is summarized that the legal status of a police officer, as a subject of labor relations, represents a set of service-labor rights and obligations established by the Constitution, laws, and subordinate normative legal acts, together with the guarantees of their implementation (including the possibility of applying to a court for the protection of labor rights, etc.), as well as liability for the exercise of functional powers. This status arises from the moment the order on appointment is issued and terminates upon dismissal, retirement, or resignation.

It is substantiated that the peculiarities of the legal status of a police officer, as a subject of labor relations, are manifested in the following: 1) the establishment of a number of specific requirements and conditions for acquiring this status; 2) the existence of a special procedure for verifying a candidate’s compliance with these requirements; 3) the primacy of special legislation that defines the elements of legal status; 4) the service-labor nature of rights and duties, derived from the special mission of the National Police in ensuring public safety; 5) the risk-bearing character and high social significance of a police officer’s service-labor activity; 6) the limitation of labor rights, combined with the presence of a compensatory mechanism in the form of additional guaranteed rights corresponding to the risks and social responsibility involved; 7) an increased scope of service-labor duties, including those not limited by working hours (for example, responding to reports of threats to personal or public safety, refraining from statements and actions that violate human rights); 8) the specific nature of liability for the exercise of powers.