Concepts and Signs of Principles of Legal Regulation of Labor Discipline in Law Enforcement Bodies

Abstract

The article examines the essential content of the principles governing the legal regulation of labour discipline in law-enforcement agencies. A critical review of the literature reveals no settled understanding of either the essence or the specific architecture of these principles. Nevertheless, practice shows that norm-setting, planning, organisation, and compliance within the labour-discipline regime proceed from principles whose logic of definition and application mirrors the generally accepted structure of legal principles within the wider legal order. On that logic, regulatory influence over labour discipline in law-enforcement agencies is shaped with reference to: (a) general legal principles; (b) special principles (public-law frameworks designed to mitigate personnel risks inherent in the State’s exercise of law-enforcement functions); (c) sectoral principles; and (d) institutional principles. It is established that the principles governing the legal regulation of labour discipline in law-enforcement agencies constitute a foundational component of the labour-law framework in this sphere. They are imperative, baseline ideas that set the direction and limits of organising labour discipline for staff of these public service bodies and embed a set of mandatory requirements by reference to which disciplinary legal relations are structured (including their planning and organisation, and decisions to suspend or terminate such relations). These principles also govern the formulation of disciplinary requirements, the fostering of voluntary compliance, oversight of adherence, and responses to breaches. Their animating purpose is to ensure the proper functioning of the labour-discipline regime while maintaining a balance between the interests of the public service and respect for employees’ labour rights. Doctrinally, the principles form a distinct category marked by the following attributes: a fundamental nature (stable, durable and legally binding); systemic coherence (an interconnected set of foundational ideas comprising general-legal, sectoral (labour-law), special (public-service) and institutional principles); expression of legally salient regularities specific to labour discipline within law-enforcement, capturing both the operation of the labour-discipline regime and the staffing regime that supports the state’s law-enforcement function; an explicative role (articulating the essence and content of labour law and of labour discipline in law-enforcement agencies as a legal institution); and a regulatory function (orienting the course of legal regulation and guiding the planning and conduct of law-making, law-application and interpretation in this domain).