Representatives of the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan – members of the working group on the draft Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On amendments and additions to some legislative acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on improving safe working conditions and protecting the labor rights of workers” have made a number of amendments to this bill.
In order to protect the labor rights of employees, deputies of the Senate initiated an amendment to paragraph 2 of Article 190 of the Labor Code, excluding issues of mixed liability of the parties between the employer and the employee. Earlier, during the consideration of the draft law, a similar proposal was put forward by the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Recall that the current version of the specified norm of the Labor Code provides that “… if during the investigation of an accident related to work, the commission found that gross negligence was the cause of the occurrence or increase in harm, the commission applies mixed liability of the parties and determines the degree of guilt of the employee and the employer as a percentage.”
At the same time, the current Labor Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan does not disclose the mechanism for determining the degree of guilt of the parties to an employment contract. The solution of an important issue for an employee is at the discretion of the accident investigation commission.
As Timur Nugmanov, a member of the working group, director of the Legal Support Department of the FTURK, told the FTURK Media Center, practice shows that in the event of accidents related to work, in the vast majority of cases, the responsibility for harm is assigned to the employee himself.
“Only in 2021, 31% of the 1,465 employees whose lives and health were harmed in the performance of their work duties, the norms on mixed liability were applied, i.e. from a third of the affected workers were found guilty. As a result, the amount of compensation received by the employee turned out to be extremely low,” Timur Nugmanov noted.
Meanwhile, a comparative legal analysis of the legislations of foreign countries shows that in their legal systems there are no norms on the mixed responsibility of the employer and the employee in the event of an accident related to work. Such norms are available only in the legislations of some CIS countries.
This amendment was also generally supported by the majority of the members of the working group and supported by the deputies of the Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
At the same time, the final adoption of the proposed norm will largely depend on the positions of social partners in the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan during further consideration of the draft Law.
The working group included deputies of the Senate and the Majilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan, representatives of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population, other ministries and departments, regional labor inspections, NCE “Atameken”, other employers’ associations, representatives of the Federation of Trade Unions and its branch member organizations on the part of employees.
Work on the protection of labor rights in this direction by the Federation of Trade Unions continues.
Media Center of the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan