Violations of Health Workers’ Labor Rights during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The issues of protecting the rights of workers have traditionally been of significant importance in modern labor relations; however, during the spread of COVID-19, they acquired a particular specificity. The lack of a safe work environment exposes workers to the virus, and lack of access to the necessary tools and equipment makes it difficult for employees to perform their assigned tasks. For many industries that do not have the possibility of remote work, in particular construction and the manufacturing sector, the need to adapt to the new reality while respecting labor rights has raised a lot of questions. However, it is the health workers who are at the forefront of the pandemic that are at increased risk. Despite the fundamental importance of respecting the rights of medical personnel during a pandemic, there exists much evidence that states do not guarantee the observance of such rights, and sometimes even contribute to their deliberate violation. Thus, this study is devoted to the issue of violations of health workers’ labor rights during a pandemic. At the same time, the goal was set to systematize medical workers’ rights that are violated during a pandemic. The theoretical and practical value of such a study is manifested in the universalization of opportunities for preventing or eliminating negative consequences from such a violation of rights. The study traced the spread of COVID-19, as well as the measures taken by various states to counter it, which, as a result, made it possible to actualize the importance of the role of medical workers during the pandemic caused by COVID-19. Using the method of system analysis as well as the method of political and legal analysis, a study of international legal acts in the field of regulation of the protection of labor rights was carried out from the point of view of their applicability to the protection of labor rights of medical workers. The study considers the examples of developed and developing countries. Based on the analysis of existing examples of violations of the rights of health workers in the countries under consideration, the study determines the violated rights from the point of view of international law. Research carried out a generalization of cases of illegal attitudes of the states (considered in the study) toward health workers, which made it possible to name the most frequently violated labor rights of health workers during a pandemic. Based on the analysis carried out, the study classifies all identified violated labor rights of medical personnel during a pandemic with appropriate justification for such a classification.