Legal Problems of Labor and Employment of Minors

The employment of minors is an indicator of the state's social orientation to maintain and harmoniously involve young people in the labor process. However, much in this matter depends on the relevance and the possibility of applying legislative provisions in practice. The purpose of the study is to analyze the current state of legal regulation of labor and employment of minors and identify promising areas for the development of domestic labor legislation in this area. Materials and methods. In the study of the problems of labor and employment of minors, general scientific methods were used – analysis, synthesis, generalization and comparison. The use of the content analysis method made it possible to identify existing approaches to solving the problem of involving young people under 18 in the world of work. The methods of comparison and system analysis made it possible to place emphasis on the issue of further improvement of legislation on labor and employment of minors. The research uses particular scientific methods: comparative legal, formal legal, statistical ones. The analysis of legislative provisions on regulation of the labor law status of a minor employee and the practice of their implementation in the Russian economy is carried out. Results. The problem of labor and employment of adolescents aged 14 to 18 years has always been acute in Russia. There are several reasons: the financial costs of the employer, short term of the employment contract, special requirements for labor protection. A new impetus to solving the problem of youth employment was set in 2021–2022, when minors began to en masse register as self-employed. However, self-employed minors do not have the guarantees and the degree of protection that an employment contract provides them. It is noted that regulation of the labor law status of minors is primarily focused on ensuring an increased level of their social and legal protection in the field of hired labor. Attention is drawn to the shift in the emphasis of the Russian state's policy on the problem of underage employment from a classical solution of this issue to the interest in early career guidance and harmonious involvement of young people in the labor process. Implementation of this state task implies, among other things, the need to update the provisions of legislation on the labor and legal status of minors. Conclusions. Based on the analysis of legislative innovations introduced by Federal Law No. 259-FZ dated June 13, 2023 in the regulation of juvenile labor, a further direction for improving the labor law status of minors has been determined – softening the requirements for minors’ employment in terms of parental consent and medical examination while maintaining the level of their rights guarantee.