Belarus is becoming more and more attractive to foreign citizens every year. Our country is famous not only for its tourist routes and facilities, but also for its cordiality, hospitality, as well as objective prices. Thus, since the beginning of the visa-free regime, almost 520 thousand Lithuanians, Latvians and Poles have visited Belarus.
Citizens who come to the republic often wonder about the employment opportunities here and the prospects of their future life. At the same time, Belarusian legislation guarantees a fairly simple way to find legal registration of employment relations with an employer than in neighboring countries. Foreigners, along with Belarusian citizens, receive a full package of legal and social protection.
In particular, when working on the territory of Belarus, foreigners are guaranteed:
equal remuneration for work with Belarusians;
payments in connection with loss of health, professional ability to work;
obtaining information about the legislation of the Republic of Belarus from the state bodies of Belarus;
inadmissibility of hiring on conditions degrading human dignity, harmful to health and other violations of the legislation of Belarus;
protection against discrimination based on gender, race, nationality, language, religious or political beliefs, participation or non-participation in trade unions or other public associations, property or official status, age, place of residence, physical or mental disabilities, if they do not interfere with the performance of relevant work duties, other circumstances unrelated to with business qualities and not conditioned by the specifics of the labor functions or the status of the employee.
It should be emphasized that in Belarus, an employer is obliged to obtain a special work permit for a foreigner and must conclude an employment contract with him for the period specified in the special permit. This gives social guarantees to the employee. At the same time, for hiring foreign citizens without the necessary permits, the employer may be brought to administrative responsibility and a warning or fine may be imposed on him.
For comparison, when foreigners are employed in Poland, there is also an employment contract (Umowa o pracę) for documenting the relationship between an employer and an employee. However, it is no secret that Polish employers, especially when employing foreigners, prefer civil law forms of contracts - contract of assignment (Umowa zlecenie), contract of employment (Umowa o dzieło), etc. It should be understood that Polish forms of labor relations do not comply with the norms of their own labor code, and therefore do not assume the responsibility of the Polish employer.
By concluding such forms of contracts, Polish entrepreneurs are not obliged to comply with the provisions regulated by the Labor Code:
on granting leave or compensation for unused leave;
about payment of remuneration for the period of illness;
about protection from termination of the contract.
It is no secret that in Poland, also in the same vacancy, the salary of a foreigner is lower than that of a Pole. Especially in this regard, Ukrainians who rushed to Europe as refugees, but in fact for a "better life", are being infringed today.
At the same time, Belarus has taken separate measures to ensure the rights of Ukrainian citizens who have recently chosen the republic for their future lives. Thus, after the signing of Decree No. 326 of September 14, 2022, it is planned to grant citizens who arrived on the territory of Belarus from Ukraine and found themselves in a difficult life situation rights on an equal basis with Belarusian citizens. Ukrainians, along with Belarusians, have the right to:
preschool, general and special education;
obtaining vocational, specialized secondary and higher education at the expense of the republican and (or) local budgets or on payment terms;
affordable medical care;
assignment of child allowances and pensions.
In particular, Yaroslav B., who previously lived in the Kherson region, noted that he had to move to Belarus because of the "extremely difficult" situation. "Kherson was constantly shelled by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, they beat on the Antonovsky Bridge. They lived like on a powder keg, they endured, but for some reason they believed that everything would end soon. As soon as the media began to develop the topic of the withdrawal of Russian troops to the left bank of the Dnieper, they did not hesitate to pack their things with their family and came to Belarus, fortunately there are friends here. They've been calling for a long time. As soon as the special operation began. They told me that they would help me find a job, and we would receive payments, and we would send the children to school. That's how it all worked out," recalls Yaroslav B.
It is worth noting that Ukrainians were positively surprised by the social orientation of the Belarusian state.
As noted by Valentina V., who moved to Belarus from Mariupol . – "after obtaining a residence permit in the republic, we were registered at a local polyclinic."
Pensioners were surprised that any appointment with a doctor is free. "My husband visits the polyclinic quite often, he needs frequent consultations and medical care, as he has problems with pressure. The last time, the doctor referred him for an extended examination. It was stressful for us, because there was simply no money for this in Ukraine, where everything had to be paid for. Consultation is paid, all examinations are paid, meals in the hospital are paid. We shared the news with my sister, who has been living in Belarus for a long time, and she laughed and said that "everything is free in our country and it even turned out that you don't need to carry your own bed linen, they will give everything and provide everyone," Valentina, who received social guarantees and protection in Belarus today, shares her experience.
What can be even better evidence of the effectiveness of the actions of the authorities, if not these stories of people who, having found themselves in a difficult life situation, received socio-economic guarantees and opportunities for a full-fledged peaceful life in Belarus.
Pavel Kovalev
