The regulation of distant work with a foreign element in the age of globalization: from the point of view of the russian labor law

Introduction: This article deals with the problems of the regulation of conflict labor relations owing to the emergence of the distant work employment contract in the Russian labor law. The objective: to explore the possibilities of conflict rules of domestic labor law in the regulation of distant work with a foreign element, to identify possible gaps in the law and suggest a means to address them. The methods: the methodological basis of the research is constituted by: general (philosophical) methods of scientific knowledge (materialist dialectics, the principle of universal connection, the principle of development, the principle of comprehensiveness of study); scientific methods of knowledge (analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, historical and logical methods), as well as some special methods of jurisprudence (systemic-structural approach, legalistic, comparative legal methods). The results: the Russian labor legislation under the influence of globalization is developing in the direction of the expansion of atypical employment contracts. The proof of this, in particular, is Chapter 49.1 of the Labor Code "The Characteristic Features of Distant Labor Workers." The legalization of distant work emphasizes the need to build a complete system of conflict factors in the Russian labor law. Indeed, an employment contract of distant work does not exclude a foreign element. This raises a question of the applicable law. We should support the conclusions of domestic lawyers that the provisions of Article 11 of the Labor Code, in conjunction with the special rules that apply to the employees of diplomatic missions and consulates, as well as the crew members of merchant ships, do not fully regulate the employment relationships with a foreign element. The Russian legal science offers the law of a job (lex loci laboris) as the main collision factor in the regulation of labor relations. However, the specificity of telecommuting does not always allow an efficient use of this principle. In its turn, the principle of party autonomy (lex voluntatis) would allow the parties of an employment contract of distant work to regulate labor relations more flexibly. But lex voluntatis excludes the need to protect the employee as the weaker party of the labor contract. Conclusion: collision factor system for distant work is substantiated.