Journal Article

THE EXAMINATION OF APPLICATIONS FROM SELF-EMPLOYED PERSONS BY THE LITHUANIAN LABOUR DISPUTE COMMISSIONS IN “SIC-NON” CASES

Hans Lauschke

2025

Overview

This article examines the legal framework of individual labour disputes involving alleged false self-employment individuals in Lithuanian employment law. As individual labour disputes in Lithuania must be heard in a mandatory preliminary dispute resolution proceeding before a Labour Dispute Commission, the question arises as to what extent these Commissions are required to receive and assess applications from working persons who formally provide work under a civil law contract but assert that the contract is an employment contract. The principle of primacy of facts dictates that the facts and actions of the parties take precedence over the form of the contract or the intention expressed in the contract when deciding whether an employment contract has been concluded. Despite not being an original responsibility of the Labour Dispute Commission, in deciding on its competence, it has to assess the facts and assess whether an employment relationship has in fact been established. This means that not only must the form of the contract be considered, but also its implementation, i.e., the actual relationship between the parties. It may be difficult for the working person to obtain evidence for the existence of an employment contract, as only the alleged employer might be in possession of such evidence. Therefore, a coherent and substantiated assertion that it could be an employment relationship should be sufficient for the Labour Dispute Commission to carry out a thorough examination, including the involvement of the alleged employer. The article draws parallels with the German legal system, which applies a special approach to such cases, known as “sic-non” cases.

• Publisher: Mykolas Romeris University
• Subject: employment contract / jurisdiction / labour dispute / labour dispute commission / self-employed