There’s a big debate going on at the moment over the Law on Amendments to the RF Code of Administrative Violations. Briefly, they’re proposing amending Articles 3.5 and 5.27 to increase the liability of officials guilty of violating the laws on employing children under 18. In other words, they’re proposing bigger fines for dishonest businessmen who exploit minors. Of course, I fully support the idea of protecting teenagers and their employment rights. Employers have to take responsibility for their staff and for minors in particular. But at the same time, from my point of view, these proposed new amendments are not going to change things fundamentally.
Straight away I have a number of questions. For example, why are they proposing to increase the fines? Why do they think the current fines aren’t big enough? From my point of view it’s impossible to pass judgment on the size of the fines today because there are no statistics and no research has been done. There’s been no analysis of the current situation to show clearly that the existing law is bad and needs to be improved. Besides, if the amendments are passed, there’s a risk that the higher fines will be counterproductive: businessmen will simply stop taking on minors. And I see nothing wrong with young people under the age of 18 wanting to work. But at the same time, of course, it’s important that their work doesn’t distract them from their studies or damage their health.