The State of Observance of the Labor Rights of Minor Professional Athletes: Analysis of a Particular Practice of Sports Dispute Resolution

Abstract

The relevance of the research topic is due to the growing trend of involvement of underage professional athletes in top-level competitions, which creates new challenges for the observance of their labor rights. At the same time, generalization of all categories of athletes does not allow taking into account the peculiarities of the legal status of underage professional athletes who, in addition to the status of employees, have the status of a child. The purpose of the article is to determine, based on the analysis of the case law of national courts and sports dispute resolution institutions, the status of observance of labor rights of underage professional athletes. To achieve the purpose of the study, the author used the following general scientific and special methods: analysis, synthesis, comparative legal, formal logical, statistical and other methods. The results of the study demonstrate the unsatisfactory state of observance of labor rights of underage professional athletes. This is manifested in the insufficient prevalence of the judicial form of labor rights protection, and in the prioritization of labor disputes by sports dispute resolution institutions. In addition, the author highlights the peculiarities of labor disputes relating to underage professional athletes. The widespread use of doping among underage professional athletes requires that more attention be paid to the protection of their labor rights. Based on the results of the study, the author concludes that further research is needed into the forms, methods, measures and means of protection of labor rights of minor professional athletes.