Legal regulation of psychosocial risks in employment relations: the employer’s preventive obligations and improving Uzbekistan’s labour legislation

Abstract

This article examines the labour-law nature of psychosocial risks and the employer’s preventive obligations. Although Uzbekistan has a Labour Code, the Law On Labour Protection and an occupational risk assessment system, the legislation does not yet clearly establish a specific definition of psychosocial risk, assessment criteria or safeguards for confidential reporting. Based on comparative legal analysis, the article proposes recognising psychosocial risk as an occupational risk, integrating it into the existing risk assessment system, establishing the employer’s obligations within an identification-assessment-prevention-monitoring cycle, and introducing a new Article 359¹ into the Labour Code.