Regular employment

Considering the regular employment contracts, we can single out the following types:

Indefinite term labour agreement

This type of contract is the most common in Ukraine. The indefinite term Labour agreement is regulated by the Labour Law of Ukraine, Company internal policies and collective labour agreement.

Fixed-term labour agreement

The only difference between these types of agreements is that the Parties limit their work relationship with a specific period, based on the type of activity performed.

* From 19.07.2022 the employer is obliged to inform employees, who work under a fixed-term employment contract, about vacancies that meet their qualifications and provide for the possibility of concluding an indefinite term Labour agreement, as well as to ensure equal opportunities for such employees to conclude it.

A fixed-term labour agreement with temporary or seasonal employees

This special type of agreement is a Service agreement. By using this type of agreement, the Parties agree and acknowledge that all conditions of their collaboration are conveyed in the agreement.

Employment contract with non-fixed working hours

This is a special type of employment contract, the terms of which do not establish a specific time for the performance of work, the obligation of the employee to perform which arises only if the employer provides the work provided for in this employment contract without guaranteeing that such work will be provided continuously, but with compliance with the terms of payment.

Mandatory contractual specifications

The contract should have at least the following information:

*UAH 6,700 (approx. EUR 170) is the minimum wage in Ukraine

* From 19.07.2022 before the employment takes effect, the employer is obliged to inform the employee in a manner agreed with the employee about the following:

• the place of work (information about the employer, including its location), the job function the employee undertakes to perform (a position and a list of duties), as well as the commencement date.
• designated workplace, equipped with all necessary means for work;
• rights and obligations, working conditions;
• presence of dangerous or hazardous work conditions at the workplace that have not yet been eliminated, and the possible consequences of their impact on health; the right to benefits and compensation for work in such conditions in accordance with the legislation and the collective agreement – to be signed;
• Internal Labour Rules and Regulations or the rules for establishing the working regime, the duration of working hours and rest breaks, and terms of the collective agreement (if concluded);
• training on occupational health and safety, industrial sanitation, occupational hygiene, and fire safety and security;
• professional training of employees (if such training is provided);
• annual leave duration and terms, and amount of remuneration;
• procedure and terms of Termination of Employment Notice stated by this Code, which must be followed by the employee and the employer.

Probationary period

According to Ukrainian legislation, the probationary period for regular employees cannot be longer than 3 consecutive months. In some cases, it can be up to 6 consecutive months, but it must be agreed with the Primary Trade Union Organization.

Workers (blue-collar occupations) are the subject of a maximum 1-month probation period.

* The labour legislation norms under martial law apply taking into account the requirements of Law No. 2136-IX dated 15.03.2022 “Organization of labour relations under martial law”. According to clause 2 of Art. 2 of this Law, when concluding an employment contract during the martial law period, the condition of employee testing at the time of hiring may be established for any category of employees.

Generally the length of a working week is restricted to 40 hours. Usually, it is a five-day working week, but the employer may introduce a six-day working week and, in this case, employees may not work more than seven hours per day.

* With changes from 19.07.2022. provided for:

The time scale of normal working hours during martial law may be increased to 60 hours per week for employees of critical infrastructure facilities (defence, life support of the population, etc.)

During the martial law period, the public holidays and non-working days regulations do not apply (Article 73 of the Labour Code).

Some categories of employees are entitled to work shorter hours per week. For employees performing work under harmful working conditions the working week is limited to 36 hours. Pregnant women; women with children under the age of 14 or disabled children; or those who take care of a sick family member based on medical recommendations, can also get permission for a shorter working day or a week with a proportional change in wages.

Leave

According to current Ukrainian legislation, the regularity of annual leave is determined according to schedules prepared at the beginning of the year and consider the interests of both the employer and the employee’s interests.

The employee’s right to annual basic and additional full-time leave in the first year of employment begins after six months of continuous work at the current employer. However, if the employee has worked for the company for less than a year, the annual leave shall be granted in proportion to the period actually worked, based on the approximate calculation of 2 vacation days for each month worked.

The employer also has the right to grant an employee a longer annual leave.

However, the employer is obliged to provide a longer leave to certain categories of employees who have the right to it, such as:

• for persons considered to be in the third degree of disability an annual leave of 26 calendar days should be granted
• for persons with the first or second degree of disability an annual leave of 30 calendar days should be granted
• for minors an annual leave of 31 calendar days should be granted.
• for educators, an annual leave of 56 calendar days should be granted

Employees who have irregular working hours shall be provided with additional annual leave of up to 7 calendar days per year.

* As of 19.07.2022 following changes are foreseen:

During the period of martial law, granting an employee annual basic leave is limited to the duration of 24 calendar days for the current working year. If the duration of an employee’s annual basic leave is more than 24 calendar days, the provision of unused days of such leave during the period of martial law shall be transferred to the period after its expiration. During the period of martial law unused days of annual basic leave, to which the employee acquired the right in previous working years, are not granted. In case of termination of employment during the period of martial law, the employee is paid monetary compensation for all unused days of annual basic leave. In agreement with the Employer! This is a right, not an obligation!

The employee’s right to transfer the remaining annual leave to a new employer in case of transfer to another place of work is excluded. That is, employees transferred from one enterprise, institution, or organization to another enterprise, institution, or organization, and who fully or partially did not use the annual basic leave at the previous place of employment, do not have the right to transfer the rest of the leave and should receive monetary compensation at the time of work termination.

The period of military service is NOT included in the work experience record which gives the right to annual basic leave.

Employee’s salary for the entire period of leave is paid before the leave starts unless otherwise provided by law, labour, or Collective Agreement.

It is the employer’s obligation to preserve the workplace and position of employees called up for military service.

Unpaid leave

Ukrainian legislation allows for two types of leave without pay:

• provided to employees on a mandatory basis;
• provided by the mutual agreement of the employer and the employee

The most common form of unpaid leave is leave at the employee’s request.

Unpaid leave which is provided by the employer in a mandatory manner, is as follows:

• to a father raising children without a mother (including in the case of a long-term stay of the mother in a medical institution) or a mother, who has two or more children under the age of 15 or a disabled child, for up to 14 calendar days annually;
• in connection with the employee´s wedding (10 calendar days);
• in connection with the death of a relative (up to 7 days, in the case, when the deceased was a blood relative or by marriage, and up to 3 days for other persons);
• to a father whose wife is taking maternity leave, for which a total of 14 calendar days shall be granted
• to a mother in order to take care of a child in need of care until the child reaches the age of 6;
• for shift / part-time employment until the end of annual leave at the main place of work.

Due to family circumstances and for other reasons, an employee may be granted unpaid leave for a period determined by an agreement between the employee and the employer or other authorized body, but no more than 15 calendar days per year:

• for the period of validity of quarantine measures to prevent coronavirus infection;
• for the period of martial law in Ukraine (not limited in the number of days, but no more than until the end of martial law)

* As of 19.07.2022 changes were made:

During the period of martial law, the employer, at the employee’s request who has left the territory of Ukraine or acquired the status of an internally displaced person, obligatorily grants him Leave Without Pay for the duration specified in the application, but no more than 90 calendar days, where the time spent on vacation is excluded from the employment record, which gives the right to annual basic leave, provided for in clause 4 of the first part of Article 9 of the Leave Act of Ukraine. The law does not provide for the employer’s right to deny the employee such leave.