Ukrainian law does not categorize employment status. All individuals who are engaged under an employment agreement qualify as employees. An employment agreement covers the performance of work by an employee who observes internal work rules, in return for the employer's obligation to pay remuneration and ensure a required level of labor conditions.

Independent contractors do not fall under the category and employees and are not covered by employment law protection. The nature of actual relations between the parties, rather than the way they are formalized, is a key factor in determining whether an individual is an employee or an independent contractor.

Ukrainian law distinguishes between an employment agreement (which is used to formalize employment relations in most cases) and an employment contract (which is a more flexible form of an employment agreement that can be used only in situations expressly provided by law). An employment contract is always fixed-term.

Further, employment agreements could be fixed-term or indefinite. Parties can conclude a fixed-term employment agreement when it is not possible to establish labor relations for an indefinite period in view of:

• The category of the anticipated work or conditions of its fulfillment;
• The interests of the employee; or
• In other cases contemplated by the legislation.

If, on expiry of the effective term of a fixed-term agreement, an employment relationship exists in fact, and neither party requests termination, the agreement will be deemed extended for an indefinite period of time.

The rules on the minimum formal requirements differ depending on whether the parties conclude an employment agreement or an employment contract. 

For employment under an employment agreement, signing a single document instrument is not mandatory to formalize the relevant employment relationship. Instead, an employer can issue an administrative order on the employment of the relevant employee. The only explicit formal requirement is to specify a probation period, if any.

The law requires that an employer and an employee agree on the job to be performed by the employee, and certain other conditions. However, the law does not specify how to formalize these conditions, that is, whether they can be included in any employment-related document or communicated in another way.

If the parties sign an employment contract (where allowed by law), they must include in it provisions on: term (length); rights, duties and liability of the parties; and grounds for termination of the contract.

Yes, part-time employees are afforded the same rights as full-time employees.

No, employment contracts cannot be assigned in Ukraine.

There are no specific rights of employees in the case of transfer of the company as a going concern.

Change of control of an employer does not terminate employment contracts of its employees (Part 3 of Article 36 of the Labor Code of Ukraine). However, there is no special protection against dismissals and an employer can dismiss employees using the redundancy procedure.

In case of a change of ownership of the business, any effective collective agreements will remain unchanged for a year after the transfer, unless they expire earlier.

Ukrainian law permits an employer to unilaterally change the essential terms of employment of its employees (particularly, salary and work schedule) on organizational grounds (if it reorganizes its work or production) and provided that employees continue working in the same professions, qualifications or positions. The employer must notify relevant employees of future changes at least two months before their implementation. The employee's consent is not required, however, the employee can object to the modified labor conditions, which may serve as a ground for termination. Employees may challenge the change of the terms of employment in court if there were no objective grounds for such change.

In addition, Ukrainian law allows the temporary transfer of employees to other positions for up to one month in the event of an emergency situation.

No, at-will termination is prohibited in Ukraine.

Wrongful termination or dismissal without a cause of an employee can result in:

• Reinstatement of an employee;
• Payment of monetary compensation for the period of forced unemployment.
• Compensation for moral damages;
• Fines imposed on a company and/or an officer who is responsible for wrongful termination; or
• Criminal liability of an officer who is responsible for wrongful termination if an employee was dismissed on personal grounds or because of reporting of a violation of anti-corruption laws.

There is no generally applicable protection for whistleblowers. A special protection mechanism applies to persons who inform on alleged violations of Ukrainian anti-corruption laws. In particular, these persons can claim compensation of six average salaries instead of the normal remedy of job reinstatement, if their dismissal occurred due to reporting the alleged violation.

There are no specific provisions in Ukrainian law related to privacy at the workplace, thus, general rules on privacy and data protection shall apply.

Ukrainian law takes a very proactive approach to protecting personal privacy with regard to the secrecy of correspondence. In particular, the Civil Code of Ukraine provides for the secrecy of any mail correspondence, telephone conversations and other types of correspondence. There are no rules that would specifically permit an employer to access corporate emails, work messages, etc. and does not envisage a different degree of privacy for work-related and private correspondence. Thus, normally, the employer's access to work-related correspondence in the absence of the employee's unambiguous consent may be interpreted as a violation of the secrecy of correspondence. A similar approach applies to video surveillance, GPS tracking and the use of other technical equipment that may intrude on employees' privacy. 

A breach of privacy rights by an employer may result in compensation of damages, including moral damages.

Ukrainian law prohibits any discrimination in the sphere of labor, particularly, breach of the equal opportunity principle, direct or indirect restriction of rights of employees based on their: race; skin color; political, religious, or other views; sex; gender identity; sexual orientation; ethnic, social, and foreign origin; age; health condition; disability; diagnosed or suspected HIV/AIDS; marital status and financial position; family obligations; place of living; participation in a trade union or other public organization; taking part in strikes; application or intention to apply to courts or other authorities to protect employees' rights or support other employees in protection of their rights; language, any other characteristics that are not related to the character of work or conditions of performance of work. 

Employees who face discrimination may seek compensation for damages, including moral damages. This protection equally applies to all employees who face discrimination in any form irrespective of the length of their employment.

The statutory minimum amount of annual leave for each employee in Ukraine is 24 calendar days.

The minimum number of annual leave days is higher for certain categories of employees:

• 31 calendar days of annual leave for employees under the age of 18.
• Between 26 and 30 calendar days of annual leave for employees with disabilities (depending on the category of disability).
• Other minimums for certain other categories (underground works, other heavy works).

There is no medical leave entitlement, as any absence from work due to temporary disability qualifies as sick leave, the first five days of which are paid from the Social Security Fund of Ukraine. Also, if requested by an employee, the employer must provide unpaid leave for certain health-related reasons.

Ukrainian law provides maternity leave for pregnant employees/employees who have given birth within 126 calendar days (or 140 calendar days for multiple births or in case of complicated confinement). Maternity leave is fully paid (100% of an employee's average salary) from the Social Security Fund of Ukraine. Fathers of a newborn child (or other close relatives of a single mother) are entitled to up to 14 calendar days of paid leave. In addition, men whose wives are on maternity leave can take up to 14 days of unpaid paternity leave.

Ukrainian law also grants paid maternity leave to persons adopting a newborn baby directly from a maternity hospital. This leave is for 56 days (70 days if two or more children are adopted). The leave is provided to one of the adoptive parents. Adoptive parents are also entitled to take parental leave under general conditions.

Further, employees have a right to parental leave to take care of a child beyond maternity leave. The maximum duration during which parental leave must be taken is three years after the birth of the child (meaning that the employee can take either all of that period before the child reaches the age of three or any part(s) of the period).
The parental leave is available to any of the following:

• The child's mother or father.
• Any relative who takes care of the child.
• Adoptive parents or step-parents.
• The child's guardian.

The leave is shared and is a transferrable entitlement, that is, any of these persons can take the whole leave or any portion of it within the statutory leave duration (three years after the birth of the child). This leave is unpaid.

As a general approach, limiting an employee's activities through an employment contract is questionable, unless an employer has a statutory reason to do so. For instance, an employer and employee may include a clause in the employment agreement between them that would prohibit the employee from simultaneous employment with any other employer. However, it is not clear under Ukrainian law, whether such restriction may cover only employment with competitors or whether it may extend to other activities as well (e.g., being a shareholder).

Application of any post-employment restrictive covenants is arguable due to contradictions between them and the constitutional right to freedom of labor and entrepreneurial activity.

Ukrainian law does not allow terminating employees for refusing to sign a restrictive covenant. 

There are no rules on consideration for a restrictive covenant.

Salary and similar payments are subject to mandatory unified social contribution at the rate of 22%. The unified social contribution base cannot be lower than the minimum statutory salary, and its maximum base is capped at 15 minimum statutory salaries.

A paid amount of unified social contribution is distributed to cover all types of mandatory state social insurance. Around 86% of paid unified social contributions cover state pension insurance.

Yes, the following benefits are mandated in Ukraine:

• Unemployment social security
• Temporary disability social security
• Work injury and professional disease social security
• State pension security

There is a mandatory retirement age only for certain categories of individuals, particularly:

• Civil servants, diplomats (65 years);
• Judges (65 years); or
• Military servants (45-60 years).

Normally, it is not allowed to cease pension or insured benefits when work continues beyond retirement age. However, pension benefits may only cease in case of return to service of certain categories of individuals (for instance, military and civil servants) after their early retirement.

No, as of now under Ukrainian legislation, COVID-19 vaccination is totally voluntary. Thus, employers' requests for mandatory vaccination of employees would be illegal. 

Thus, under the current approach in legislation, refusal to vaccinate cannot be a legitimate ground for dismissal. In view of this, any orders or policies of the employer regarding compulsory vaccination will also be unlawful. However, any internal policies encouraging workers to get the vaccine would not contradict the law.

There is no prohibition for employers to require that employees return to work in office unless there is a governmental order to shut down or other governmental restrictions that would limit employers' offline activities. In view of this, employees' refusal to return to the office may potentially serve as a ground to terminate the employee for unjustified absence from work.