On November 22, the Parliament of Ukraine adopted the draft law №8313 “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine regarding Regulation of the Provision and Use of Vacations, as well as Other Issues.”
The law significantly changes the legal landscape around vacations during martial law and peaceful times, thus causing some comments and major concerns.
• The law changes the rules for providing trade union training leaves. As for now, this type of leave is granted to the elected union leaders with a duration of up to 6 days and paid by the employer. The newly adopted law stipulates that the leave may be provided “with compensation of the average wage by the trade union that made a decision to send the person for training.”
Switching the burden of payment to the union, especially in wartime when unions spend their dues to help people in need, may, in fact, be harmful to unions` strengthening capacity efforts as many elected union leaders and activists would be deprived of the possibility to train and obtain new skills and knowledge at educational events. Such proposals can undermine industrial relations and collective bargaining, limiting the ability of unions to function professionally and democratically.
Moreover, according to the tax legislation clauses, payment of such type of “compensation” by the union may potentially lead to loss of the organization`s non-profit status.
• The new norms will also apply to the procedure of transfers of holiday days to the days following the holiday or non-working days. If, under pre-war legislative regulations, transfers of days off and work days occurred in accordance with the recommendations of the government of Ukraine, the rules of transfer under the new law will be defined by the individual employment contract or the collective bargaining agreement (CBA). In case of the absence of relevant provisions in the employment contract or the CBA, such transfer rules will be established by the order of the employer upon consultation with the local union chapter.
• During martial law, the annual basic paid vacation is provided to workers for a period of 24 calendar days. If, under the legislation, some workers have more than 24 days of annual vacation or additional types of paid vacation (for instance, teachers, doctors, those who work in hazardous conditions, parents with children, etc.), an employer may refuse to grant an employee more days of vacation during martial law. But a worker is entitled to take these days of vacation after the martial law cancellation.
The draft law No. 8313 introduces new rules – the employer may grant more (over 24) days of vacation but without payment.
• The law also cancels the obligation of the employer to pay an average wage to drafted scientific and pedagogical workers. The general obligation to pay an average wage to people who serve in the military was canceled by law No. 2352 in July 2022, but the special law preserved this obligation in regard to the teachers and other educational staff.
Labor Initiatives are concerned about the draft law as it narrows the guarantees of the constitutional right to leave time. The draft law also received negative reviews from the Main Scientific Department and the Main Legal Department of the Parliament. The Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine applied to the Human Rights Obmuds` office regarding potential human rights violations in this draft.
