Blood Donation and Labour Rights: What Guarantees Do Donors Have in Ukraine?

In the April episodes of GoncharovaPodcast, Labour Initiatives continued discussing important labour and social issues together with prominent Ukrainian journalist Tetiana Goncharova.

One of the new episodes focused on blood donation during wartime and the labour guarantees available to donors in Ukraine. The guest of the episode was LI Event Manager Valeria Oshevska-Vokhmianina, who shared both her professional perspective as a labour rights activist and her personal experience as a long-term blood donor.

Valeria spoke about the critical importance of blood donations during the war and explained why the healthcare system’s need for donors remains extremely high. She also shared several personal stories where donated blood directly helped save people’s lives.

Alongside the humanitarian aspect, the discussion explored the legal protections guaranteed to blood donors under Ukrainian law.

In particular, Valeria explained that workers are entitled to paid leave on the days of medical examination and blood donation while retaining their average salary. She also highlighted that after donating blood, a person has the right to an additional day of rest, which can either be used separately or added to annual leave.