Strengthening Workplace Safeguards: Monitoring Anti-Bullying Regulations

On February 28, a group of MPs submitted a draft law No.11044 to the parliament over monitoring of anti-bullying labor provisions by the labor inspectorate. 

The anti-bullying legislation in Ukraine entered into force in 2022, but because of wartime restrictions, labor inspectors could not monitor its compliance. The Law on Ukraine “On Organization of Labor Relations during Wartime” (Art.16) sets an exhaustive list of grounds under which labor inspections could be conducted: termination of employment contracts, informal employment, and compliance with the requirements of this wartime law. 

Despite many applications to the State Labor Service (labor Inspectorate) regarding bullying at the workplace (553 applications in 2023), such a list enabled labor inspectors to initiate labor inspections in such cases. 

The draft Law aims to amend Article 16 of the wartime labor law and open the possibility of labor inspections if bullying occurs at work.