Ukraine: changes to labour regulations dismantle workers’ rights for the duration of martial law

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky is due to imminently promulgate draft legislation that the country’s unicameral Rada parliament adopted on 15 March. Due to run initially until 25 April, the legislation could apply beyond that date depending on the military situation. The bill provides for a sharp increase in the maximum allowable working time, from 40 to 60 hours. The weekly rest period may also be reduced to just one day for workers for whom the contractual working week is five days. The articles on public holidays are suspended for the duration of martial law. During this period, employers will also be able to unilaterally decide to transfer employees, and without the previously required two months’ prior notice if it concerns a transfer to an area not undergoing ‘active combat’, albeit only if an employee’s health profile is not a constraint. If a company is unable to continue its activities, it can suspend salary payments without suspending the employment contract, and these payments must be ‘reimbursed by the aggressor State’. Employees on temporary disability or parental leave can be dismissed at the end of their leave periods. Lastly, women are allowed to be engaged in ‘arduous work with dangerous conditions’. Although the final article of the legislative amendments provides that these provisions will be repealed when martial law is suspended, trade unions fear that employers will push to make them part of the main body of labour law.