On September 21, 2021, the Parliament supported the Draft Law on Deregulation of Labour Relations (No. 5388), aimed at liberalizing and modernizing the labour legislation of Ukraine. Currently, the Law has not been adopted.
The draft Law provides for the preservation of existing and introduction of new social and labour guarantees for employees defined by international acts. The draft Law was developed in close dialogue with business and has the support of entrepreneurs.
Draft Law No. 5388 facilitates the administration of labour relations in terms of maintaining personnel documentation, as well as other documents that the employer draws up according to the Labour Code, takes a step towards the gradual transfer of the coordination mechanism with trade unions to a consulting and informing mechanism that takes into account the European Directive No. 14.
The draft Law proposes the following key steps towards deregulation of labour relations:
Simplify the procedure for concluding a fixed-term employment contract.
The employer and employee will be able to agree on additional terms of employment relations in the employment contract. In particular, this applies to determining additional rights and obligations of the parties, improving working and rest conditions, grounds and conditions for termination of relations.
Additional guarantees are also being introduced to ensure that employees working under a fixed-term employment contract can continue to work indefinitely, which meets the requirements of Council Directive 1999/70/EC concerning the Framework Agreement on Fixed-Term Work.
Provide the employer with the opportunity to check the employee’s competence.
The draft Law establishes the most vulnerable categories of employees, who are prohibited from setting a probationary period that meets international requirements for the need to protect such persons.
Clearly define the procedure for providing the employee with information about the terms of the employment contract
The draft Law sets a minimum amount of information that an employer must provide to an employee. In particular, the employee will be informed about his/her rights and official duties, familiarized with working conditions, working and rest hours, the amount of remuneration, the duration of leave, additional guarantees defined in the collective agreement, as well as the procedure for termination of employment relations. These provisions of the law comply with the requirements of Council Directive 91/533/EEC and Directive (EU) 2019/1152.
Reduce the number of mandatory personnel documents.
The employer and employee will independently agree on the expediency of maintaining the following documents: internal labour regulations and shift schedules; vacation schedules and notifications about the beginning of vacation, notifications about changes in essential working conditions (except in cases of their deterioration).
Provide an opportunity for alternative regulation of certain aspects of work in the employment contract.
The start and end time of work, weekends, the procedure for working with shifts, engaging in overtime work and working on weekends can be determined both by general regulations of the employer and by an individual employment contract with an individual employee.
Change the mechanism of participation of trade unions in case of termination of an employment contract.
The procedure for obtaining trade union consent is replaced, where appropriate, by the procedure for informing and consulting, which significantly simplifies personnel work and meets international standards.
Update the issue of material liability.
The document specifies the conditions of material liability of the employee. The procedure for bringing to material responsibility is also optimized, which creates additional guarantees and the employer’s interest in forming official employment relations in order to reduce the risks of loss or damage to the means of production when performing work.