{"id":16163,"date":"2020-03-19T17:55:58","date_gmt":"2020-03-19T15:55:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kmp.ua\/?p=16163"},"modified":"2020-07-17T17:28:30","modified_gmt":"2020-07-17T15:28:30","slug":"what-does-the-law-change-to-prevent-covid-19-in-the-field-of-labor-relations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kmp.ua\/en\/analytics\/exclusive\/what-does-the-law-change-to-prevent-covid-19-in-the-field-of-labor-relations\/","title":{"rendered":"What does the law on preventing COVID-19 change in the field of labor relations?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Law of Ukraine No.\u00a0530-IX \u201cOn Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Aimed at Preventing the Occurrence and Spread of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)\u201d (the \u201cLaw\u201d) was adopted on March 17, 2020. This Law has been elaborated for the purpose of preventing spread of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19). Certain provisions of the Law refer to the labor sphere as highlighted in detail below.<\/p>\n

Remote work regime<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe employer may instruct the employee including public service employee, employee of local government bodies, to perform the work, specified in the labor agreement, at home within a certain period\u201d.<\/div>\n

The Law implements the remote work regime as a temporary measure within quarantine. Please note, that before the Law was adopted, the remote work was not regulated by the legislation, though many employers have used this work pattern in their business activity.<\/p>\n

The employers should switch to remote work regime with a reasonable care given the lack of its legal regulation. The employers should ensure the organization of the work process, setting tasks and control over their performance, recording of working hours and other procedural issues.<\/p>\n

In the ideal case it is advisable to amend the internal labor regulations or even provisions of the collective agreement regulating these issues. However, it is clear that such actions are almost impossible to do in such a short span of time.<\/p>\n

Please note, that the issues connected to work accidents under the remote work regime is still not settled.<\/p>\n

A work accident is an event or a sudden impact on an employee of a dangerous production factor or environment occurred during performance of labor responsibilities and duties.<\/p>\n

Circumstances under which an accident is recognized as a work accident are provided in the Procedure for Investigating and Recording Work Accidents, Occupational Diseases and Production Emergencies approved by the resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 337 dated April 17, 2019. Among others, the circumstances include the following:<\/p>\n

\u201cif the injured person is at the workplace, territory of the enterprise (institution, organization)or in other location while performing labor (official) responsibilities and duties or tasks of the employer<\/strong>\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n

Therefore, the work accident may take place even during the remote work, since the employee continues to perform his labor duties though at home.<\/p>\n

However, this opens another question \u2013 how the employer may be convinced that a work accident really occurred while performing the labor duties by the employee. When a work accident occurs at the company\u2019s territory it becomes immediately known. However, when the employee works at home there is no certain knowledge on circumstances under which such an accident occurred. Therefore, during investigation of work accidents occurred under the remote work the employers will be forced to make extra efforts to clear up the real situation.<\/p>\n

One more big question is whether the employer and his officials are liable for the work accident if it is triggered by non-compliance of the employee\u2019s workplace at home with certain requirements. It\u2019s doubtful that now the employers will examine the required housing and living conditions of employees working at home. However, such examination and execution of the respective act upon results of the examination may give a helping hand to the employer while determining the employer\u2019s fault in case of the work accident.<\/p>\n

Change of working hours<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe owner of the enterprise, institution, organization or the authorized body may change the working hours of bodies, agencies, enterprises, institutions, organizations in particular as regards to visiting and service hours set for individuals and legal entities. Information on such changes shall be brought to the public\u2019s notice through web-sites and other means of communication\u201d.<\/div>\n

Please note, that change of the company\u2019s working hours causes change of the employees\u2019 working hours as well. Along with that, change of the employees\u2019 working hours is a change of essential working conditions of which the employee shall be informed not later than two months prior.<\/p>\n

In this situation we advise to change the company\u2019s working hours by issuing a relevant order following prior approval of such decision by the general staff meeting or by specific employees who will be affected by the change in the working hours.<\/p>\n

Bonuses<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cWithin one week from the day this Law enters into force the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine shall introduce the following:<\/p>\n

bonuses to the healthcare and other workers directly involved in works aimed at eliminating the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) in amount of up to 200% of salary within the period of implementation of respective measures aimed at preventing the occurrence and spread, as well as localization and liquidation of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) outbreaks, epidemics and pandemics, as listed in the resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine as regards to the quarantine, until stated measures are completed;<\/p>\n

bonuses to certain categories of workers who provide human life support\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

However, the Law does not specify who falls under the category \u201cworkers who provide human life support\u201d, as well as does not determine minimum or maximum limits for such bonuses and any criteria for determining a specific amount of bonuses.<\/p>\n

Therefore, the procedure of implementation and execution of these provisions is still unclear. The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine shall resolve this issue within one week from the day this Law enters into force.<\/p>\n

Unpaid vacation<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cunpaid vacation period shall not be included into the general vacation period (no more than 15 days pursuant to the Labor Code of Ukraine)\u201d.<\/div>\n

Obviously, this provision was introduced in order to encourage employees for taking an unpaid vacation within quarantine. Please be informed that an unpaid vacation may be taken only upon request of the employee.<\/p>\n

We consider that it is hardly likely that this provision will encourage employees for taking an unpaid vacation since very few people would refuse their salaries. Actually, the legislator imposes the burden of deciding the money matters on the employee. If you want to follow the healthcare advices for self-isolation \u2013 take an unpaid vacation.<\/p>\n

In practice this provision may lead to the opposite. Some employers who are currently losing their income due to quarantine will try to place the employees to the unpaid vacation without actual consent of the employees.<\/p>\n

We assume that introduction of a shutdown will be more reasonable move on behalf of the employers, while government should have introduced temporary assistance and support for business: reduction of tax rates, preferential loans, financial assistance to employers etc.<\/p>\n

Shutdown<\/strong><\/p>\n

Though any amendments on the shutdown are not stipulated by the Law, we would like to point out certain legal provisions since now a lot of companies are considering the introduction of a shutdown.<\/p>\n

Shutdown is a suspension of work caused by lack of organizational or technical conditions required for performance of work, as well as by extreme and unpreventable force or other circumstances (Article 34 of the Labor Code of Ukraine). In that case the employee should be paid at a rate of at least 2\/3 of the salary rate pursuant to Article 113 of the Labor Code of Ukraine for the shutdown period.<\/p>\n

There is no need to be afraid of a shutdown if the company has reasonable grounds for its implementation (e.g. closing stores or restaurants due to the introduced ban of institutions hosting visitors). A shutdown may at least reduce business losses to some extend during the quarantine period.<\/p>\n

For more details on restrictive measures under the previously introduced quarantine please find our newsletters \u201cNew restrictions imposed by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine for prevention of the spread of the coronavirus COVID-19 in Ukraine\u201d<\/a> and \u201cQuarantine in Kyiv: new restrictive measures and bans\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The above commentary presents the general statement for information purposes only and as such may not be practically used in specific cases without professional advice.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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