The inability of the employer to provide the employee with work – is actual unemployment, but today it is not compensated.
Ukrainian legislation needs to be amended to compensate Ukrainians for the lack of work during the war, and the time of forced actual unemployment – to be included in the length of service. This was stated by Iryna Novak, a leading researcher at the Department of Human Development Research at the MV Ptukha Institute of Demography and Social Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, whose comments are available to the editorial office.
Thus, today the law “On the organization of labor relations in martial law” (№ 2136-IX of March 15, 2022) stipulates that the employment contract may be temporarily suspended without termination of employment .
Such a rule was adopted in connection with the military aggression against Ukraine and the related inability of the employer to provide the employee by work, and the employee – to perform work under the concluded employment contract.
At the same time, the same law stipulates that reimbursement of wages, guarantee and compensation payments to employees for the period of suspension of the employment contract is carried out /strong> at the expense of the aggressor state .
In addition, the official commentary to the law №2136, issued by the Ministry of Economy, draws attention to the fact that during the suspension of the employment contract the Single Social Contribution (SSC) is not paid because the employer does not pay wages and there is no basis for its calculation.
The Ministry of Economy believes that reimbursement of unpaid SDRs should also be made at the expense of the aggressor state. However, this issue is not even regulated by Law №2136.
in fact, restrict workers' access to assistance in the system of compulsory state social insurance. Including due to the reduction of insurance experience in the appointment of old-age pensions and the payment of temporary disability benefits, the likelihood of which increases significantly due to hostilities.
In addition, an employee whose employment contract has been suspended is considered employed and cannot receive unemployment status and unemployment benefits.
This situation is a violation of the constitutional right to social protection, as well as the commitments made by Ukraine in the ratification of the International Labor Organization Convention №102 on Minimum Standards of Social Security (1952).
From an economic point of view, termination of an employment contract without termination of employment is a legalization of hidden unemployment. This will have negative socio-economic consequences.
One way to eliminate them is to transfer hidden unemployment to the open, which requires simplifying the dismissal procedure, as provided by the project Of the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine on the Optimization of Labor Relations” (Register 257251 of 05.04.2022).
But in this case, unemployment will rise in the country, and when the war is over, employers will be forced to look for new employees to replace professional teams that have been formed for many years.
It is more expedient to extend to the situation suspension of the employment contract in connection with the military aggression against Ukraine norms of legislation on partial unemployment benefits for the quarantine period established by the Cabinet in 2020 to prevent the spread in Ukraine COVID-19 .
This requires:
- to amend Part 3 Art. 13 of the Law №2136 on reimbursement at the expense of the aggressor state of the SSC and the expenses of the Social Insurance Fund in case of unemployment related to the payment of partial unemployment benefits in case of suspension of the employment contract due to military aggression against Ukraine;
- Law of Ukraine “On Employment” to supplement Art. 47-2, which should regulate the provision of partial unemployment benefits in the event of suspension of the employment contract in connection with the military aggression against Ukraine;
- amend paragraphs. 3 h. 1 st. 24 of the Law of Ukraine “On Compulsory State Pension Insurance”, according to which the insurance period in calculating the pension will include the period of receiving partial unemployment benefits for the period of suspension of the employment contract due to military aggression against Ukraine.
