With the deepening of globalization, when enterprises expand their business in multiple countries, cross-border labor compliance has become one of the most complex and severe challenges. To help enterprises systematically address this issue, we have collaborated with top labor lawyers from over 50 major jurisdictions worldwide (all recommended by Chambers, The Legal 500, or equivalent institutions) to jointly compile a Chinese-English labor & employment compliance guide exceeding 1 million words, and we will continuously update relevant key points.

This article publishes the key points of labor & employment compliance by September 2025 in Ukraine.

01 Overview of the Labor Law System

1.Legal System

The Ukrainian legal system is a civil law system, characterized by codified laws as its primary source of legal authority.

2.Resources and Agencies

The main statutes in the sphere of labor and employment law are:

• Labor Code;

• Law of Ukraine “On the Organization of Labor Relations under Martial Law;

• Laws of Ukraine “On Remuneration”, “On Employment of Population”, “On Vacations”, “On Collective Agreements”, “On Compulsory State Social Insurance”, “On Occupational Safety”, “On Trade Unions, Their Rights and Guarantees of Activity”, as well as other legislative acts.

02 Employment Qualifications and Classification

1.Employment Age

The minimum age for employment is 16 years. Upon approval of parents or legal guardians and the child-caring authority, they may be employed at 14 or 15 years.

There are no upper age limits for employment in the private sector. The retirement age is 60. However, even when retired, a person can continue working without losing pension benefits.

2.Qualifications for Foreign Employers

A foreign employer hiring an employee to work in Ukraine must comply with the Labor Code of Ukraine and other regulations, which is not possible without a duly registered presence in Ukraine (company, representative office, or branch) or a local employer of record (EOR) service.

3.Classification of Employment

The personnel in Ukraine can be engaged in a few ways:

• Employment;

• Service agreements with natural persons;

• Service agreements with individual contractors registered as private entrepreneurs;

• Outstaffing;

• Outsourcing;

• Engagement of IT specialists based on gig contracts.

4.Foreign Workers

In general, there are no restrictions or specific requirements on the employment of non-national workers in Ukraine (in particular, regarding a specific type, sector, education level or sphere, or position of the employee), except for cases of employment in positions requiring Ukrainian citizenship.

03 Recruitment and Employment Contracts

1.Background Examination

Employers are allowed to conduct background checks, including verification of educational credentials, employment history, and, in cases allowed by law, criminal records. However, employers must obtain the candidate’s consent before initiating a background check, as provided by the Law of Ukraine “On Personal Data Protection”. The scope of the background check is strictly limited to information that is directly relevant to the applicant’s ability to perform the specific job.

2.Contract Types

Employment agreements may be divided into several types depending on classification criteria: written or oral form; open-ended or fixed-term; primary or secondary employment; full-time or part-time; with a fixed workplace or remote work via digital tools/home-based manual work; seasonal or short-term employment.

3.Probationary Period

The duration of a probation period cannot exceed:

• One month : for blue-collar workers;

• Three months : general rule;

• Six months : only with the trade union’s consent.

04 Working Standards

1.Remuneration

The typical remuneration structure in Ukraine is based on a combination of a fixed component and variable payments:

• Basic salary;

• Bonuses;

• Compensation and allowances.

2.Statutory Benefits and Social Security

The employees in Ukraine are insured by their employers for cases of illness, temporary disability, unemployment, and retirement (pension) via payment of the unified social security contribution. The general rate of the contribution is 22% of remuneration. This contribution is paid and reported monthly by the employer.

3.Working Hours

The regular working week cannot exceed 40 hours, while the working day is limited to 8 hours. Some categories of employees work reduced hours with full pay.

Employees cannot opt out of any restrictions or limitations on working hours provided by the law. However, there are some exceptions and specific arrangements provided by flexible working hours.

4.Rest and Leave

The statutory rest periods consist of:

• Lunch break (from half an hour to two hours). If nature work does not allow for providing such a break, short breaks must be provided for food consumption;

• Daily rest (before and after working hours; usually, not less than twice the length of the shift in case of work in shifts);

• Weekly rest (usually, one or two days off depending on the work schedule; the weekly rest must not be less than 42 subsequent hours).

05 Occupational Health and Special Protection

1.Occupational Health and Security

Employers must abide by a range of requirements, including:

• Companies are required to establish an OSH (occupational safety and health) service or appoint a qualified OSH specialist;

• Employers are obligated to provide safe machinery, equipment, and a work environment that meets all technical, sanitary, and hygienic standards;

• Employers must investigate and record all workplace accidents and occupational diseases.

2.Special Protection

The legislation provides for additional guarantees to certain categories of employees, i.a.:

• A prohibition on engaging pregnant women and women with children under the age of three in night work, overtime work, work on weekends, and directing them on business trips;

• A prohibition on involving minors in night work, overtime work, work on weekends, heavy work, and work with harmful or dangerous working conditions, as well as in underground work;

• The engagement of persons with disabilities in night work and overtime work is permitted only with their consent and provided that this does not contradict medical recommendations.

06 Personal Information and Privacy

1.General Rules

In case of processing of sensitive personal data, the employer must notify the Ukrainian data protection authority. Procedures for employees’ personal data processing may be outlined in the employment agreements, separate agreements, internal policies, as well as employees’ written consent.

2.Transnational Transfer

If personal data are to be transmitted abroad, the employer is obliged to notify the respective employees thereof. The employer may conduct the said actions only after receiving the employees’ explicit consent to such a transfer.

07 Anti-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment

1.General Rules

Ukrainian legislation establishes clear principles of equality and prohibits all forms of discrimination and harassment, based primarily on the norms of the Constitution of Ukraine.

The Law of Ukraine “On the Principles of Preventing and Combating Discrimination in Ukraine” is the key law that defines the concept and forms of discrimination, as well as protection mechanisms. It identifies direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, incitement to discrimination, aiding and abetting discrimination, and harassment, and applies to a wide range of relationships, including labor, civil, family, and others.

2.Protective Characteristics

The Labor Code of Ukraine precludes discrimination based on race, skin color, ethnic, social and foreign origin, age, health condition, disability, religious, political and other beliefs, gender identity, sexual orientation, family and property status, family responsibilities, or other characteristics not related to the nature of the work or the conditions of its performance.

08 Internal Policies

1.Applicability

A common practice among Ukrainian employers is the existence of numerous internal policies that regulate business activities. However, on the legislative point, most of these policies aren’t mandatory, except for the Internal Labor Regulations, which are the crucial basis for proper labor organization at the enterprise.

2.Validity

The internal policies of parent companies or the same group of companies cannot be applied in Ukraine automatically. These policies must be adapted according to Ukrainian laws and practices, translated into Ukrainian, and approved locally following respective procedures.

3.Whistleblowing

In Ukraine, persons who report possible facts of corruption or corruption-related offenses, other violations of the Law “On Prevention of Corruption”, as well as their close relatives, are protected by law.

The companies can voluntarily establish such guarantees in their internal policies to protect and reinstate employees who report other types of violations.

09 Transactions

1.Employment Relationship

All employment agreements continue to be effective after the transaction and cannot be terminated solely due to it. In case of a share deal, the employer itself will remain the direct employer of the employees; therefore, no employment transfers or any adjustments to support the continuity of employment would be required. In case of an asset deal, the employees would be transferred to another entity and shall be enrolled on its staff list.

2.Compensation

N/A (unless provided by the collective bargaining agreements, if any).

10 Termination of Employment

1.Termination Grounds

The grounds for termination of employment are as follows:

• Agreement of the parties;

• Expiry of the fixed-term employment;

• Resignation;

• Employer-initiated dismissals, including in the following cases;

• Request of the trade union or other representative body;

• Conscription or enlistment of the employee or employer into military service, referral to alternative service;

• Death of the employer or the employee, or entry into force of a court decision recognizing such an individual as missing or declaring him/her dead;

• Employee’s absence from work and lack of information about the reasons for such absence for more than four months.

2.Termination Procedure

In Ukraine, notice period is not a required prerequisite for most types of termination of employment. However, the legislation provides for different rules and terms for cases when a notice period is applicable. Furthermore, the legislation of Ukraine does not allow compensation “in lieu” of notice period when it is mandatory.

3.Termination Protection

Additional guarantees for certain categories of employees in case of dismissal include:

• Pre-emptive right to stay at work in case of layoff or to be employed in similar positions that open up within one year of layoff;

• Prohibition on dismissal upon the employer’s initiative, except for layoff due to liquidation;

• Prohibition on dismissal upon the employer’s initiative of employees who are on sick leave or vacation (the dismissal date is postponed);

• Prohibition on dismissal without offering a transfer to affected employees.

4.Severance and Compensation

In Ukraine, both statutory and contractual severance pay may be payable upon termination of employment.

Contractual severance is also possible. There is no mandatory severance in case of mutual termination, but parties may negotiate compensation for the employee. There is no statutory severance for termination of employment due to the expiration of the employment agreement.

5.Wrongful Termination

In cases of disputes arising from the termination of employment, the courts check the employers’ compliance with relevant rules very carefully. In case of any doubts, courts tend to uphold employees’ claims, and, generally, courts are often more employee-oriented.

6.Mass termination and Layoffs

Under Ukrainian labor legislation, layoffs are allowed. The number of employees being affected may vary (the employment may be terminated with one employee or with several or more at once).

11 Confidentiality, Non-Compete, and Non-Solicitation

1.Confidentiality

In Ukraine, it is a common practice to regulate confidentiality matters between employers and employees. The above takes various forms. To avoid any potential breach of confidentiality, employers include relevant provisions in employment agreements, job descriptions, or conclude a separate non-disclosure agreement with employees. They may also introduce a separate policy on confidentiality matters.

2.Non-Compete and Non-Solicitation

Non-compete clauses in Ukraine are not generally allowed.

12 Work Representation and Trade Unions

1.Work Representation

Under the Labor Code of Ukraine, employees have the right to participate in the management of enterprises, institutions, and organizations through general meetings (conferences), labor councils, and other bodies authorized by the labor collective to represent them.

General meetings (conferences), labor councils, and other representative bodies are created for the purposes mentioned above in the case of the absence of trade unions.

2.Trade Unions

In Ukraine, sectoral trade unions are common and exist in the majority of economic sectors (e.g., agriculture, banking, automotive, nuclear energy, construction, coal mining industry, culture, education, and science). Foreign citizens and stateless persons are not allowed to establish trade unions, though they may join them.

13 Dispute Resolution

1.Procedures & Enforcement

Individual employment-related disputes in Ukraine are subject to consideration by the general courts. However, disputes between employees who are civil servants/public officers and their employer, disputes between employers and state authorities are considered by administrative courts, while disputes between companies and their officials are considered by commercial courts.

2.Waiver & Enforcement

An employee cannot waive his/her statutory and contractual rights to potential employment claims (including to the State Labor Service of Ukraine, courts, or any other authorities).

14 Others 

1.Latest Development & Trends

For example, as of 2026, the rules for employment of persons with disabilities change: the norm (4% with exceptions) will remain the same, but its compliance will be checked quarterly, not annually as in previous years.

2.Cultural and Religious Considerations

Ukrainian society is characterized by a mix of hierarchical structures and horizontal community ties. In official communication and documentation, the person should be referred to by the full name in the following order: surname, given name, patronymic (derived from father’s name) name.

* To avoid ambiguity, this article should not be regarded as legal advice.

Authors

Kseniia works with Arzinger Law Firm and specialises in labor and HR matters. she has provides support in connection with employment and termination of labor relations, development of corporate governance procedures, due diligence audits, HR compliance, interaction with trade unions, remote work arrangements, BYOD and confidentiality rules, implementing Malus & Clawback, employment of foreign citizens in Ukraine, support with military records for employers. In 2025, Kseniia was recognised as a Leading Associate in Employment Law by the international legal rating Legal 500.

Translator

Jin Dongjie, Master of Laws, associate at Anli Partners. Area of expertise: Labor Law, ESG Compliance, Dispute Resolution.