Use of vacation during martial law
According to Art. 74 of the Labor Code of Ukraine, citizens who are in labor relations with enterprises, institutions, organizations, regardless of the form of ownership, type of activity and industry affiliation, and also work under an employment contract with an individual, are provided with annual (basic and additional) holidays with for their period of employment (position) and wages.
State guarantees of the right to vacations for employees, the conditions, duration and procedure for granting them to employees are established by the Law of Ukraine “On Vacations” dated November 15, 1996 No. 504/96-VR (hereinafter – Law No. 504/96-VR). However, it should be noted that on March 24, 2022, the Law of Ukraine “On the organization of labor relations under martial law” dated March 15, 2022 No. 2136-IX (hereinafter referred to as Law No. 2136) came into force, and on July 19, 2022 the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on the Optimization of Labor Relations” No. 2352-IX (hereinafter – Law No. 2352-IX), according to which, during martial law, employees can be granted the same leaves as in peacetime : annual (main and additional); social; leave without pay, but with certain restrictions, as well as a new basis for granting leave without pay. Therefore, we will figure out what types of vacations an employee can count on during wartime.
The period of martial law has been reduced to a period of annual basic paid leave, now it is no more than 24 calendar days. This does not mean that employees who are entitled to a longer annual basic leave will lose the right to a part of it that exceeds 24 calendar days.
For example: Heads of educational institutions and educational institutions, educational / pedagogical units / divisions of other institutions and institutions, pedagogical, scientific and pedagogical workers and scientists are granted leave of up to 56 calendar days in the manner prescribed by law. If an employee is dismissed during martial law, the employer is obliged to pay him monetary compensation for unused days of annual basic leave based on its full duration, if the employee worked for at least 10 months before dismissal. Also, after the end of martial law, the employee has the right to use the rest of the annual basic leave, exceeding 24 calendar days, and additional annual paid leave.
The sequence of annual (basic) leave in accordance with Art. 10 of the Law of Ukraine No. 504/96-VR is determined by the vacation schedule at the enterprise (institution, organization). The employer has the right to provide the employee with leave outside such a schedule, but has the right to refuse annual leave at a time not planned in the schedule.
In case of dismissal of an employee during the period of martial law, he is paid monetary compensation in accordance with Article 24 of the Law of Ukraine “On Holidays”. At the same time, the right of an employee transferred to work from one enterprise to another to credit the unused part of the leave at the previous place of work is excluded (Article 81 of the Labor Code). And he should receive monetary compensation for unused vacation only at his former place of work (Article 83 of the Labor Code of Ukraine).
At the same time, Law No. 2136 provides that during the period of martial law, the employer may refuse to provide any type of leave to an employee involved in the performance of work at critical infrastructure facilities, except for holidays:
– due to pregnancy and childbirth;
– to care for a child until he reaches the age of three.
Moreover, the norms of part seven of article 79, part five of article 80 of the Labor Code of Ukraine and part five of article 11, part two of article 12 of the Law of Ukraine “On holidays” do not apply during the period of martial law.
In addition, during the period of martial law, the employer, at the request of an employee who left the territory of Ukraine or received the status of an internally displaced person, without fail provides him with leave without pay for the duration specified in the application, but not more than 90 calendar days, without crediting the time spent on vacation in the length of service, which gives the right to annual basic leave, provided for in paragraph 4 of the first part of Article 9 of the Law of Ukraine “On Holidays” (part 2 of Article 12 of the Law of Ukraine No. 2136).
