As a rule, Ukrainians have 28 calendar days of paid leave annually. Some categories are offered special extensions to the vacation time.
What kind of vacation pay and length of holidays your Ukrainian girlfriend can count on, being employed?
Here is a quick guide into the Ukrainian legislation on these matters for your reference. Read also about child support in Ukraine.
Vacations in Ukraine
Ukrainian legislation (Article 4 of Ukrainian Legislative Acts about Annual Leaves) defines the following types of annual leave:
- Paid annual leave (basic and additional)
- Educational
- Research (sabbatical)
- Athletic
- Maternity and paternity leaves (basic and additional, in regards to both natural and adopted children)
- Unpaid annual leave
Additional annual vacations are also given to:
- Employees working in harmful and dangerous working conditions
- Employees involved in work of special nature
- Workers with underage children
- Various additional holiday time as specified by the Ukrainian legislation
The right to a paid leave is one of the main constitutional rights provided to Ukrainian citizens and to foreign labour workers regardless of the enterprise type they are employed by, their contract and specifics of their employment agreements.
Basic paid annual leave
All Ukrainian workers are eligible to a basic paid annual holiday. In addition, some types of employees are eligible to additional paid and unpaid annual vacations.
The minimum duration of a basic paid annual leave for Ukrainian employees is set to 24 calendar days per year.
Upon 6 months of being employed by an enterprise a worker becomes eligible for basic and additional annual leaves.
If a part of the annual holiday is granted before the 6-month period of continuous employment, its duration is determined according to the number of hours worked within that period.
Some types of employees (disabled persons, top managers, and workers under the age of 18) are entitled by the Ukrainian laws to a prolonged annual holiday up to 31 calendar days.
The duration of a paid annual holiday for seasonal and casual workers is determined in accordance with the number of hours worked during the employment period.
Duration of a paid annual leave
As mentioned before, the duration of a basic paid annual vacation in Ukraine should be no less than 24 calendar days, though some types of employees qualify for longer periods of time off.
For example, workers engaged in the underground mining industry are eligible for 28 calendar days of annual vacations, teaching staff — up to 56 calendar days a year, disabled persons – up to 30 days, workers under 18 – 31 days.
Apart from that, some workers are entitled by the Ukrainian law to an additional paid annual vacation. These are, for instance, employees working in harmful working conditions, workers with underage children, and so forth.
At a worker’s request, the additional annual vacation can be combined with the basic annual holiday or granted separately.
The total duration of all annual leaves provided to a worker shall not exceed 59 calendar days.
For employees engaged in the underground mining the total period of vacation cannot exceed 69 calendar days per year.
In other words, a paid holiday that certain categories of workers are eligible to take could be up to 2 months.
How the duration of paid leave is calculated? Do weekends and holidays count?
Annual leave in Ukraine is measured in calendar days, not working days.
How long do you need to be employed to be eligible for a paid annual holiday?
Employees become eligible to the entire periods of basic and additional paid annual holidays after 6 months of continuous employment at a Ukrainian enterprise of any kind.
If a basic or an additional paid annual holiday is provided to a worker before the specified 6-month period, its size is determined in accordance with the hours worked by the employee before the beginning of his or her vacation.
The salary for the forthcoming annual holiday is usually paid in advance, but not later than 3 days prior to its commencement.
Can the annual leave be used in parts?
Yes, if so desired by worker, he or she is allowed to divide the annual holiday allowance into parts, provided that its main part is not shorter than 14 continuous calendar days.
The unused part of the holiday allowance shall be granted to the employee before the end of the working year, but not later than 12 months after the end of the year for which the allocation of the first part of leave was provided.
Additional annual leave
Apart from the basic annual holiday allowance, an additional paid annual leave is granted to the following types of Ukrainian workers:
Employees working in dangerous and harmful working conditions qualify for 35 calendar days of an additional leave, as set up by the List of Industries, Enterprises, Professions and Positions approved by the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers.
Up to 35 calendar days of an additional holiday allowance is granted to employees whose working conditions are connected to:
- Highly neuro-emotional and intellectual stress;
- Severe geographical and geological environments;
- Environments with increased health hazards.
Employees with non-standardized working day are entitled to up to 7 calendar days of additional annual time off.
Time off for people who study
In accordance with the Ukrainian Labor Code, an educational leave is granted to working people who successfully undertake professional studies.
Employees are provided with a few different kinds of study leave, which can be either paid or unpaid. Duration of the time off that people can take when they study varies and depends on the type of vocational institution chosen by the employee.
Study leave is given in accordance with the article 202 of Ukrainian Labor Code, by Ukrainian Legislative Acts about Annual Leaves as well as by International Labor Organization Convention #140 of 24.06.1974.
The time off for educational purposes is provided to people who combine work with studies to improve their educational level at after work classes, vocational colleges, and higher education institutions (colleges, universities, distance education). Generally, the time off is given to such employees during their preparation periods before and during examinations, or in regard to similar scholarly efforts.
The duration of a study leave may range from 10 calendar days to 4 months depending on the accreditation level of the educational establishment.
Apart from that, people who work and write their doctoral or PhD work at the same time, who perform well and in accordance with their individual academic plan, are allowed to have an additional paid time off up to 30 calendar days. On the fourth year of academic studies such employees are also eligible to have, if desired, one day per week off paid by the employer at the rate of 50% of the average wage of the employee.
Duration of an educational leave for employees involved in studies in higher educational institutions
Employees undertaking higher education learning (at a college or university) are provided time off for educational purposes in connection with:
- Revising periods for flagship learning, laboratory research, pass-fail tests as well as for exam periods during the first and second year of higher education studies:
- 10 calendar days – to part-time students for the first and second level of accreditation;
- 20 calendar days – to part-time students for the third and the fourth level of accreditation;
- 30 calendar days – to students of corresponding courses for any level of accreditation;
- revising periods for flagship learning, laboratory research, pass-fail tests as well as for exam periods during the third and the fourth year of higher education learning:
- 20 calendar days – to part-time students for the first and second level of accreditation;
- 30 calendar days – to part-time students for the third and the fourth level of accreditation;
- 40 calendar days – to students of corresponding courses for any level of accreditation;
- Revising periods before and during State Examinations at higher educational institutions for any level of accreditation – 30 calendar days;
- Revision before and during defense of Diploma Project for both part-time and corresponding students:
- 2 months – for those who learn for the first and second level of accreditation;
- 4 months – for those who learn for the third and the fourth level of accreditation.
Educational days off
- During last 10 months before State Exams or the final Thesis presentation, employees studying for a degree are granted 1 day per week, for which they are paid by the employer 50% of their averages wages.
- If desired, the employee can choose instead to have 2 unpaid days off per week within the same period of 10 months. In this case the employee is only working 3 days a week and having 4 days off, without a monetary compensation.
Research (sabbatical) leave
The research, or sabbatical, leave is a paid time off granted to employees studying towards a PhD or doctorate degrees. A worker becomes eligible for the Research Leave upon filing his or her application as well as a Letter of Recommendation from the Academic Council of the university where they undertake the studies.
If the worker is busy writing a textbook or an academic paper, a sabbatical can be granted upon the confirmation from publishers that these writings are scheduled for publication during the current year.
Duration of the time off for research purposes (sabbatical)
- For the research period towards a PhD – up to 3 months;
- Research period towards Doctoral – up to 6 months;
- Writing an academic paper or a textbook – up to 3 months.
Social Leave (e.g. maternity or paternity time off)
Apart from paid annual and additional holiday entitlements, Ukrainian workers are eligible for a Social Leave, granted in regards to pregnancy, childbirth or adoption of a child. Parents are eligible to take off up to 3 years off when they have a newborn child or adopted a child. Part of this entitlement is paid and part is unpaid, however, the person’s position at the company should be made available for them on their return to the workforce after the end of the period they had chosen to take off.
Maternity leave relating to pregnancy and childbirth
This allowance is provided to a pregnant female worker on the basis of a medical certificate about her pregnancy.
This is how much time off can be taken:
- 70 calendar days – before childbirth;
- 56 calendar days – after the childbirth of 1 child;
- 70 calendar days – upon a childbirth with complications or in case of giving birth to more than one child.
Maternity Leave is a paid leave, which is funded from the Social Security Scheme for Loss of Labor Capacity. A pregnant worker becomes eligible for a paid Maternity Leave upon filing her detailed application and a medical certificate of pregnancy. These documents serve as the basis for granting her, as per details above, 126-140 days off work.
To calculate how much money should be paid to the mother, the average salary of the worker per day is multiplied by 126 or 140.
As a rule, the duration of a maternity leave is calculated cumulatively. The highest allowance (140 days) is only achievable in special circumstances (complications during the childbirth or a birth of more than one child). In normal circumstances, a woman will get 126 days off.
Adoption of a child as well as natural birth give rise to the same entitlements: The adoptive parent is eligible for the post-delivery part of the Maternity Leave. If it is a couple, the parent who stays at home to care for the baby is entitled by law to have 56 days off. In case of adoption of more than one newborn child (twins or triplets), this allowance is 70 days.
At the request of the employee, Maternity Leave can be combined with the annual holiday allowance. If this is the case, the duration of the employee’s work in the current year is not taken into account – her pregnancy gives her the reason to request both allotments to be combined together.
Parental leave to care for a child up to the age of three
After 126 or 140 days of the paid time off to care for a newborn child or children, one of the parents can request to prolong the time off work until the child is 3 years old. The time off is no longer has to be paid by the employer, as such it is considered to be un unpaid parental leave.
Parental Leave is usually not compensated; however, sometimes it can be partially paid and even prolonged, if the employer is happy to do it.
By the Ukrainian law, the Parental Leave can also be granted to a baby’s farther and even to one of the working grandparents or another family member.
This is also true in case of an adopted child. If a mother of a child (or, of an adopted child) wants to come back to work early, the fact of her return is documented by her employer, which could be then used by the child’s father, or a grandparent, or a relative for the arrangement of a Parental Leave for themselves.
Instead of taking an unpaid Parental Leave, the mother could also to request to be working part-time at her company or perform her duties from home, if this is possible.
One of the parents (or relatives, if desired) is officially granted Parental Leave upon submitting his or her application to the employer.
Although Parental Leave, as a rule, is not paid, its duration is taken into account for assessing the worker’s length of employment and his or her pension credits. During the Parental Leave, an employee’s position and most of his or her employment rights are secured, so a worker cannot face a dismissal. The same position in the company should be made available for him or her on return.
There are occasions when a child’s health condition needs some special attention and attendance of childcare becomes impossible. If this is the case and if a proper confirmation from doctors about such necessity is provided, one of the parents becomes eligible for a prolonged parental leave until the child turns 6.
Parental leave to care for an adopted child up to the age of three
As already mentioned above, care for an adopted child gives an employee identical rights. In addition, the beginning of care for a child of any age give a foster parent the right for a social/adoption period off work of 56 days, or 70 days – in case if more than one child is adopted.
However, the allocation of such leave does not take into account the time spent by the employee for the adoption procedure itself. Parental leave is granted only after the adoption is confirmed by the legal documentation. Weekends and public holidays are included in the time off under provisions, in other words, we are still talking about calendar days, not working days.
An adoptive parent becomes eligible for this type of time off work upon filing his or her application and documents of adoption. Nevertheless, applying for such allowance must be complete within 3 months since the adoption.
Additional annual leave for workers with children
By the Ukrainian law, the right to a paid additional annual leave is granted to following types of employees:
- Working mothers with 2 or more children under the age of 15
- One parent of a disabled child (mother or father)
- One of adoptive parents
- Single mothers and fathers
- Legal guardians of a disabled person
The duration of a paid additional leave is 10 calendar days with no regard to weekends and public holidays. However, its total duration cannot exceed 17 calendar days even if there is more than one ground for issuing such a period off work.
Additional allowances for employees with children are provided over and above annual vacations, and, similarly to them, may also be transferred to another period.
Unpaid annual leave
Apart from paid types of the allowed time off work for employees in Ukraine, there are occasions when workers also are eligible for an unpaid leave under the legislation. In addition, by agreement between an employer and employee, the worker can take time off at any time.
Mandatory provisions
In accordance with the article 25 of Ukrainian Legislative Act about Annual Leaves some types of Ukrainian workers are entitled to unpaid time off, if they meet the eligibility criteria, and employers are obliged to meet the request.
Eligibility criteria under this provision include the following categories of employees:
- Single parents raising 2 or more children under the age of 15.
- Single parents caring for a disabled child.
- Male employees whose spouses are on post-childbirth leave.
- Parents or relatives of a child of 3-6 years of age, whose health condition needs special attention at home.
- Parents or relatives caring for a child of 3-14 years of age at the period of quarantine at their regularly attended childcare establishment.
- Veterans of wars, mployees covered by the Ukrainian act “On the Status, Guarantees and Social Protection of War Veterans”.
- Working pensioners.
- Third-degree disabled workers.
- Employees preparing to get married.
- Relatives of recently deceased to attend a funeral
- Workers caring for a very ill relative with grave condition needing constant care.
- Employees referred by specialists to a health resort treatment.
- Workers taking entry exams to study.
- Employees who need to take exams at the place of study.
- Employees undertaking research courses and making good progress in studies.
- Workers who have a second job.
- Veterans of labour.
- Employees who did not use all or part of their annual and additional leaves at previous work.
- Workers whose children under the age of 18 take exams away from home.
By agreement of the parties
According to the article 26 of Ukrainian Legislative Act about Annual Leaves any permanent worker is entitled to make a request for an unpaid time off in regards to his or her family circumstances or any other justifiable reason. An employer has no obligation to satisfy an employee’s request and each time can make a decision based sound judgment and prevalent interests of the company.
Duration of an unpaid time off
How much of an unpaid time off an employee can request (which the employers cannot deny providing) depends on the entitlements under the legislation.
- Single parents raising more than one child under the age of 15 or caring for a disabled child are entitled to up to 15 calendar days per year.
- Male workers whose wife is on post-delivery leave – up to 14 calendar days a year.
- Relatives or parents supporting a child up to the age of 6, whose well-being and health need close attention and assistance.
- Parents or relatives supporting a child up to the age of 16 with a type 1 diabetes.
- Adults caring for a child of 3-14 years old during a quarantine period in the childcare institutions he or she attends on regular basis.
- Veterans of wars and workers who meet legislative conditions under the act “On the Status, Guarantees and Social Protection of War Veterans” – up to 14 calendar days per year.
- Employed pensioners and third-degree disabled workers – 30 calendar days yearly.
- First and second degree disabled employees – up to 60 calendar days per year.
- Workers preparing to get married – up to 10 calendar days.
- Close relatives of deceased person – up to 7 calendar days (exclusive of travel time to funeral); remote relatives of the deceased – up to 3 calendar days (without the travel time).
- Employees caring for a dependent close relative or a spouse whose grave condition needs constant nursing – according to the medical advice of the attending doctor, but no more than 30 calendar days yearly.
- Members of staff undergoing sanatorium-resort health care treatments – the duration of leave is officially set by the attending doctor.
- Workers who have entrance exams at higher education institutions – up to 15 calendar days per year exclusive of the travel time.
- Employees making good progress in research studies and having any kind of examinations at their courses – the leave duration is set according to the officially approved period of exams and travel time to the place of studies.
- Workers who have a second job – unpaid leave should be combined with the annual leave at an employee’s main place of work and end at the same time;.
- Veterans of labour – up to 14 calendar days a year.
- Employees who did not fully or partially use their annual basic or additional holidays at the previous place of work and were instead financially compensated. If the leave is granted prior to the 6-month period of continuous employment (since the commencement of employment), then this worker is eligible for a maximum of 24 calendar days of an unpaid leave per year.
- Employees whose children under the age of 18 have entrance exams away from home – up to 12 calendar days a year exclusive of the travel time to and from the place of the exams. If more than one child of the specified age takes exams in the same year, the worker may be granted one more unpaid leave.
- Workers studying towards a PhD or doctorate degree are eligible to have one unpaid day per week off during their fourth year of successful studies.
- Employees having some unforeseen circumstances or difficult family circumstances – for the period agreed between the parties, but no more than 15 calendar days a year.
Though the above list covers many provisions for duration of an unpaid annual leave, it is not an exhaustive account of all clauses under the Act.
Paid additional annual leave for employees with children
According to article 73 of the Ukrainian Labor Code, working mothers with 2 or more children up to the age of 15 qualify for a paid additional leave. Duration of such leave is 10 calendar days per year with no regard to public holidays and weekends.
Is it possible to replace leave with monetary compensation?
At the employee’s request, a part of paid annual leave may be replaced with monetary compensation. However, the combined total duration of annual and additional leaves granted to the employee shall not be less than 24 calendar days.
In case of the employee’s resignation, he or she is financially compensated for all earned but unused days of annual leave.
Additional annual leave for computer users
The Ukrainian legislation provides an additional annual leave for employees engaged in work of special nature. The work of computer users, by law, is related to a higher level of neuro-emotional and intellectual stress creating risk for the worker’s health. Therefore, computer users are entitled by Ukrainian law to additional annual leave.
There is no separate provision covering a leave for computer users, as such they are covered by the article 8 of the Ukrainian Legislative Act about Annual Leaves.
It states that employees whose work is subject to an intellectual and emotional stress are eligible of up to 35 days of additional leave.
In addition, employees who operate a computer for at least half of his or her working day, qualify for an additional leave of 4 calendar days.
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