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Ukraine Leave Laws

Table Of Contents

Holidays

There are eleven public holidays a year. Public holidays are paid and not included in the minimum annual holiday entitlement. Religious holidays are observed according to the Julian calendar.

  • New Year – 1st January
  • Christmas (Julian) – 7th January
  • International Women’s Day – 8th March
  • Easter Mondays (Julian) – movable
  • Pentecost Mondays (Julian) – Easter plus 49 days
  • International Worker’s Day – 1st May
  • Victory Day over Nazism in World War II – 9th May
  • Constitution Day – 28th June
  • Independence Day – 24th August
  • Defender of Ukraine Day – 14th October
  • Christmas (Georgian) – 25th December

Accruals

PTO (Paid Time Off)

  • Vacation / Annual Paid Leave

An employee is entitled to a minimum annual leave of 24 calendar days. However, if the employee has worked for the company for less than a year, then the annual leave shall be granted in proportion to the time actually worked, based on the approximate rate of 2 vacation days allotted for each month that one has worked. The Employers are obliged to provide longer annual leave for the following categories of the employees:

  • For persons considered to be in the third category of disabled persons, the annual leave should be 26 calendar days.
  • For persons in the first or second category of disabled persons, 30 calendar days should be allocated.
  • For minors, a vacation period of 31 calendar days should be granted.
  • For educators, the vacation right should amount to 56 calendar days.
  • For employees under hazardous and difficult working conditions
  • For employees engaged in special types of production
  • For mothers of 2 or more children under 14

Employers must provide employees with irregular working hours with additional annual leave of up to 7 calendar days per year.

  • Personal Unpaid Time Off

Leave without pay can be granted to the employee by mutual agreement with the employer specifically for family reasons, and for other legitimate reasons. The duration of such leave shall be determined by agreement between the parties, but it cannot amount to more than 15 days per year.

Rollovers and payout of unused hours

  • Use-it-or-lose-it policy

Not specified by law.

  • PTO payout at the termination

In case of dismissal of an employee, he/she receives monetary compensation for all unused days of the annual vacation and the additional vacation for employees with children.

Ukrainian law prohibits the dismissal of pregnant women, women who have children under 3 (or, in special circumstances supported by medical evidence, under 6), and single mothers who have disabled children or children under 14.

Maternity Leave, Paternity Leave, Adoption Leave, Parental Leave

Maternity Leave

Pregnant employees and employees who gave birth are entitled to 126 calendar days of paid maternity leave or 140 calendar days for multiple births or in case of complicated confinement.

Paternity Leave

Employees whose wives are on maternity leave can take up to 14 days of unpaid paternity leave. 

Adoption Leave

The law grants paid maternity leave to persons adopting a newborn baby directly from a maternity hospital. This leave is for 56 days or 70 days if two or more children are adopted. The leave is provided to one of the adoptive parents. Adoptive parents are also entitled to take parental leave under general conditions.

Parental Leave

Employees are entitled to take parental leave to take care of a child additional to maternity leave. The maximum duration during which parental leave must be taken is three years after the birth of the child, meaning that the employee can take either all of that period before the child reaches the age of three or smaller portions of time within that period.

The parental leave is available to any of the following:

  • The child’s mother or father.
  • Any relative who actually takes care of the child.
  • Adoptive parents or step-parents.
  • The child’s guardian.

The leave is unpaid.

  • Sick Leave

Employees are entitled to sick leave in cases of illness or injury. Employees are required to provide sick leave certificate given by a medical institution. An employer must pay the allowance at the same rate as the regular salary for the first five days of sick leave. After the 6th day, compensation is paid by the Social Security Fund of Ukraine. 

Unpaid Sick Leave

Employees are entitled to unpaid sick leave in order to complete a sanatorium resort treatment based on a medical certificate for the time specified by a medical practitioner.

Jury Duty Leave

Not specified by law.

Bereavement Leave

Employees are entitled to up to 7 days of unpaid leave due to the death of a close family member and 3 days of unpaid leave due to the death of other persons.

Voting Leave

Not specified by law.

Military Leave

Not specified by law.

All materials have been prepared for general information purposes only to permit you to learn more about this region's leave laws. The information presented is not legal advice, is not to be acted on as such, and may not be current. Please contact your local legal counsel to learn more about the leave laws in your country.