— The new Draft Law of Ukraine "On Employment" appeared on the web-site of the Ministry of Social Policy for public discussion. The Draft Law is intended to implement new employment incentives, for instance the following:
- In case of employing young people seeking their first job, or people aged 50 years or more, or those that are non-competitive in the labor market for at least two years for new work places, the employer shall be reimbursed for expenses related to the payment of the single social payment without limitation in the amount of wages during the first year;
- An employer performing certain work (implementing infrastructure projects) for the funds of the state or local budgets will be required to engage the unemployed in such work;
- Reducing the size of the single social payment for employers who established new work places during a year and ensured the payment of wages in an amount not less than 3 minimum wages;
- Amendments to the Budget Code of Ukraine in terms of increasing the standard deduction from personal income tax, which is credited to the revenue budgets of villages, cities of regional value from 25% to 50% to stimulate local authorities to improve the investment climate in the region and establish new work places;
- Providing for free advice of the State Employment Service for organizing and carrying out business activities to promote self-employment and business initiative;
- Small businesses establishing new work places and employing unemployed persons for at least two years will receive a monthly compensation in the amount of a minimum insurance premium for the first year;
- Trainee jobs with the opening of an employment record as well as trainee jobs without payment of wages will be introduced for full-time students of universities and vocational schools;
- Young professionals who agree to work in rural areas will be provided with "start payments";
- Persons aged 45 years with over 15 years insurance experience will be eligible for a "voucher" for vocational training or a second degree;
- Vocational training for the unemployed will be carried out on an employer's order for a particular work place or for self-employment of persons;
- Implementing the mechanism of proving professional qualifications obtained through informal training of the unemployed.
At the same time, it is proposed to bring the activities of private recruitment agencies into line with European standards, to regulate the issue of such agencies' recruiting employees to work for another employer. It is also proposed to encourage intermediaries in the labor market to unite and to give them the status of self-regulatory organizations thus enabling them to delegate certain powers in terms of implementing the state employment policy. In addition, the status of an unemployed may be obtained on the first day of registration with the State Employment Service, and not on the 7th day, if no suitable work was offered.
New Procedure for Obtaining Residence Permits and Their Form
- By its Order No. 251 dd. March 28, 2012 the Cabinet of
Ministers of Ukraine approved the new Procedure for preparation,
making and issuance of permanent residence permits and temporary
residence permits, as well as the technical descriptions of their
forms and amendments to the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers
of Ukraine No. 1983 dd. December 26, 2002.
Now there is English translation on the machine-readable pages of the new form, which contains the basic data of the foreigner. However, the application for a permanent residence permit still has to be in the Ukrainian language.
There are also changes in the list of documents to be filed for obtaining a temporary residence permit. Thus, it is no longer required to file a document of title to residential property; a copy of an administrative document appointing an employee responsible for receiving and processing documents for the right of residence in Ukraine; a copy of the passport of the authorized representative of the host country.
Ministry of Emergency Situations Has Established How Employers Must Protect Their Workers from Harmful Chemicals
- On April 27, 2012 the Order of the Ministry of Emergency
Situations No. 627 dd. 22.03.2012 entered into force. The Order
approves the requirements to employers for protecting their
employees from the effects of harmful chemicals. The requirements
relate to businesses of all forms of ownership, whose activity
involves working with chemicals. To ensure the safety of all
employees the employer shall take all precautionary measures and
shall develop methods to prevent accidents as well as monitor the
health of its employees. Special sections outline precautions when
handling metals and their compounds as well as precautions when
handling benzene and its derivatives.
As supplements to the Order the List of chemicals with a predominance of metal properties and their compounds, with harmfulness proved by scientific research, the Maximum permissible levels of contamination of the skin as well as the Specifics of the harmful effects of heavy metals and their compounds have also been approved.
Amendments in the Procedure for Determining Occupational Hazard Classes
- On April 18, 2012 the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 237 dd. February 8, 2012 "On Approving the Procedure for Determining the Occupational Hazard Classes Based on Economic Activity Types" entered into force. According to the Procedure, economic activity types shall be determined according to the National Classifier of Ukraine "Classification of economic activity Types", whereas occupational hazard classes shall be determined based on the main economic activity type and depend on the integral indicator. If the values of integral indicators of occupational hazard classes do not correspond with the size of insurance premiums in those classes, the Board of the Fund of Social Insurance against industrial accidents and occupational diseases should develop proposals to change the insurance premiums according to occupational hazard classes.
Detaining Women with Preschool Children at Work after 5 p.m. to Be Prohibited
- The Parliament of Ukraine registered the Draft Law No. 10304 dd. 05.04.2012 on amending Article 56 of the Labour Code of Ukraine concerning the working hours for women with preschool children. The Draft Law is intended to prohibit employers to detain women with children under six years of age at work after 5 p.m. The initiators of the Draft Law explain the need by the fact that due to the unstable economic situation spouses cannot afford the luxury of only one member of the family working, as women, besides their inherent function of child-rearing, are assigned with an additional task of making money. These women cannot take the child from kindergarten on time without prejudice to their work, and the draft law seeks to protect their labour rights.
