• Duty-free exports to the EU
• Not job loss, but termination of employment contract
• Changes in the procedure for calculating the average wage
• Polish furniture makers are less optimistic
• How IKEA helps Ukrainian refugees

Read everything that happened last week in Ukraine and around the world and that is relevant and interesting for the furniture maker in our digest:

1. President V. Zelensky said that the European Commission has agreed to abolish all customs duties and quotas on Ukrainian exports for a year, as well as to suspend anti-dumping tariffs. Right now, this will allow Ukraine to maintain the maximum economic activity in the country, national production. But this decision should be considered not only in the Ukrainian context, a sufficient volume of exports of our products to European and global markets will be a significant international anti-crisis tool, said V. Zelensky. New decisions of partners for liberalization of Ukrainian exports are next.
The UK has done the same under the Free Trade Agreement to “provide economic support to Ukraine in difficult times”.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called on the United States to support Ukraine in the same way.

2. The war forced many people in Ukraine to leave their homes and flee from invaders in other regions of Ukraine or abroad. As a result, they lost the opportunity to work at their permanent jobs. And because evacuations were urgent in most cases, people did not even have time to warn employers about their departure.
The question arose, what is the status of a person who has not resigned and does not have such an intention, but is absent from work for a long time due to force majeure? And also, what are her prospects to return to her workplace after an indefinite time, when the danger will pass and the full operation of the company will resume?
To regulate relations between employers and employees, the Verkhovna Rada passed a law “On the organization of labor relations in martial law.” In particular, he introduces a new concept – “suspension of the employment contract.” It is defined as “temporary cessation by the employer of the employee’s employment and temporary cessation by the employee of work under an employment contract.”
The reason for the suspension of the employment contract is the law defines armed aggression against Ukraine, which excludes the possibility of providing and performing work.
The employment contract can be suspended from February 24 of this year or from any other later date. The suspension may last until the martial law is lifted or until any other date from which the parties deem it necessary to renew the treaty.
The initiator of the termination of the employment contract may be an employee or employer. The law stipulates that this party must notify the other party of its decision “in any available manner.”

3. The Government has amended the procedure for calculating the average wage. This will make it possible to correctly calculate the average wage in enterprises that are forced to cease operations as a result of hostilities. The following amendments are provided:
– from the calculation period during which the average salary is calculated, the time during which there were no data on the accrued salary to the employee as a result of hostilities is excluded;
– if the employee has partially worked for the period for which the bonus or other incentive payment is accrued, the actual accrued amount of such bonus shall be taken into account when calculating the average salary.
Proper calculation of the average salary is necessary to calculate the benefits due to employees, in particular, “vacation” and compensation for unused leave, the amount of benefits in case of business trips, saved average earnings during military service, benefits for forced absence, etc.

4. The forecast of the Polish furniture industry before Russia’s attack on Ukraine was favorable. After more than two months of war, the uncertainty of its further course gives less optimistic forecasts.
It is true that the influx of refugees to Poland caused a short-lived boost in demand in March (the need to equip apartments and places to live, mostly beds and mattresses), but uncertainty about the war prompts experts to make less optimistic forecasts. This is due to a slowdown in private investment and a reduction in consumers’ propensity to buy durable goods.

5. Aware of the humanitarian crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, the Swedish IKEA has joined in helping those affected by the Russian aggression, especially refugees in Poland. In the first four weeks of the war, more than 50,000 food kits were purchased and used by more than 36,000 people.
There are plans to create safe, long-term housing, assistance in employment, especially for women.
IKEA was the first company in Poland to systematically approach the issue of attracting refugees to the labor market.