As Ukrainian Association of Furniture Manufacturers reported, on March 30, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted a number of amendments to the current legislation, and recently President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky signed a law which introduced changes for the time of quarantine.
In particular, legislators have amended the Law on Employment of Ukraine (Verkhovna Rada (Official Newspaper of the Verkhovna Rada) (2013), 2013, No. 24, Art. 243), and this Article 47 – Partial Unemployment Assistance has been supplemented by a new Article 47-1.

Accordingly, partial unemployment assistance is provided by the territorial authority of the central executive authority, which implements the state policy in the field of employment and labour migration, to insured persons in case they lose part of their wages as a result of the forced reduction of the time required by the legislation) production through the implementation of measures to prevent the emergence and spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), provided for by the quarantine established by Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, at the request of the employer to its employee benefits.
The amount of partial unemployment benefit is provided to employers from small and medium-sized enterprises during the period of preventive measures COVID-19, instead, the assistance will not be provided in the case of employer arrears of payment of wages and payment of a single social security contribution insurance that arose during the five years preceding the year of discontinuation of production.

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Legislators also identified which of the business entities could benefit from a simplified procedure for obtaining assistance:

– legal entities where the average number of employees during the reporting period does not exceed 50 persons and the annual income does not exceed the amount equivalent to 10 million euros, determined at the average annual rate of the NBU;
– legal entities in which the average number of employees during the reporting period is from 50 to 250 persons and the annual income from any activity is from 10 to 50 million euros, determined at the average annual rate of the NBU.

By adopting these changes, the government have significantly simplified the mechanism for applying to the local employment office at the place of registration as a payer of the ESA with the provision of four basic documents:

1) an application in an arbitrary form;
2) a copy of the order stating the date of commencement of the cessation (reduction) of production and a list of measures to prevent the emergence and spread of coronavirus disease, provided for by the quarantine established by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine;
3) information about employees (surname, name, patronymic, registration number of the taxpayer’s account card or series and passport number (for individuals who, due to their religious beliefs, refuse to accept the registration number of the taxpayer’s account card and have informed the relevant public authority and have a passport stamp)) in which the right to partial unemployment benefit has arisen under this article;
4) certificate of no debt on wages and payment of a single contribution to compulsory state social insurance, which arose during the five years preceding the year of suspension (reduction) of production.

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At the same time, the lawmakers pay attention to the fact that the partial unemployment benefit is set for each hour, for which the employee has been reduced by the statutory length of working time, at the rate of 2/3 of the tariff rate (salary) set to the employee of the respective category. And the amount of assistance is determined on the basis of the Fund’s financial capabilities and cannot exceed the minimum wage set by law.

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Lawyers also advise businesses to pay attention to the timing of contacting employment services. According to the law, the employer can apply for the payment of workers’ compensation for partial unemployment benefits within 30 calendar days from the date of the cessation (reduction) of production. However, the period of payment of partial unemployment benefit in the case of measures taken by the employer to prevent the emergence and spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is not taken into account when considering the application for subsequent partial unemployment benefit for reasons of a production nature. The decision to provide assistance is made by the local employment service within 3 working days of the submission of the documents by the employer.