Guide to Restructuring a Cross-Border Workforce

Yes, there is. An employee is redundant if the following conditions are met:

• the employer adopted a decision on organisational change;
• the change concerns the scope of activities, tasks, technical equipment, number of employees, or otherwise alters the structure of the employer;
• the aim of the change is to increase work efficiency, reduce costs, or otherwise alter the performance of the employer’s enterprise; and
• as a result, the employee’s work is redundant or not needed.

According to case law, the employee’s work is not needed, either at all or at least in part, with the rest being distributed among the current employees or corporate body. Rebranding the position, hiring a new employee to carry out the work of the dismissed employee shortly thereafter, or otherwise fabricating the redundancy with an ulterior motive does not qualify as redundancy.

Czech law provides two other similar reasons based on which an employer is entitled to terminate employment – closing down or relocation of the employer’s undertaking or its part. Together with redundancy, these three reasons are known as “organisational reasons” (in Czech: “organizační důvody”) for termination of employment. However, closing down and relocation of the employer or its part are different reasons than the redundancy itself, and therefore we do not address them further.

Redundancy is a justified reason for dismissal under Ukrainian legislation and may be defined as a change in the staffing structure of the company through the termination of certain positions or reducing the number of staff for certain positions.

The employer must take the following steps:

• review underlying documents (including organisational charts), decide what organisational change needs to be made and work out which positions are no longer needed, and plan the timing;
• adopt a decision on organisational change, including its effective date and which redundant positions are cancelled. The decision doesn’t have to be in writing or state reasons for the redundancy. However, both are highly recommended and a market standard, as this serves as evidence;
• if there are unions, consult the unions in advance (see question 4), and if a union representative is supposed to be made redundant, obtain the union’s consent in advance (see question 11);
• execute dismissal either by a termination agreement (recommended) or a termination notice with the redundant employees. In case of termination notice, the redundancy must (based on the decision) take effect on or before the notice period expired, not after; and
• implement the organisational change (including updating organisational charts).

Organisational changes may also be governed by collective agreements, in which case additional rules may apply (this applies to all the questions below).

The process for making someone redundant consists of the following steps:

Issuing a resolution regarding the commencement of redundancy

Such a resolution is formalised by the minutes of a general meeting of the company (ie, an employer) or by a resolution of a sole participant of the company (ie, an employer) if the company has a sole participant.

The redundancy can be initiated due to changes in the organisation of production and labour at the company, including reorganisation or liquidation of the company.

Notifying the trade union (if established at the company) about the planned redundancy

At least three months before redundancy, the trade union must be notified about the scheduled redundancy, the reasons for the redundancy, the number and categories of employees who may be affected, and the timing of the redundancy, and should arrange for consultation on measures to prevent or minimise, or to mitigate the adverse effects of, redundancy.

Setting up the criteria and the selection of employees to be made redundant, issuing an order on establisment of the Personnel Commission and concluding the Act of Comparison

This step includes the establishment of the Personnel Commission, defining criteria for evaluating employees to be made redundant, identifying employees whose dismissal is prohibited by law and employees who have preferential rights to remain employed.

Notifying the State Employment Service of Ukraine about the collective redundancy

This step only applies if the redundancy is a collective one. If applicable, such notification should be submitted at least two months before the date of redundancy.

Notifying the affected employees about the commencement of redundancy procedure and the absence of open suitable vacancies

This should be made at least two months before the redundancy.

Obtaining the consent of the trade union (only if it is established) to terminate the employment agreement with a particular employee who is a member of that trade union (during martial law, this only applies to employees elected to trade union bodies)

Issuing an order on dismissal and servicing a copy of the order to each respective employee

This should be done at the end of two months’ notice.

Payment of severance and any other outstanding amounts (ie, salary, compensation for unused vacation days, bonuses (if any), severance payments of an average monthly salary, etc) no later than the last working day

Entering records in the employees’ labour books and handing over labour books to the respective employees on the last working day (if applicable), and signing the employee’s Personal Card (Form P2).

Familiarising the employees with the documents and fulfilling the employer’s obligations

Yes, Czech law provides a special procedure for “collective dismissal” in all three cases of organisational changes (see question 1).

The threshold is:

• ten employees if the employer has 20 to 100 employees;
• 10% of employees if the employer has 101 to 300 employees; and
• 30 employees if the employer has more than 300 employees.

The respective number of employees must be dismissed due to redundancy within a period of 30 days. If at least five employees are dismissed within 30 days by termination notice due to redundancy, then employees dismissed in the same period by termination agreement are included in these thresholds.

In addition to the process above, collective dismissal must be:

• consulted with unions 30 days in advance, or notified to each affected employee if there are no active unions at the employer; and
• notified to the local Labour Office: (i) in advance, including information on commencement of the consultation process with unions; and (ii) on its result once it’s completed, in the form of a written report that must be delivered in copy to unions, which then have the right to comment on it – employment relationships can terminate only after the lapse of 30 days following this.

The main difference between redundancy and collective redundancy is that collective redundancy requires additional notification to the State Employment Service of Ukraine two months beforehand (by filing a report on the scheduled redundancy according to statutory form 4-PN). The approval of the State Employment Service is not required to implement a collective redundancy.

A redundancy qualifies as a collective redundancy if, in the space of one month, the following number of employees were made redundant:

• 10 or more employees by an employer with between 20 and 100 employees;
• 10% or more of employees by an employer with between 101 and 300 employees;
• 30 or more employees by an employer with between 301 and 1,000 employees;
• 3% or more employees by an employer with more than 1,001 employees.

Yes, the employer must consult any termination notice in advance. Agreement doesn’t have to be reached (with the exception of employees with enhanced protection; see question 11). In practice, the consultation is more of an announcement.

In case of collective dismissal, consultation must take place, and the employer must try to reach an agreement and inform the Labour Office of the result.

During the redundancy process, the employer must consult with the trade union (if established) on measures to prevent or minimise dismissals or mitigate the adverse effects of any dismissals. Trade unions have the right to submit proposals to employers on the postponement, temporary suspension or cancellation of measures related to the dismissal of employees, which must be taken into consideration (but do not necessarily have to be accepted by the employer).

However, the employer should obtain the consent of the trade union (if established) to terminate the employment agreement with a particular employee who is a member of that trade union (during martial law this only applies to employees elected to trade union bodies). The employee may not be dismissed if the trade union withholds its consent for a justified reason.

It is the employer’s right to make an organisational change and its factual validity cannot be challenged. However, the individual dismissals may be challenged by employees. If successful (ie, the employer doesn’t prove redundancy), the restructure in the individual case may be prevented.

In the case of collective dismissals, it may be delayed by the unions prolonging the consultation. However, even then the unions and the Labour Office can’t prevent the dismissal, and the only way to prevent individual dismissal is a successful individual challenge by the dismissed employee.

If the unions believe that the collective agreement was violated by the redundancy or in the process of its implementation, they may dispute this violation. The dispute may be resolved by a mediator or escalated to an arbitrator. However, this doesn’t prevent the employer from executing the dismissals or restructure (only if violation is later found, it may have certain implications based on the individual collective agreement and nature of its violation).

If the trade union submits proposals on postponement, temporary suspension or cancellation measures related to the dismissal of employees (three months prior to redundancy), the employer must consider them. If the proposal is not reasonable, the employer may proceed with the redundancy as scheduled. However, the risk of lawsuits will likely increase.

Also, if the trade union does not give its consent for an employee’s termination and this refusal is justified, the respective employee may not be terminated. During martial law, this only applies to employees elected to trade union bodies.

In case of individual dismissal, the consultation process is, rather, a notification (with the exception of employees with enhanced protection; see question 11) including:

• the identity of the employee;
• termination grounds (redundancy); and
• basic details of the redundancy (why and when).

It should take place prior to the dismissal (no specific deadline is given).

In case of collective dismissal, the consultation process includes:

• measures preventing or limiting the collective dismissal;
• mitigation measures (eg, employing the redundant employee at other workplaces of the employer);
• reasons;
• number and professions of redundant employees;
• number and professions of all the employees;
• the period during which the collective dismissal takes place;
• selection method of redundant employees; and
• severance pay and other rights of the redundant employees.

The consultation process must take place no later than 30 days prior to the collective dismissal. The local Labour Office must be notified as well (see question 3).

The administrative fine for violation of the consultation process with unions is up to 200,000 koruna. Employees who suffer damage as a result may claim compensation.

At least three months before redundancy, the trade union (if established) must be notified about the scheduled redundancy, the reasons for such redundancies, the number and categories of employees who may be affected, and the timing of the redundancy. Also, the employer should arrange for a consultation on measures to prevent or minimise dismissals or mitigate the adverse effects of any dismissals.

If an employer fails to comply with its consultation obligations, the redundancy may be challenged through the courts.

Yes, an economic business rationale should be the reason for organisational change, and therefore the redundancy, and as such should be part of the consultation.

As per question 6, among other things, employers must provide reasons for redundancies (ie, changes in the organisation of production and labour) to trade unions. According to the courts, changes in the organisation of production and labour are to be considered objectively necessary actions of the employer caused by the introduction of one of the following:

• new equipment or new technologies;
• an improvement in the company structure, working hours, or management activities to increase labour productivity or improve economic and social performance;
• a desire to prevent bankruptcy and collective redundancy of employees and preservation of human resources during temporary shutdowns in work; or
• a desire to create safe working conditions or improve sanitary and hygienic conditions etc.

Trade unions or individual employees may try to challenge the rationale for redundancy. Initially, this can be done with a formal letter to an employer. If the employer does not accept the trade union’s arguments, the redundancy may be challenged through the courts.

In case of collective dismissals, if there are no unions or employee representatives, the employer must inform and directly consult the affected employees to the same extent.

In case of individual dismissal, it is not a requirement, nor best practice, and highly depends on the strategy in the individual case.

The legislation does not require individual consultations with employees. 

The only rule is that the employee’s position or work must be genuinely redundant (see question 1). If more than one employee fulfils this condition, it is up to the employer which employee to select. However, this choice must not indicate that there are in fact different motives for the redundancy of the selected employee (eg, disputes with the employer, unsatisfactory performance, or gender or other discriminatory motives).

If the redundancy affects positions in which several individuals are employed and not all employees with that position are being made redundant, the employer should follow a special procedure to select the individuals who will be made redundant. Such an evaluation should be carried out by the Personnel Commission. The Personnel Commission is a special body that should be established by the director of the company (ie, the employer) to compare employees’ qualifications and productivity, and verify preferential rights to remain employed and the prohibition of certain categories of employees from dismissal.

Yes, a termination notice due to redundancy is not allowed during the period for which an employee is:

• declared temporarily medically unfit for work or in institutional treatment (unless the employee has intentionally caused this unfitness, or it is a direct consequence of the employee’s alcohol intoxication or substance abuse);
• deployed in military exercises or military service;
• on long-term full leave to act in public office;
• pregnant, or on maternity leave, paternity leave, or parental leave;
• declared temporarily unfit for night work if they perform night work; or
• on leave caring for a child under 10 years of age, treating a child under 10 years of age or other natural persons, or providing long-term care, all as specified in the Czech Sickness Insurance Act.

Certain categories of employees have special protection and cannot be made redundant:

• pregnant women, women having children under three (under six if a child requires home care), and single mothers having a child with a disability or a child under 14;
• fathers bringing up a child under three, a child with a disability or a child under 14 without a mother (including where the mother is staying long-term in a medical facility) – this also applies to adoptive parents and foster parents;
• employees called up for regular military service, mobilised employees, employees serving with the military based on a contract, including those who concluded the contract with the Territorial Defence Forces within the “special period” – as well as employees who stay in medical institutions after being injured during military service or who were captured or are declared missing;
• employees under 18;
• employees aged 15 to 28 who have been given their first job after the completion of studies or after being released from regular military service or alternative (non-military) service (they are protected from dismissal for the first two years) as well as young graduates of public educational institutions in certain professions, the demand for which was previously stated by employers (protected during the first three years);
• former members of a trade union’s bodies for one year after the expiry of the term for which they were elected (with certain exceptions); and
• employees involved in socially useful work during martial law (for the duration of that work).

Nevertheless, the law does not limit the possibility of the mutual termination of the employment relationship with protected employees.

Yes, members of a trade union body during their term of office and for a period of one year after the end of their term of office. The employer must have prior consent of the unions for termination of their employment relationship by a notice. Consent is deemed to be given if the unions don’t respond within 15 days. Consent is valid for two months. Termination notice without such consent is invalid unless the court decides in the validity case that the employer could not have been justifiably required to keep the employee.

In cases of equal productivity and qualifications, preference is given to the following employees:

• individuals who have families, if such individuals have two or more dependents;
• individuals whose family does not have other members with independent earnings;
• employees with a longer length of service with the employer;
• employees who study at higher and secondary specialised educational institutions in off-work hours;
• individuals, who took part in military actions, victims of the Revolution of Dignity, individuals with disabilities as a result of war and individuals covered by the Law of Ukraine On the status of war veterans, guarantees of their social protection, as well as individuals rehabilitated under the Law of Ukraine On the rehabilitation of the victims of the repression of the communist totalitarian regime of 1917-1991, among those who have been subjected to repression in the form (or forms) of imprisonment, restriction of liberty, or the involuntary placement of healthy individuals in a psychiatric institution by an extrajudicial or other repressive body;
• authors of inventions, utility models, industrial standards and rationalisation proposals;
• employees who sustained a labour injury or occupational illness while working for the employer;
• employees who were forcibly displaced from Ukraine (for five years after their return to permanently reside in Ukraine);
• employees who were former military personnel and individuals and provided an alternative (non-military) service (for two years from the date of their retirement from that service);
• employees who are less than three years from pension retirement age; and
• other rare cases.

A redundant employee is entitled to a statutory severance payment, regardless of whether the employment termination is made by notice or agreement and if the redundancy is explicitly stated as the reason for the termination.

The severance payment is due on the next scheduled pay date following the termination of employment. A later due date can be agreed.

In a redundancy, employees are entitled to their salary for the period worked before the termination date, compensation for unused vacation, bonuses (if applicable), and a severance payment (calculated under certain procedures). The final payment must be made to the employee on the last working day.

The employer must notify the employee in writing of the amounts accrued and paid to the employee on the termination date.

The severance payment amount differs based on the length of the employment as follows:

• one gross average monthly salary of the employee if the employment lasted less than one year;
• two gross average monthly salaries of the employee if the employment lasted at least one year but less than two years; and
• three gross average monthly salaries of the employee if the employment lasted at least two years.

If the working hours account applies (specific working hours distribution scheme under the Czech Labour Code) the statutory severance is the relevant amount above plus three gross average monthly salaries of the employee.

The severance payment may also be higher if stated so by:

• agreement between the parties;
• the employer’s internal regulations; or
• a collective bargaining agreement.

A gross average monthly salary of the employee must be calculated for each employee separately using the specific rules of the Labour Code.

If an employment relationship is to be terminated due to redundancy, the employee will be entitled to a severance payment of one average monthly salary (statutory minimum).

The average salary is calculated based on payments for the last two calendar months of employment preceding the month of dismissal.

Not in cases of individual dismissals.

In cases of collective dismissals, the employer must notify the relevant branch of the Labour Office:

• of the intention to carry out collective dismissal;
• that the consultation process has been initiated with the unions or the employees; and
• of the specific aspects of the collective dismissal, to the same extent as the unions (see question 6).

Following the consultation, the employer must deliver a written report to the Labour Office stating:

• that the employer has decided on collective redundancies;
• the outcome of the consultation process;
• the number and occupational composition of all employees; and
• the number and occupational composition of the employees to be made redundant.

A copy of the report must be delivered to the unions, which then have the right to comment on it.

If the redundancy qualifies as a collective redundancy (see question 3), the employer must notify the State Employment Service of Ukraine two months before the scheduled redundancy.

The notification should be submitted according to the statutory established form 4-PN. The following information should be provided to the State Employment Center: the positions to be made redundant, the number of employees to be made redundant, the date of the order on the scheduled redundancy, and the date of the scheduled redundancy.

No, generally there is no such obligation. If the conditions for dismissal due to redundancy are met, the employer is not obliged to offer the employee an alternative solution.

However, in some specific individual cases, the courts have concluded that if the employer still needs the work on part-time basis, the employer should first offer the employee this part-time job.

With the notice of redundancy, the employer must also offer the employee another position within the company corresponding to a relevant profession or specialty, if such suitable positions are available.

There are no specific notification obligations after making the redundancies. Only general notification obligations, which are the same for all employment terminations, apply.

These general notifications must be made within eight days, using the relevant forms, to: (i) the employee’s health insurance company; and (ii) the District Social Security Administration (including the pension insurance record sheet).

If wage deductions were made to satisfy the employee’s debt to a third party, the employer must notify the relevant court (or tax authority case of tax debt), including an account of the deductions.

In general, there are no obligations for employers to notify state authorities after making redundancies.

However, if the employee responsible for tax accounting is to be made redundant (eg, chief accountant), Ukrainian tax authorities must be notified within 10 days.

An employee may challenge the validity of a dismissal for redundancy if they consider that the statutory conditions were not met. First, the employee who wishes to remain employed must inform the employer without undue delay after the termination notice that they insist on continuing their employment. Second, the employee must file a lawsuit at the district court of the employer’s seat (residence or registered address). The lawsuit must be made within two months from the date on which the employment should have ended. After the two months, the right to file the lawsuit expires.

If the dismissal for redundancy is found invalid, the employee who wishes to remain employed remains to be employed at the original position under the original conditions and is entitled to a full compensation of salary for the whole time from the invalid termination until work is assigned again, or until the employment is validly terminated (ie, including the time of the court proceedings). The court may reduce the amount of such compensation if, for example, the employee has found another job in the interim, or could have found one.

There’s no statutory authorisation for unions to raise any claims at the court on behalf of employees except for insolvency proceedings (see question 21). However, only attorneys at law can represent employees fully and without limits in any proceedings. Another natural person can be granted a power of attorney in a specific case (not repeatedly). Theoretically, this could be a member or employee of the unions, but this is not a market standard.

Employees who were made redundant may file a claim for their reinstatement to the courts. The statute of limitation for such claims is one month following receipt of the order of dismissal. The courts may extend this if the employee can provide justification for the delay (which quite likely may occur due to the war).

An employee may file a claim for reinstatement if he or she believes that:

• the termination in the form of redundancy was not connected with the changes in production and labour organisation;
• his or her preferential right to continued employment was not taken into consideration during the redundancy;
• his or her right to special protection was violated during the redundancy; or
• the respective procedure for redundancy was observed by the employer.

If the court decides that the redundancy was illegal or unjustified, the employee may be:

• reinstated;
• awarded compensation in the amount of the employee’s average monthly salary for the period from the date of termination up to the date of the respective court decision;
• awarded compensation for moral damages (usually token amounts – up to USD 500); or
• awarded reimbursement of legal fees.

It is not common for trade unions to bring claims on behalf of an employee or employees.

Yes, it is very common and highly recommended to terminate the employment by mutual agreement when making employees redundant. The termination agreement does not have to state any reasons for termination. However, should the reason be redundancy of the employee, the employee is entitled to statutory severance payment regardless. To motivate the employees to conclude the termination agreement, it is a market standard to offer a higher severance package than the statutory severance payment.

It is common to use settlement agreements, since termination by mutual agreement mitigates the risks related to reinstatement.

Individual redundancies generally take around two to three months. The organisational change must be prepared, and the termination agreement negotiated or the termination notice given. In case of the notice, the statutory notice period is two months. There’s no statutory notice period requirement in case of agreement, therefore it can be faster. It can also take longer (eg, more complicated cases, restructuring, C-level or other higher managers).

For collective redundancies, the process takes several months (at least three) due to higher demands on preparation, more complicated structuring, the consultation process, and the notification obligation to the Labour Office.

The redundancy procedure normally takes between two-and-a-half and four months (depending on the availability of a trade union, the number of employees affected, and other factors). This does not include the time needed for the preparation of redundancy documentation.

The statutory law does not expressly prohibit certain conduct. However, a redundancy means that the employee’s work is no longer needed and therefore any hiring (internal or external) for the same (or largely the same) position should be avoided (or at least thoroughly considered), especially for the two-month period during which the employee can challenge the validity of the dismissal.

Once redundancy is completed and the respective position is eliminated and then re-established within 12 calendar months, work on this position should first be proposed to a person who was made redundant, and only after his or her refusal can another person get an offer on the same terms.

The term “restructuring” in Czech law means one of the ways of resolving a company’s bankruptcy in insolvency proceedings. During this process, organisational changes including redundancies may occur. This kind of restructuring does not require unions’ consent; however, consultation may be required. Further, unions may represent the employees in insolvency proceedings.

In Czech law, “restructuring” within the meaning of a business transaction or corporate transformation or changes (i.e. not a type of insolvency proceeding) can also lead to transfer of rights and obligations from the employment relationship to another employer (transfer of undertakings), ie, the employee and their employment will be transferred to a new employer as a result of such transaction. In this case, the employer must inform the unions or other representatives (and if there are none, then the individual employees) and consult at least 30 days in advance:

• the effective date of the transfer;
• reasons for the transfer;
• legal, economic, and social consequences of the transfer for the employees; and
• measures to be taken in relation to the employees.

In case of cross-border mergers or spin-offs, the employer also must: (i) inform the employees or unions of their right to get acquainted with the written merger or spin-off project and give written comments on it; and (ii) generally reach agreement with unions regarding the extent and manner of the right of influence of the employees of the successor corporation (for example, in certain cases by electing a certain number of members of supervisory board in a joint stock company) if the seat of the newly formed entity is supposed to be in the Czechia. Further corporate obligations depend on the form of such restructuring.

However, the described labour law obligations don’t apply in the case of mere ownership change of the employer’s company where this has no direct legal implications for the employees (ie, it isn’t a transfer of undertaking or a termination reason).

The legislation does not require the employer to conduct consultations with employees (trade unions) or obtain their consent for major transactions.

In general, employees have limited ability to influence the process of business transactions. The consultation process (see question 21) doesn’t have to result in an agreement with or of the unions. The administrative fine for violation of the consultation process is up to 200,000 Czech Koruna. If there are no unions and the employer breaches its information obligation towards the individual employees (see question 21), the law provides no administrative penalty. In each case, the employee could claim compensation for damage if any damage occurred.

Not applicable.

If the statutory conditions for transfer are met, the transfer occurs automatically, ie, neither the original employer, the new employer, the employees, nor the unions can avoid the transfer. An employee may prevent their own transfer only by serving termination notice to the employer before the transfer’s effective date, in which case the employment terminates on the day immediately preceding the transfer’s effective date at the latest. If the employer didn’t inform employee at least 30 days in advance (see question 21), the employee may serve their termination notice within two months after the transfer’s effective date – in which case, only a 15-day notice period applies.

Individual rights and obligations are transferred in full to the new employer. The rights and obligations under the original employer’s collective agreement are also transferred to the new employer, but only for the duration of the collective agreement, and for no longer than to the end of the following calendar year.

Transfer itself is not a statutory reason for terminating the employment. However, a restructuring (organisation change) leading to redundancy may happen before, during, or following the transfer. In such a case, the employee has the same rights as in the case of other redundancies.

If the employee terminates the employment by a notice or by an agreement within two months of the effective date of the transfer, they may raise a claim at court that the reason for termination was a substantial deterioration in working conditions caused by the transfer. If the court confirms it, the employee will be entitled to statutory severance (see question 13).

In the case of an employer's reorganisation (merger, acquisition, separation, demerger, restructuring), the employee's employment agreement continues with the company that initially employed them. Termination of employment is possible due to redundancy or other grounds prescribed by the Labour Code of Ukraine.

Since the transfer of rights and obligations under employment law occurs automatically, it is generally sufficient to follow the legally prescribed procedure for a given business transfer. In addition, it is necessary to comply with the information and consultation obligation (see question 21). Further, general reporting and notification obligations to the state authorities apply.

The transfer of employment is automatic. As a general rule, a business transfer in Ukraine is a share transfer. Accordingly, no changes are introduced to the company’s staff structure at the business transfer.

The working conditions of the transferred employees cannot substantially worsen. If this were to happen and the employee gave termination notice within two months of the transfer, the employee could claim statutory severance (see question 23).

In addition, the employer must comply with the general principle of equal treatment and ensure equal treatment of both the original and new employees in terms of their working conditions, remuneration, and other benefits, training, and the possibility of promotion.

There are no statutory rules on harmonising the transferring employees’ terms of employment with the existing employees’ terms of employment (except for general requirements related to equal pay, non-discrimination, etc).

If the hours, pay, or benefits are agreed in the employment or other contract, then no unilateral change can be made.

Working hours – either statutory weekly working hours apply (40 hours per week) or shorter working hours are agreed. In either case, the employer determines the distribution unilaterally (subject to complying with statutory rules and limits) unless agreed differently.

Salary – if it isn’t agreed in the employment or other contract, the employer unilaterally determines the salary by an internal regulation or by a salary statement.

Benefits – if they aren’t agreed in the employment or other contract, the employer unilaterally determines the benefits by an internal regulation or by a salary statement.

Ukrainian employers can unilaterally change the essential working conditions of their employees (including employees’ pay, working hours, and benefits). Essential working conditions may only be changed if there are changes in the organisation of production and labour (see question 7).

The general rule is that an employee must be notified of such changes two months before the implementation of the changes, but during martial law (currently effective in Ukraine) the employee must be notified no later than the introduction of such changes. The employment agreement can be terminated by the employer if the employee refuses to continue working due to a change in the essential working conditions.

As for employment terms and conditions in general, if these have been agreed in the employment or other contract, they can be changed only by agreement. Validity of express contractual provision to vary the conditions depends on its structure and which conditions it concerns, and therefore there’s no generally applicable answer to the question.

The Labour Code further allows, in certain cases, a change in type of work, workplace, or employer by a temporary transfer of an employee to a different work position, workplace, or employer. Generally, consent is required; however, in certain cases, the employer can (and in very specific cases, has to) make a temporary transfer unilaterally (for example, if the employee is medically unfit to perform the agreed type of work, or to avert imminent danger). The employer must adhere to strict statutory conditions.

Generally, no.

Yes, the employee and the employer may agree on certain changes and variations implicitly. However, it is recommended to avoid such situations.

Generally, no.

As an exception, the following rule applies. If, after the end of an employment agreement, the employment relationship continues and neither party requests its termination, the agreement is deemed to be extended for an indefinite period.

If agreement is required to vary an employment term or condition, then the only option to vary it is an agreement.

If the employee refuses to agree to the changes in essential working conditions due to changes in the organisation of production and labour (see question 26), employment relations may be terminated with the payment of one average monthly salary as a severance payment.  

If the changes in the employee’s working conditions are not related to changes in the organisation of production and labour, the employee may refuse to agree to them. In such cases, the employee may not be terminated.

If varied unilaterally in a case where agreement was required, the employee may challenge the variation (depending on the situation, by demanding the employer to: refrain from such conduct, restore the original terms, or compensate the employee for the damage caused by such conduct). Depending on the situation there could also be a risk of administrative penalties.

If the employer varies an employment term unilaterally without legal grounds (ie, not related to changes in the organisation of production and labour), the employee’s previous employment terms may be re-established through the courts or administrative procedures (with the support of the State Labour Service of Ukraine).

The Czech parliament is currently debating several changes in the area of labour law. However, none of the currently debated changes should affect the answers above.

The Ukrainian parliament is considering a draft law aiming to bring Ukrainian labour legislation in line with the provisions of Council Directive 2001/23/EC of 12 March 2001 on the approximation of the laws of the member states relating to the safeguarding of employees' rights in the event of transfers of undertakings, businesses or parts of undertakings or businesses.

The draft law provides for the establishment and procedure of succession in employment relations. Among other things, it establishes an obligation on the employer to continue the employment agreement if there is a transfer of the business or its parts to another business owner, as well as an obligation for employers to inform employees and their representatives of the date (approximate date) and reasons for the succession, the economic, technological, structural consequences of the succession or consequences of a similar nature that will affect the rights of employees.