Ministry of Economy on the new Labor Code: almost ready for submission to the Verkhovna Rada

The document regarding the new Labor Code is almost ready for submission to the Verkhovna Rada. Labor legislation needs to be adapted to current realities, making the mechanisms of interaction between employers and employees more flexible. This was reported to UNN by Deputy Minister of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture Daria Marchak.

When is the new Labor Code planned to be submitted to the Verkhovna Rada?

"The document is almost ready for submission to the parliament. We discussed it with a very large number of stakeholders; during July-August, working groups on each of the books of the labor code were held, organized at the ILO (International Labor Organization) platform, as an organization specializing in tripartite dialogue. Now we are cleaning up the document. We hope that it will be submitted to parliament soon enough," Marchak said.

Marchak noted that the bill was developed by a very wide range of stakeholders.

"We are currently discussing how it will be submitted to parliament. People's deputies participated in the development of this document, as did trade unions, employer organizations, and all major associations, international experts. That is, it is a government bill from the point of view that the government is the leader and driver of the process, but it is such an all-Ukrainian document. We will probably ask the people's deputies to support us in promoting it faster," Marchak said.

What changes are expected in the Labor Code?

Marchak emphasized that Ukraine's labor legislation is extremely outdated.

"It's still from the Soviet Union. The world is already thinking in terms of AI, and we are living in 1971. Therefore, we need to adapt it to current realities, make the mechanisms of interaction between employers and employees more flexible, which is necessary for both sides," she said.

Addition

In August, Minister of Economy Oleksiy Sobolev informed UNN that work on a new Labor Code was underway. It is planned that it will be submitted to the Verkhovna Rada this year.

In January 2024, it was reported that the Ministry of Economy intends to discuss a new Labor Code, which aims to modernize employment forms and digitize records, replacing the outdated 1971 code.

In 2024, the Ministry of Economy prepared a draft of the new Labor Code.

Subsequently, Ombudsman Lubinets stated that the draft of the new Labor Code from the Ministry of Economy needs further refinement.