Employ Candidates Compliantly in
Ukraine

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Global HR Compliance in Ukraine

Hiring in Ukraine requires legal precision. Whether your company is already working with local talent or planning to expand, full compliance with Ukrainian labour, tax, and immigration laws is essential. Mistakes in contract structuring, payroll, or classification are not easily corrected post-fact and can expose companies to reinstatement claims, back-pay obligations, or fines.

Ukrainian employment law is detailed, formalistic, and rule-bound. Contracts must follow prescribed formats. Terminations require legal grounds and supporting documentation. Social contributions must be calculated and filed correctly. Yet support for international employers remains fragmented. Even companies with local advisors often find themselves navigating conflicting interpretations or facing risks they weren’t told about.

Acumen International provides a structured compliance infrastructure for global companies hiring in Ukraine. We eliminate fragmentation by delivering all core employment functions — contracts, payroll, benefits, immigration, and exits through a single Global Employer of Record.

Ensuring Compliant Employment Engagements in Ukraine

We support corporate clients, recruitment agencies, and independent professionals who need to structure employment relationships in Ukraine lawfully and efficiently.

Our Global HR Compliance service includes:

  • Guidance on lawful employment structures for Ukraine, including when contractor arrangements are legally permissible
  • Worker classification support and misclassification risk mitigation
  • Ukrainian-language compliant contracts and documentation
  • Payroll delivery with correct tax and social security calculations
  • Assistance with local invoicing, currency conversion, and financial flow
  • Localised immigration and work permit handling for foreign nationals
  • Legal termination handling, including for protected categories
  • Exit support, including risk-managed workforce disengagement

Our role is not advisory alone. We deliver and manage compliant employment engagements on your behalf — fully documented, aligned with Ukrainian legal standards, and structured to withstand audit or legal challenge.

Hiring and Firing Workforce in Ukraine: Employment Law Overview

Employment Agreements

Ukrainian labour law recognises several types of employment arrangements:

  • Open-ended contracts (the legal default)
  • Fixed-term contracts (permitted only where the nature of work is time-bound or upon documented employee request)
  • Contracts for specific project completion
  • Special employment contracts (allowed for specific industries, roles, or company types as explicitly permitted by law)

Contracts must be concluded in writing and activated via a formal hiring order. The employee must sign the agreement on or before the start date. Changes to key terms (e.g. salary, working hours) require two months’ advance notice and must be recorded in the employee’s ‘labour book’ — a mandatory employment record for any worker employed more than five days.

Termination and Severance

Employee-Initiated Termination

An employee may terminate an open-ended agreement at any time with two weeks’ written notice. Immediate resignation is allowed in specific cases (e.g. relocation, study, pregnancy, medical reasons), subject to supporting documentation.

Fixed-term contracts may only be terminated early on limited grounds:

  • Certified illness or disability preventing continued work
  • Employer breach of law or contract
  • Relocation, education, or other significant personal circumstances, properly documented

Employer-Initiated Termination

Employers may only dismiss an employee on legally permitted grounds. These include:

  • Redundancy or liquidation
  • Long-term inability to work (e.g. sick leave exceeding four months)
  • Incompatibility with role (e.g. medical restrictions or lack of qualification)
  • Violation of internal regulations or labour law
  • Failure to pass probation
  • Military mobilisation

Dismissal for other reasons is not allowed. Formal procedures must be followed and supporting documentation retained. Failure to meet legal thresholds can result in mandatory reinstatement or penalty payments.

Prohibited Dismissals

Employers may not dismiss:

  • Employees on sick leave or vacation (if initiated by the employer)
  • Pregnant women, mothers of children under three, or single parents of children under 14 or disabled children
  • Workers on the sole basis of retirement age
  • Trade union members without prior union approval (in most cases)

Notice Periods

  • Redundancy or reorganisation: two months
  • Probation failure: three calendar days
  • Voluntary resignation: two weeks
  • Mutual agreement: no statutory notice period required

Severance Payments

Severance is mandatory in specific cases:

  • Redundancy or role-based dismissal: one average monthly salary
  • Employer breach: three average monthly salaries
  • Dismissal of corporate officers: six average monthly salaries

The “average salary” is calculated based on total pay over the previous two months.

Working Conditions and Entitlements

Probation Period

The probationary period must be stated in the hiring order and is limited to:

  • 1 month for manual workers
  • 3 months for most other categories
  • Up to 6 months for public officials, subject to union approval

Employees may be dismissed during probation without formal cause, but employers must provide a 3-day written notice. Employees may resign without notice at any time.

Probation is not permitted for:

  • Pregnant women
  • Single mothers with children under 14
  • Temporary or seasonal employees
  • Fixed-term employees

Working Hours and Overtime

  • Standard working week: 40 hours
  • Typical format: five days with two days off
  • Alternative: six-day week allowed under specific operational needs

Overtime is strictly limited:

  • No more than four hours across two consecutive days
  • No more than 120 hours per year per employee
  • Paid at double the standard hourly rate.

Leave and Absences

Annual Leave

  • Minimum entitlement: 24 calendar days per year
  • Additional entitlements:
    • 31 days for workers under 18
    • 26–30 days for disabled employees (depending on classification)
    • Further minimums apply for underground or hazardous work

Unused leave must be compensated in full upon dismissal.

Sick Leave

  • First 5 days: paid by the employer at regular salary
  • From day 6 onward: paid by the Social Security Fund, at rates based on seniority:
    • 60% (≤5 years of service)
    • 80% (5–8 years)
    • 100% (8+ years)

A medical certificate is required.

Maternity and Parental Leave

  • Maternity leave: 70 days before and 56–70 days after childbirth (fully paid)
  • Additional unpaid leave available until the child turns three
  • Full job protection during both paid and unpaid leave
  • Entire period counts towards length of service

Unpaid Leave

Employees are entitled to unpaid leave in certain life situations (e.g. marriage). In addition, employers may grant up to 15 calendar days of unpaid leave per year at their discretion.

Social Security Contributions and Voluntary Benefits

Statutory Employer Contributions

Unified Social Security Contribution (USSC): 22% of gross monthly salary:

  • Paid entirely by the employer.
  • Covers pension, temporary disability, maternity, unemployment, and accident insurance.

Employee Payroll Withholding (processed by employer)

  • Personal Income Tax (PIT): 18% of gross salary
  • Military Levy: 1.5% of gross salary.

The military levy is a mandatory payroll deduction applied to all individual income in Ukraine. It is set at 1.5% of an employee’s gross salary and is withheld by the employer alongside personal income tax. While it is not an employer-paid contribution, it must be calculated, withheld, and remitted as part of the monthly payroll process.

This levy is applied universally regardless of employee nationality and is reported together with income tax through.

Both taxes must be withheld and remitted by the employer to Ukrainian tax authorities in local currency

Non-Mandatory Benefits

Employers may offer additional incentives, including:

  • Bonuses;
  • Health insurance;
  • Language or skills training;
  • Flexible or remote work;
  • Additional holidays or rest days;
  • Transport, equipment, or housing support;

These are not required by law and may vary by sector or role.

Acumen International: Compliant Employment Solutions in Ukraine

Acumen International acts as your legal Employer of Record (EOR) in Ukraine, allowing you to hire staff without setting up a local entity, while ensuring compliance with all Ukrainian employment, payroll, and immigration laws.

Service Scope

  • Local hiring under Acumen’s legal infrastructure;
  • Fully compliant employment contracts and statutory onboarding;
  • Ukrainian payroll with social contributions, payslips, and documentation;
  • Role-appropriate benefit structuring and compensation design;
  • Contractor-to-employee conversions.

Employer Responsibilities

  • Acumen assumes all formal employer obligations;
  • We handle contract enforcement, payroll, benefits, tax filings, and legal updates;
  • You maintain operational management of your workforce.

Immigration Support

Hiring foreign nationals in Ukraine involves formal coordination with the State Migration Service and Ministry of Economy, and must follow strict rules on eligibility, documentation, and employment structuring.

Acumen International supports clients with:

  • Work permit applications through certified sponsoring entities, including eligibility screening, quota checks, and contract alignment
  • Visa D processing, biometric submissions, and pre-entry authorisations where applicable
  • Temporary residence permit (TRP) structuring, including sequencing of permit issuance, address registration, and employment contract validity
  • Employment-linked tax residency management, ensuring payroll setup is aligned with declared residency status and statutory obligations
  • Ongoing permit renewal and change of employer procedures, including transfer between entities, updated terms, or early contract terminations
  • Legal localisation of employment documentation to meet immigration-linked labour law requirements, especially for executive or high-skilled roles

We do not offer immigration services in Ukraine outside of employment context. All foreign nationals must be employed through compliant structures, with local contracts matching permit terms.

Risk and Compliance Oversight

  • Worker classification and reclassification;
  • Termination support, including protected dismissals;
  • Audit-proof documentation and change tracking;
  • Legal monitoring and updates reflected in employment contract structure.

Use Cases

  • Hiring Ukrainian professionals without opening a local subsidiary;
  • Transitioning local contractors to compliant full-time employment;
  • Supporting cross-border deployments and remote worker setups;
  • Structuring disengagement from Ukraine with minimum risk.

Navigate employment compliance in Ukraine with confidence. Hire, pay, and terminate staff legally under Ukrainian labour law, with full detail on contracts, payroll, severance, benefits, and statutory obligations.

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