As of today, unvaccinated employees being suspended in Ukraine

In Ukraine, workers of certain professions who haven't been vaccinated against coronavirus should be suspended from November 8.

This is evidenced by the government resolution №1096.

Currently, mandatory vaccination against COVID-19 concerns:

• employees of vocational (vocational and technical education), professional higher, general secondary education, preschool education, out-of-school educational institutions;
• employees of central executive bodies and their territorial subdivisions;
• employees of local state administrations.

Later, they want to add social service workers, employees of children's rights protection institutions and rehabilitation institutions, as well as institutions included in the list of critical infrastructure to the list of professions.

The director of an institution or state body must issue an order removing the unvaccinated person from work for the period of quarantine. Prior to the entry into force of the resolution, managers had to warn employees about the possible consequences of non-vaccination.

What to do if suspended?

The removal will last until the cause is eliminated. That is, you can return to work after vaccination with the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The employer has no right to dismiss an employee who has refused or evades compulsory preventive vaccination. If this happens, the employee has the right to complain to the State Labor Service.

At the same time, the employer has the right to suspend an employee without pay, if they refuse or evade vaccination; this is stated in Art. 12 of the law "On protection of the population from infectious diseases." However, the person keeps the job.

In addition, those suspended without vaccination will not be paid sick leave.

Who can't be suspended?

Workers who have contraindications to vaccination. At the same time, employers have the legal right to require such a certificate from the employee: it will not indicate the specific diagnosis of the person, so there will be no disclosure of private information.

If the contraindication to vaccination is temporary, the certificate will have a limited validity period, from three months or more.

Also, employers will not be able to suspend people who have received only one dose of the vaccine, because this situation is not about evading or refusing vaccination.

In addition, people who have been ill with COVID-19 can obtain and use the appropriate certificates. The Ministry of Digital Transformation is currently completing work on such certificates in Diia.