“The reservation of employees, which was suspended at the end of October, is being resumed, but already according to new rules. What exactly?”, — write: www.epravda.com.ua
On November 15, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted an updated resolution on booking employees of critical enterprises. The government made the changes after conducting an audit of all reserved employees. During this inspection, it is possible to book employees suspended.
The audit of those booked lasted about a month. According to its results, government officials finalized the reservation rules and updated the criticality criteria of enterprises. What are the main changes?
What the audit foundThe reservation of workers has been a source of irritation for the country’s military leadership for a long time. The goal of the latter has been the same for three years – to maximally equip the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The meeting between government officials and the military in early October 2024 became the critical point of this dissatisfaction. According to the interlocutors of the EP in the government, President Volodymyr Zelenskyi was at this meeting, who was outraged by the fact that Ukraine allegedly booked 1.5 million people.
Subsequently, interlocutors of the EP in the Cabinet of Ministers repeatedly noted that this figure does not correspond to reality. They said, at most, about 1.1 million conscripts were booked in Ukraine, and according to the latest data, their number is slightly more than 850 thousand people.
Despite this, government officials received a task from the president – to check the decision to recognize enterprises as critically important (this gives the company the right to reserve up to 50% of its conscripted employees) and to develop a project for changes to the reservation system.
Ukrainian paradox. The business wants to work safely and prevent everyone from mobilizingAbout 20,000 enterprises, which are recognized as critically important, were inspected. According to its results, reservations were canceled for about 3% of conscripts, the interlocutors of the EP in the Cabinet of Ministers informed.
The violations found in the government related to enterprise criticality criteria that were abused by the business. In order to be eligible for a reservation, it was necessary to answer at least three of the eight following criteria:
The audit showed that the companies most abused the salary criterion. For example, a company could increase the amount of compensation to employees on the eve of recognition of criticality, and after receiving this status, continue to pay lower official salaries (in particular, paying a part in envelopes).
Abuse of additional criteria of criticality of the enterprise for the territorial community was also common. Some cities set dozens of matching criteria, allowing them to book workers for a large number of businesses.
Another type of violation related to “inflating” the staff. In particular, this was done by companies working in the energy sector, the interlocutor of the EP in the government said. Under the old version of the reservation ordinance, energy companies had the right to reserve 100% of their conscripted employees.
What has changed?Updated criticality criteria and employee booking rules were adopted in response to identified violations. So, from now on, the criteria for the criticality of an enterprise for one or another territorial community or branch of the economy, the relevant local self-government bodies or ministries will have to to agree with the Ministry of Economy and Ministry of Defense.
The criteria themselves have also changed, in particular the salary criteria. If earlier, in order to be recognized as critical, the average salary at the enterprise had to be at least the average in the corresponding region in the fourth quarter of 2021, now it is must be at least 2.5 times the minimum wage, i.e. 20,000 UAH.
However, this requirement applies only to private businesses. For state and communal enterprises, the salary criterion has not changed.
An important point. The salary criterion is simply a condition for recognizing the enterprise as critical. In the updated resolution the government banned booking those conscripts whose salary is less than 2.5 times the minimum wage (20,000 hryvnias). All this partly reflects proposals for the introduction of the so-called economic reservation, which the government has so far refused to introduce.
The draft law on economic reservation has been registered. How will it work?According to the new rules, salary criterion and absence of tax arrears and meetings will become mandatory criteria for companies claiming criticality.
Moreover, the state will monitor the salary of the booked on a monthly basis. The monthly reporting of an enterprise for the payment of personal income tax (PIT) is prescribed in the draft law on the historic increase of taxes, which The council voted October 10. Previously, the deputies said that this norm was necessary for the introduction of economic reservations, but they decided to abandon the latter.
The government was also considering depriving power sector workers of the 100 percent reservation quota, leaving it only for defense industrial complex workers. However, the relevant amendments were not included in the final version of the resolution.
When the changes take effectThe new rules for determining the criticality of enterprises will come into effect on December 1, 2024. From this moment, all critical enterprises will have to confirm their status againbut according to the new criteria.
This requirement applies to all companies, regardless of when they last confirmed their criticality status or until what date it will be in effect. Enterprises will have 3 months for this – until February 28, 2025.
In practice, this means that workers will remain booked until the end of February next year. However, if the company is unable to confirm its criticality according to the new rules, then the employees will lose their reservation as early as March 1, 2025.