Will maternity leave be shortened in Ukraine? Changes for workers with children

About what to expect in case of its adoption, writes Soсportal.

Will maternity leave be reduced?

The Ministry of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture of Ukraine has denied the information circulated in the media that the "maternity" leave under the new Labour Code will be 4 months instead of the 3 years provided for now. The ministry claims that "the draft does not reduce the scope of guarantees for families". That is, the three-year leave is not cancelled. Instead, a new right is provided - paid parental leave for both parents.

Now the mother of the child is entitled to maternity leave. This is 126 days (140 in case of complications in childbirth) - 2 months before and 2 months after childbirth, tied to the salary and paid as "sick leave". After that, a woman is entitled to childcare leave for a child up to 3 years of age. It is unpaid and provides only universal support that is not linked to the parents' salary level. It is "Packing the baby", 50 thousand UAH lump sum at birth and 7 thousand UAH until the child reaches one year of age. From one year old to three years old can day. If the child has a disability, the payments are higher. Part of these rights can be used by the father or other family members. Families began to receive such payments from 1 January this year. Before that, the child allowance was UAH 10 thousand one-time and UAH 860 monthly until the child reached 3 years of age.

According to the draft of the new Labour Code, the family will also be entitled to payments for 4 months, tied to the salary. This right can be used both immediately and within 8 years from the birth of the child. Moreover, the family shares it equally. That is, the father must be on care leave for 2 months.

Each parent has an individual right to 2 months of such leave. A single mother or a single parent retains the right to 4 months of paid leave," reads the Ministry of Economy.

This approach is in line with the practices of the European Union and is designed to reduce discrimination against women in the workplace, as employees or female employees can go on "maternity leave" regardless of gender.

Also, as Yana Simutina, Doctor of Law, professor and national expert of the Council of Europe, notes on her Facebook page, the norm on the accrual of unified social tax during the "maternity leave" is preserved. That is, the three-year period is counted in the insurance record, which then affects the accrual of pension.

The draft Labour Code does not change the current legislation in the field of compulsory state social insurance, - says Yana Simutina.

Recall that in 2028, both women and men will need to have at least 35 years of service to retire at 60.

In what rights will be cut back

However, the Ministry of Economy's assertion that guarantees for families will be fully preserved is not true.

The draft contains [...] a ban on dismissal of workers with children under one and a half years old," the ministry says.

Now this prohibition applies to workers with children under 3 years old. That is, in fact, the draft Labour Code halves the period during which the mother of a young child is protected from being released. In practice, this may encourage women not to leave by the time the child reaches 3 years of age. After all, a paradoxical situation will arise - while on "maternity leave" it is prohibited to dismiss, but when going to work it is allowed.

The draft Labour Code also contains other narrowing of the rights of workers and workers with children, said the lawyer of NGO "Social Rukh" Vitaly Dudin on the air "Suspilny".

There are other threats that can directly narrow the rights of workers, especially women. It is connected with the defence of liberation - it cuts in. It is connected with involvement in overtime work, which will be more difficult to get rid of, even if you have children. There are some other deteriorations concerning the right to combine family and work responsibilities. For example, with regard to so-called flexible forms of work," says the lawyer.

According to him, if now employees or workers with children up to 3 years old have the priority right to remote work, the draft Labour Code again narrows this norm until the child reaches 1.5 years old.

Taken together, such changes may contradict the policy of recent years, the main goal of which is to attract women to the labour market as much as possible in conditions of labour shortage.

How the "decree" changed in Ukraine

The three-year "decree" familiar to Ukraine was introduced in 1989, at the end of the Soviet Union, and in the context of economic crisis and high unemployment. Therefore, at that time, it was expedient to remove women from the labour market as much as possible. Formally, this period was paid, but due to the ultra-high inflation of the 80-90s, the payments became symbolic. They were finally abolished in 2014. After that, families with children received only maternity payments (126 days) and child allowance - 40 thousand UAH, of which 10 thousand UAH were paid one-time and 860 UAH monthly for 3 years. As indicated, from 2026, the amounts are UAH 50 thousand one-time and UAH 7 thousand until the child reaches one year of age. Further payments are related to the employment of women and are a direct mechanism to incentivise them to go to work. The Draft Labour Code promises to add 4 more paid months - 2 for each parent.

This approach is in line with EU practices, where leave is shorter but paid. Also, bringing women back into the labour market reduces the risks of family poverty, the gender pay gap, and their dependence on other family members. However, the key condition in such a case becomes, firstly, accessible infrastructure, especially day-care centres, and secondly, greater flexibility and protection for mothers in the workplace. This is where the draft Labour Code fails.

Historical background

Maternity leave appeared in 1917 thanks to one of the first decrees of the Soviet power. Therefore, in post-Soviet countries, this leave is called "decree". It, as now, was 126 days. That is, it was assumed that after the child reached 2 months, a woman could give him to the nursery and go to work. In 1956 another 3 months were added, in 1968 the leave was increased to 1 year, in 1982 to 1.5 years and finally to 3 years in 1989.

In addition to the need to bring women into the labour market, the length of parental leave is also closely linked to social norms and perceptions of motherhood. While at the beginning of the twentieth century the notion of childcare outside the family was virtually non-existent and high child mortality was perceived rather as the norm, the period of Soviet industrialisation was dominated by "cold care" with general coverage of children in state institutions without much alternative. During the period of stagnation, the need for mass involvement of women in the labour market decreased and the 'decree' increased. And in the 1980s there was added fatigue from the ideal of the "Soviet" woman, the emergence of pseudo-archaic images of "bereginas" and imitation of "Western" practices of intensive motherhood, when the demands for childcare become extremely high and are placed primarily on the mother. The latter, along with economic hardship and falling birth rates, has influenced the devaluation of care infrastructure.

Now Ukraine, on the one hand because of Russian aggression and on the other hand because of the demands of European integration, has to abandon the late Soviet practice of long but effectively unpaid 'maternity leave'. However, because of the much higher modern demands on maternity, it is important to provide flexibility and protection for workers and women employees with children. These are found in the current Labour Code, which generally provides high protection for employees. New progressive norms can be implemented there without completely changing the legislation.