More and more Ukrainians working on the black

Illegal employment is becoming more widespread in Ukraine. Employers don’t want to make the payments required from official pay, while Ukrainians are looking for work whatever the conditions.

In the first quarter of the year alone, 10 criminal investigations were initiated in Lviv against employers who were refusing to officially employ their staff and fill out all the necessary documents. Such infringements are most common in the food and drink industry, small retailers, hairdressers and carwash services. In virtually every establishment checked by the relevant authority, there were people working without the proper documents. Nor is Lviv an exception, according to the Head of the Centre for Public Advocacy, Leonid Tarasenko. He says that due to the difficult economic climate people do not think about contractual relations, with employers abusing this situation.  The biggest problem is that people do this voluntarily, even though without any contract or other documents, they have virtually no chance of redress from the courts. Leonid Tarasenko says that the problem is of the government’s making since small business owners are trying to avoid prohibitively high payments. “The deductions to the Pension Fund and tax costs on pay are among the highest in Europe coming to around 35 percent of the entire salary”.

People often fall victims to crooks when, after doing their probation period, they don’t get paid, even though the law requires that a person be paid for this period. Leonid Tarasenko says that students are the most vulnerable, but practice shows that Ukrainians are generally unaware of their rights, regardless of age.