https://doi.org/10.33573/ujoh2025.01.48
State Labor Service of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
Full article (PDF), UKR
Introduction.
Each country seeks to present itself as an independent, social, and legal state. Ukraine, in its aspiration to join influential international organizations such as the European Union, must build a stable economic system and strengthen the social protection of working citizens, including their right to insurance payments in cases of temporary disability or confirmed chronic occupational disease. The protection of workers life and health is one of the key priorities of social policy. This directly influences their adaptation to a constantly evolving economic environment. Article 49 of the Constitution of Ukraine recognizes the right to health care as a natural, inalienable, and inviolable right. The state is accountable to both present and future generations for the health of the population and must prioritize healthcare, occupational safety, education, leisure, environmental protection, medical services, and healthy lifestyles. A critical component of this system is mandatory state social insurance in cases of workers’ temporary disability. However, numerous practical challenges remain in implementing these rights – particularly regarding employer access to financing for sick leave payments. The process of financing, making insurance payments for occupational diseases, and coordinating between healthcare institutions and territorial bodies of the Pension Fund of Ukraine has improved in recent years due to digitalization. Still, legal inconsistencies persist.
Purpose of the study.
To identify legal challenges associated with employer applications for financing temporary disability (sick leave) of workers due to illness or chronic occupational disease over the past several years.
Materials and methods.
The study analyzed refusals by the Pension Fund of Ukraine to finance sick leaves in 2023–2024. Sources included publicly available data from the State Labor Service, the Unified State Register of Court Decisions (USRCD), and open Internet sources. Standard analytical methods (abstraction, concretization, analysis, synthesis) were applied.
Results
To address the common problems associated with refusals to finance sick leave and to clarify the role of insurance payments, a number of regulatory changes are required. First, it is necessary to abandon the practice of rejecting employer applications for sick leave financing based on the partial non-payment of social security contributions during exceptional periods such as the COVID-19 pandemic or wartime. A legal mechanism should be introduced to ensure that unpaid contributions from those periods are not considered valid grounds for refusal by the territorial bodies of the Pension Fund of Ukraine. Additionally, procedures must be implemented to guarantee that recent social security contributions are correctly credited to the current insurance period of employees. This requires a review of how employer applications and related calculations for sick leave financing are processed, with an emphasis on ensuring that contributions are appropriately applied. It is also essential to revise the procedures concerning the cancellation or revision of chronic occupational disease diagnoses, in order to prevent arbitrary withdrawal of insurance entitlements. Legislative amendments are needed to reinforce the legal guarantees of social protection for employees in the event of temporary disability or the confirmation of an occupational disease. Further research should be directed at developing practical mechanisms to uphold the rights of insured individuals and ensure their full access to social security benefits under these circumstances.
Conclusions.
There is no unified legal mechanism regulating the rejection of financing for workers’ sick leave based on unpaid social contributions during the COVID-19 pandemic or wartime. Employer applications for such financing should not be automatically rejected by territorial bodies of the Pension Fund of Ukraine. From early 2023 through the end
of 2024, the number of employer complaints to administrative courts regarding these rejections has significantly increased. Territorial bodies of the Pension Fund of Ukraine may cancel insurance payments in cases where a specialized occupational pathology institution revokes a previous diagnosis of chronic occupational disease (e.g., occupational poisoning). However, such withdrawals by medical institutions do not constitute a legal basis for retroactive cancellation of insurance payments to insured individuals.
Keywords: sick leave, temporary disability, state social insurance, chronic occupational disease, mandatory insurance
Referenсes
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