Employee Reservations Under Threat: All Criticality Decisions Will Be Reset by September 1

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has published the high-profile Resolution No. 692, which introduced significant changes to the basic Resolution No. 76 regarding the procedure for reserving conscripted employees. As previously reported by the "Judicial and Legal Newspaper", the changes aim to strengthen control over the reservation process, digitize inspections, and establish new economic criteria for enterprises claiming critical status.

The new government decision is primarily aimed at identifying and excluding business entities that use the reservation mechanism solely to avoid mobilization without fulfilling an important function for the state economy.

Economic Justification for Reservation

One of the most important changes is the establishment of a mandatory salary level for reserved employees. According to the updated paragraph 8 of the Procedure, employees of critically important enterprises and institutions, with certain exceptions, must receive a monthly salary throughout the deferment period of no less than the minimum wage multiplied by a factor of 3. As of today, this amounts to UAH 25,941.

For enterprises operating in territories of possible or active hostilities, according to the Ministry of Development's list, a lower threshold is set — a factor of 2.5.

The requirement for increased salary does not apply to state and municipal enterprises, Diia City institutions, religious organizations, energy producers whose capacities were damaged by aggression, as well as gas distribution system operators and fuel and energy complex enterprises with 100% state ownership.

Important: the provisions regarding the increase of coefficients come into force on September 1, 2026.

Annulment of Previously Adopted Decisions

Additionally, the Government has planned a review of the statuses of critically important enterprises.

All decisions recognizing enterprises as critically important, adopted before May 30, 2026, remain valid until the end of their specified term, but no longer than September 1, 2026.

Authorized state bodies must review sectoral and regional criteria for defining critically important enterprises to ensure their objectivity, relevance, and proper justification by June 10, 2026.

If the critically important status was granted based on a criterion that is excluded following the review of sectoral criteria, the respective decision must be canceled by July 1, 2026.

The comprehensive review is planned to be completed by September 1, 2026. Authorities must complete the verification of all previously adopted decisions regarding granting critically important enterprise status and bring them into compliance with updated requirements.

As a result, by September 1, 2026, all enterprises with critically important status must undergo verification for compliance with updated criteria, otherwise their status may be lost.

Employee Accounting and Responsibility for Exceeding Reservation Limits

From September 1, 2026, conscripted employees who have deferment from mobilization on grounds other than reservation under Article 23 of the Law of Ukraine "On Mobilization Preparation and Mobilization," as well as employees working part-time, will be counted in the total number of conscripted employees only at one workplace. This aims to prevent double counting of such persons when determining reservation quotas.

The government also strengthens control over compliance with established employee reservation limits, which generally should not exceed 50% of the enterprise's conscripted employees.

In case of exceeding the allowed quota, the enterprise head is obliged to submit an application through the Diia Portal within 10 working days to cancel the reservation of employees exceeding the established limit.

Important: exceeding established limits is now an independent ground for revoking the critically important enterprise status.

Any excess of the established limit, including due to personnel record errors or untimely reflection of employee dismissals, may lead to loss of critically important enterprise status.

Thus, enterprises must constantly monitor the number of reserved employees and promptly respond to any changes to avoid losing critically important status and the associated personnel reservation opportunities.

For most enterprises, maintaining the right to reservation will be directly linked to ensuring an average salary level of no less than three times the minimum wage.

By August 1, 2026, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, and the Pension Fund of Ukraine must ensure integration of information systems for automatic control of salary levels, employee numbers, and compliance with established reservation limits.

Due to the review of sectoral and regional criteria by June 10, 2026, a significant number of enterprises may lose grounds for retaining such status already during the interim review by July 1.

Enterprises need to promptly assess compliance with updated requirements and, if necessary, submit new documents to confirm criticality during July-August 2026 to avoid termination of status after September 1.

Businesses have limited time to adapt to new requirements, particularly regarding salary levels, compliance with reservation quotas, and confirmation of compliance with updated sectoral criteria.

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