Court decided whether a sole proprietor with a disability is counted towards the employment quota for persons with disabilities
The Chernivtsi District Administrative Court reviewed case No. 600/1938/25-а filed by the Chernivtsi Regional Branch of the Social Protection Fund for Persons with Disabilities against a sole proprietor regarding the imposition of administrative-economic sanctions and penalties for alleged non-fulfillment of the employment quota for persons with disabilities in 2024. The court examined whether there were legal grounds for imposing sanctions and whether the fact of the employer's violation of the law was proven.
Case circumstances
The Chernivtsi Regional Branch of the Social Protection Fund for Persons with Disabilities filed a claim demanding the imposition of administrative-economic sanctions on the sole proprietor in the amount of UAH 83,785.71 and a penalty of UAH 384.27.
The basis for the claim was a calculation prepared by the Fund, according to which the entrepreneur did not fulfill the employment quota for persons with disabilities for 2024. According to the calculation, the average number of employees was 21, while the number of employed persons with disabilities was determined to be zero, leading the Fund to conclude that one required workplace remained unfilled.
The entrepreneur contested the claim, stating that he himself is a person with a disability of group III. In his opinion, this circumstance should have been taken into account when determining compliance with the quota, since a sole proprietor with a disability who employs hired workers is, according to the law, included in the count of employed persons with disabilities. Therefore, the employment quota in his case was fulfilled, and the Fund's calculation was erroneous.
Court's position
The court analyzed the provisions of the Law of Ukraine "On the Fundamentals of Social Protection of Persons with Disabilities in Ukraine," the Law "On Employment of the Population," and subordinate regulatory acts and concluded that the claim should be dismissed.
The court noted that following legislative changes, inspections regarding employers' compliance with the employment quota for persons with disabilities fall within the authority of the State Labor Service. The information obtained by the Fund from the Pension Fund about possible violations is only a basis for conducting the relevant inspection.
The case materials did not contain evidence that the Fund forwarded information about the possible violation to the State Labor Service or that the State Labor Service conducted an inspection and established the fact of non-fulfillment of the employment quota for persons with disabilities by the defendant for 2024.
The court emphasized that administrative-economic sanctions are a measure of liability for violations in the economic sphere. Such sanctions cannot be applied solely based on data from information databases without proper establishment of the violation fact and without clarifying the presence of an offense.
Additionally, the court established that the entrepreneur has been a person with a group III disability since July 2022. According to the Instruction on filling out report form No. 10-POI and the Procedure for sending calculations of administrative-economic sanctions, a person with a disability who employs hired workers increases the count of employed persons with disabilities by one.
Based on a systematic analysis of these norms, the court concluded that a person with a disability who employs hired workers is included in the employment quota for persons with disabilities and is equivalent to one employed person with a disability. Therefore, the circumstances presented by the defendant indicated no grounds to conclude non-fulfillment of the quota.
Conclusions
The court took into account the legal position of the Supreme Court set out in case No. 400/3957/21, according to which the State Labor Service is authorized to verify compliance with the employment quota for persons with disabilities, and the obligation to pay administrative-economic sanctions arises only after confirmation of the violation based on such inspection results.
The Chernivtsi District Administrative Court noted that the Fund prematurely filed the claim without having evidence of non-fulfillment of the employment quota for persons with disabilities established by an inspection act of the State Labor Service.
The court also rejected the plaintiff's argument that in martial law conditions, the absence of an inspection does not affect the possibility of imposing sanctions. According to the court, even under such conditions, the requirements of Article 19 of Law No. 875-XII regarding the necessity to establish the fact of violation remain in force.
Given the lack of proper evidence of violation and considering that the entrepreneur is a person with a disability and should be counted when determining compliance with the quota, the court concluded that the claim was unfounded.
As a result, the court fully dismissed the claim of the Chernivtsi Regional Branch of the Social Protection Fund for Persons with Disabilities regarding the imposition of administrative-economic sanctions and penalties.
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