Failure to perform labor duties excludes grounds for wage recovery — court
The Kherson Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the Novovorontsovka District Court of Kherson Region dated 20.02.2026, which denied the employee's claim against the State Enterprise "Forests of Ukraine" represented by the branch "Southern Forest Fund" for the recovery of unpaid wages. This was reported by the Kherson Court of Appeal.
The plaintiff requested the recovery of wage arrears for the period from July 2024 to June 2025, arguing that after the cancellation of the order suspending the employment contract, the employment relationship with him was restored, but the salary was not paid.
The court took into account that by the decision of the Novovorontsovka District Court of Kherson Region dated 13.11.2024 in case No. 954/276/24, which was upheld by the Kherson Court of Appeal on 12.03.2025, the order suspending the employment contract with the plaintiff was declared illegal and canceled, and the employment contract was reinstated from January 1, 2024. However, after the cancellation of this order, the plaintiff did not resume performing his job duties.
The panel of judges noted that according to the time sheets for the disputed period, the plaintiff's surname was marked daily with "NZ" — absence for unclear reasons, and the number of days worked was "0". Additionally, the defendant provided reports and memos about the employee's absence from work, certificates from the local government authority, data on the plaintiff's registration as an internally displaced person, as well as evidence of sending him official correspondence.
The appellate court reasoned that according to part 3 of article 43 of the Constitution of Ukraine, everyone has the right to a wage not lower than that established by law. At the same time, according to part 1 of article 94 of the Labor Code of Ukraine and part 1 of article 1 of the Law of Ukraine "On Remuneration of Labor," wages are a reward that the employer pays the employee specifically for the work performed.
The court also referred to article 139 of the Labor Code of Ukraine, which imposes on the employee the obligation to conscientiously perform labor duties and comply with labor and technological discipline, as well as article 115 of the Labor Code of Ukraine, which defines the procedure and terms of wage payment.
It was also important for resolving the dispute that by the order dated 30.06.2025, the plaintiff was dismissed under paragraph 8-3 part 1 of article 36 of the Labor Code of Ukraine — due to absence from work and lack of information about the reasons for such absence for more than four consecutive months. This order was not challenged by the plaintiff and remained in force.
The panel of judges noted that the arguments of the appeal essentially boiled down to the plaintiff's disagreement with the evaluation of evidence but did not refute the courts' established fact of his failure to perform labor duties during the disputed period.
Therefore, the Kherson Court of Appeal (ruling dated 11.05.2026 in case No. 954/1396/25) dismissed the appeal and left the decision of the Novovorontsovka District Court of Kherson Region dated 20.02.2026 unchanged.
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