From Which Day Is the Three-Month Period for Filing a Lawsuit in Disputes Regarding Payments After Dismissal from Service Calculated – Supreme Court's Answer
In a dispute concerning the payment of all amounts due to a person upon dismissal, the three-month period for filing a lawsuit, as defined in part 2 of Article 233 of the Labor Code of Ukraine, begins from the day the employee receives a written notification about the amounts accrued and paid upon dismissal. At the same time, the absence of complete information in such a document about the calculation mechanism of certain components of monetary compensation does not mean that the period is unlimited and starts only after receiving a response to a lawyer's inquiry or another information request. The person must act in good faith and actively exercise their right to judicial protection, and the time needed to obtain additional information is included in the overall three-month period for filing a lawsuit.
This conclusion was made by the Administrative Cassation Court within the Supreme Court.
The plaintiff, dismissed from the civil protection service, filed a lawsuit to recognize the inaction of the emergency rescue unit of the State Emergency Service regarding the non-accrual and non-payment of monetary compensation in the proper amount as unlawful, as well as to recalculate it for the period from January 1, 2020, to May 19, 2023. The plaintiff indicated that he learned about the application of an incorrect calculation mechanism for monetary compensation only after receiving a response to a lawyer's inquiry and therefore believed that the three-month period for filing a lawsuit should be calculated from that moment.
The court of first instance dismissed the claim in part for the period from July 19, 2022, to May 19, 2023, due to the plaintiff missing the deadline for filing a lawsuit. The appellate court agreed with this conclusion.
The Supreme Court dismissed the cassation appeal and left the decisions of the lower courts unchanged.
The Supreme Court noted that according to part 2 of Article 233 of the Labor Code of Ukraine, in cases concerning the payment of all amounts due to an employee upon dismissal, a claim may be filed within three months from the day of receiving a written notification about the amounts accrued and paid upon dismissal.
The court drew attention to the ruling of the chamber of the Administrative Cassation Court dated March 21, 2025, in case No. 460/21394/23, which established a unified approach to applying part 2 of Article 233 of the Labor Code of Ukraine. According to this legal position, the start of the period for filing a lawsuit is linked to the moment when the person received reliable and documented information about the volume and nature of the amounts paid.
At the same time, the Supreme Court emphasized that this legal position cannot be interpreted broadly. If, after receiving the written notification about the calculation made, the person believes that additional information is necessary to assess the correctness of the accruals, they must timely take measures to obtain it. Previous judicial practice does not grant the person the right to refrain from any actions for an unlimited time and then, after sending an information request, effectively start a new three-month period for filing a lawsuit.
The Supreme Court thoroughly analyzed the legal nature of the monetary certificate, referring to the Instruction approved by the order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine dated July 20, 2018, No. 623, and noted that this document is a written notification about the amounts accrued and paid to the person upon dismissal within the meaning of part 2 of Article 233 of the Labor Code of Ukraine. At the same time, the regulatory framework does not require including a detailed calculation of all components of monetary compensation or information about the applied calculation mechanism in the monetary certificate.
Developing its own practice, the Supreme Court formulated an important conclusion: the three-month period for filing a lawsuit covers the period from the day of receiving the monetary certificate to the performance by the person of legally significant actions aimed at obtaining the necessary information, such as submitting a request and receiving a response to it. In other words, in part 2 of Article 233 of the Labor Code of Ukraine, the legislator defined a three-month period during which the dismissed person has the right to take measures to obtain the necessary information related to remuneration and, if necessary, apply to the court.
In this case, the courts established that the plaintiff received the monetary certificate on March 4, 2025, but submitted a request for additional information only after more than five months, without providing any objective reasons for such a long delay. Under these circumstances, the Supreme Court agreed with the conclusions of the lower courts about the missed deadline for filing a lawsuit and the absence of valid reasons for its restoration.
The ruling of the Administrative Cassation Court of the Supreme Court dated June 25, 2026, in case No. 520/25416/25 (proceeding No. K/990/2712/26) can be found at this link.
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