Application of Labor Law Norms under Martial Law: Review of the Practice of the Supreme Court's Civil Cassation Court
The Supreme Court published a review of the legal conclusions of the Supreme Court’s Civil Cassation Court regarding the application of labor law norms under martial law for the period from 2023 to April 2026.
The main focus is on the criteria for the legality of changing essential working conditions and suspending the employment contract, particularly through the lens of determining the absolute impossibility of providing and performing work by both parties.
The review analyzes the Supreme Court’s approaches to resolving disputes concerning the legality of transferring employees without their consent to eliminate the consequences of hostilities, as well as the legal consequences of refusal to work due to changes in the official location of the enterprise or workplace.
Separate sections of the publication are devoted to the specifics of terminating an employment contract at the employer’s initiative during illness or vacation, dismissal due to loss of trust, and the specifics of applying paragraph 6 of part 1 of article 41 of the Labor Code of Ukraine in connection with the impossibility of providing work.
The review highlights legal positions regarding social and labor guarantees for mobilized employees, medical workers, and educators, as well as issues of wage payment under occupation or when an employee is in an active combat zone.
Significant attention is paid to compensation for moral damage caused by the death of an employee as a result of armed aggression, and the distribution of responsibility for such payments between the owner and the occupying state. Procedural aspects are also considered, including the burden of proof of the legality of dismissal or transfer according to international standards (ILO Convention No. 158 on Termination of Employment at the Initiative of the Employer, 1982), and valid reasons for missing court filing deadlines under quarantine and war conditions.
The review forms a comprehensive understanding of current judicial practice under martial law and serves as a guide to ensure uniform, consistent, and predictable law enforcement in labor disputes.
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