Whereas, the Law of Ukraine No. 530-IX “On amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine aimed at the prevention of occurrence and spread of coronavirus (COVID-19)” implies the following innovations:
- The employer has been given the right to allow its employees to work from home, as well as the right to change the work pattern of enterprises subject to notification of the public through the website or other channels of communication.
- It has been introduced the possibility to provide a leave without preserving salary for the entire period of quarantine at the request of the employee. Such leave shall not be included into the general period of leave without preserving salary.
- For the period of quarantine, the terms of administrative services and the terms of applying for such services have been suspended.
- The quarantine is attributed to the force majeure events. This means that a party to the agreement may be released from liabilities for improper performance of its obligations if it is caused by the quarantine. We would like to draw your attention to the fact that since banks operate in regular mode and the introduction of preventive measures and restrictions during quarantine does not explicitly forbid IT companies to rent offices and use them for the intended purpose, there are no sufficient grounds for exemption from paying a rent. Thus, companies striving to optimize their costs shall address all financial issues by negotiating with their landlords and other contractors.
- There has been introduced a ban on carrying out planned control measures in the field of economic activity for the period of quarantine.
- There has been introduced an administrative responsibility for violation of quarantine rules, as well as criminal responsibility for violation of sanitary rules and norms for prevention of infectious diseases, namely:
- administrative: for violation of the rules on quarantine of people, sanitary and hygienic, sanitary and anti-epidemic rules and norms stipulated by the law, decisions of local self-government bodies, is imposed a fine in the amount of: for citizens – from UAH 17,000 to UAH 34,000, and for the officials – from UAH 34,000 to UAH 170,000;
- criminal: for violation of rules and norms established for the prevention of epidemic and other infectious diseases, as well as mass noncommunicable diseases (poisonings), if such actions could have caused or caused spread of infectious diseases is imposed a fine in the amount from UAH 17,000 to UAH 51,000 or arrest for six months, or restraint or imprisonment to three years. If these actions have caused harsh consequences, an imprisonment from 5 to 8 years will be applied as a punishment.
