The law on regulating the conditions of remote and home-based work is passed
On February 04, 2021, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Law "On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts Regarding Improvement of the Legal Regulation of Distance Work". Taking into account the relevance of this type of labor relations in view of quarantine measures, the legislator in this draft regulates the issues of distant and home-based work with relevant amendments to the Labor Code of Ukraine and the Law of Ukraine "On Labor Protection".
First of all, the legislator defines the concepts of "home-based work" and "remote work:
- home-based work is a form of labor organization when the work is performed by an employee at his or her place of residence or in other designated premises, characterized by the presence of the assigned area, technical means (basic production and non-production funds, tools, devices, inventory) or their totality, necessary for the production of products, services, works or functions provided for by the constituent documents, but outside the production or work premises of the owner of the enterprise, institution, organization
- remote work is a form of work organization in which the work is performed by the employee outside the working premises or territory of the owner or its authorized body, in any place chosen by the employee, and using information and communication technologies.
The main difference between the above activities lies in the way they are organized:
- home-based work obliges employees to adhere to the general mode of work of the enterprise, institution, and organization unless otherwise provided in the employment contract, and the workplace of the employee is fixed and cannot be changed at the initiative of the employee without the consent of the owner or its authorized body in the order determined by the employment contract on home-based work. At the same time, the duration of the working hours may not exceed the norms established by the Labor Code of Ukraine.
- remote work allows the employee to distribute the working time at his own discretion and is not subject to the rules of internal labor regulations unless otherwise specified in the employment contract, and he also independently determines the workplace and is responsible for ensuring safe and harmless working conditions in it. At the same time, the total duration of working hours may not exceed the norms provided by the Labor Code of Ukraine.
