Photo: RBC
A draft Ukrainian government resolution on military reservation could create a risk of discrimination against employees who already have legal grounds for deferment from mobilization, MP Oleksandr Fediyenko warned in a Facebook post.
Under the current version of Cabinet Resolution No. 76, employees who have deferments under Article 23 of Ukraine’s mobilization law are included in the total number of military-liable employees for quota calculations at only one workplace.
The proposed amendments would exclude these employees from the workforce base used to calculate the number of staff a company can reserve from mobilization.
Fediyenko warned that the change could make employees with personal deferments less attractive to employers seeking to reserve as many other workers as possible.
He said the proposal could create a cascading effect, potentially leading to dismissals, a loss of skilled workers and disruptions at companies responsible for maintaining critical infrastructure.
Risks for workers with deferments
Fediyenko warned that the proposed changes could encourage discriminatory treatment of employees who have legal grounds for deferment, including parents of multiple children, students and other eligible categories.
He argued that the government should instead strengthen enforcement of existing rules and introduce tougher penalties for violations. As one possible measure, he suggested automatically revoking a company’s critical-status designation if violations are discovered.
The lawmaker also questioned whether the government had assessed the potential social and economic consequences of excluding employees with personal deferments from the calculation base used to determine reservation quotas.
What could change under the draft
Cabinet Resolution No. 76 governs the reservation of military-liable employees at companies and organizations designated as critical to the economy, public services or the needs of Ukraine’s Defense Forces.
The number of employees a company can reserve depends on government criteria and the calculation of its total number of military-liable workers.
The government is considering broader changes to the system, including reductions in reservation quotas for certain sectors and a revised method for calculating the workforce base. According to RBC-Ukraine, the final decision on the proposed quotas had not yet been agreed upon at the time of its report.
The proposals have prompted concerns among businesses and industry representatives over the potential loss of essential personnel. The government has yet to finalize the changes.
