How long should our vacation be?

The employees are a kind of branch of power, because they can influence the behavior of their employers. And as a power in its traditional meaning they aim at limitation of rights in general, and right for vacation in particular.

Article 45 of the Constitution of Ukraine guarantees the right for rest to every employer who works at any institution despite the kind of property for this institution. This right is enforced by providing days for weekly rest, paid yearly vacations and limited working day.

The main and the most longlasting kind of rest is the paid yearly vacation, that helps one to restore his strength for the past working year. The base for the yearly vacation is the certain amount of worked days that is determined by the empoyee and employer, and stated in their labor agreement. Law of Ukraine "About vacation" from November 15, 1996 determines vacation to be 24 days. Young people under 18 are given yearly vacation for 31 days. For some categories of employers the Law foresees other duration of yearly vacation, but in no way it can be less than 24 days.

In this article I want to concentrate my attention on the question how to determine the length for the vacation, because this issue rises many violations from the side of Human resources department. In my point of view, these violations occur due to incorrect understanding of the 5^th article of the Law of Ukraine "About vacations". Despite many additions and explanations to this law that were published in the number of newspapers and magaszines ("Visnyk Podatkovoyi sluzhby Ukrainy", #5, February 2001, page 61; "Uryadoviy kuryer", October 26, 2002 #119; "Nalohy I buhgaletrskiy uchet" January 2002, #6 and other), the practice in the application of this law hasn't changed.

The article 5 of the Law of Ukraine "About vacations" says next: "Holidays and non-working days (list is provided in the article 73 of the Codex of laws on labor") are not counted in the vacation for those who have children". So what can cause the problem? Here is the answer: some employees consider that this article of the Law does not foresee counting holidays and non-working days only for those who have children. When one reads the article correctly, one will see that holidays and non-working days are not counted as vacation days for all employers and for those employers who have the right for additional vacation according to the article 19 of the Law of Ukraine "About vacations". Thus, holidays and non-working days are not counted as vacation for all employers.

For example:

The employer of the organization, institution, firm has a right for yearly 24 days vacation. There are 11 holidays and non-working days in Ukraine. Let's assume that the employer's vacation starts April 20^th, 2002. Thus, the factual duration of his absence at work is 27 calendar days, because holidays for the 1, 2, and 9^th of May are not counted as his vacation (article 5 of the Law of Ukraine "About vacations").

Holidays and non-working days are not counted when determining duration for the yearly vacation on another basis: these days are days for rest for everyone despite the fact that an employer is having his vacation at the moment. Also, part 3 of the 45^th article of the Constitution of Ukraine separates main yearly vacation from holidays. It allows us to make a conclusion that holidays and non-working days can not be included in the yearly vacation, because different kinds of rest are guaranteed by the Main Law of Ukraine.

When Human resources department counts holidays and non-working days as a part of official vacation they undoubtedly shorten duration of the vacation and thus, violate the law and limit the guaranteed right of citizens for vacation.

These numerous violations can lead to administrative fines, if inspectors of the Department of labor and Social protection will check adherence to the norms of law. The fine will be between fine and fifteen exemption limits (255-850 UAH). Dear officials, don't wait for the inspector, because you will have to pay the fine from our own money.

Dear employers, we offer you to write your complaints about violation of your right for vacation to local Department of Labor and Social protection of citizens. Based on the article 255 of the Codex of Ukraine about Administrative violations, they have to protect your labor rights. And you must always remember that protecting YOUR RIGHT you protect your unique personality. Do not doubt if you should or not, because your doubts lead to unpunished arbitrariness of employees.

Oleksandr Trofymov -
student of the National University of Internal Affairs (Kharkiv)