Antidiscrimination changes in the Labour Code

On 12 November 2015, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Law on changes to the Labour Code of Ukraine in relation to harmonization of legislation in areas of prevention and combating discrimination with the EU legislation.

In accordance with the changes, any discrimination in labour, in particular breach of the principle of equal rights and opportunities, direct or indirect restriction of rights of employees due to their race, colour of skin, political, religious and other beliefs, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnic, social and foreign background, age, state of health, disability, suspected presence of HIV/AIDS, family and property status, family responsibilities, location, membership in trade union or other association of citizens, participation in strike, appeal or intention to appeal to the courts or other authorities to protect their rights or support of other workers in defending their rights, linguistic or other grounds not related to the nature of the work or the context of its performance, shall be prohibited.

The Law became effective on 26 November 2015.