A Hungry Man is an Angry Man

The reference guide “Doing Business in Ukraine”, which was recently published by Frishberg & Partners, paid attention at the fact that the Ukrainian authorities are now increasing their supervision over the activities of foreign commercial entities, particularly representative offices. Their suspicion is that representative offices might be concealing profits earned from “commercial activities”. Therefore, in addition to typical tax dilemmas and currency regulations issues, strict compliance with labor laws also requires close attention on the part of foreign investors. Parliamentary committees are currently considering a Draft Labor Code, whose premise is to provide clearer definitions and significant changes to the provisions governing collective bargaining agreements, leave and labor protection of investors coming to Ukraine.

Vasil Kisil & Partners has accumulated considerable experience in all aspects of labor and employment law, specifically focusing on labor litigation. The lawyers of the firm advise on a wide range of issues of employment law, including employment contracts and agreements, employment permits, labor disputes, and provide general legal support on other labor and employment matters for Ukrainian, foreign and multinational companies. In 2007 the firm’s attorneys advised numerous corporate clients such as Philips Ukraine, NCH Advisors Inc, Danone Ukraine, BASF AG, AICE Ukraine. Oksana Voynarovska, senior associate of the firm, has been mentioned many times as one of the most experienced attorneys specializing in labor and employment law and is highly recommended professional in the field by PLC Which Lawyer? Directory

Konnov & Sozanovsky provides comprehensive legal assistance to national and foreign clients in the most popular business areas of law. The company is actively engaged in providing consultancy on current labor law issues, carrying out audits on compliance with labor legislation and drawing up labor contracts and agreements. Sergei Konnov, Borys Lobovyk, Andrey Nikonenko and Kseniya Koryukalova are among the firm’s leading specialists who also advise on the job placement of non-residents and on the resolving of labor disputes.

Grishenko & Partners practices labor law for its clients and in its practice it advises an international company on the transfer of employees working in Ukraine during acquisition of another foreign company. Dmitri Grischenko is the firm’s leading specialist on labor issues.

Beiten Burkhardt provides services in the field of labor law to fo reign investors and companies operating in Ukraine, which inevitably have to recruit personnel on the local labor market. The firm’s lawyers assist clients with the myriad of rules affecting labor relations and ensure the correct preparation of basic internal organizational and personnel documentation, labor regulations, employment contracts, collective bargaining agreements, and advise on additional issues related to individual and collective labor law, relations to labor unions, analyze documents and comment on the regulations contained in labor legislation. Beiten Burkhardt’s experts also effectively represent and protect the rights and interests of client’s companies in a court or administrative process. Beiten Burkhardt lawyer Denys Vergeles focuses on employment law and other related issues.

In 2007 Arzinger & Partners advised more than 50 Ukrainian and foreign companies on various matters in employer-employee relations, such as planning of restructuring, acquisition of work permits, collective agreements, employment agreements and contracts, residents, dispute resolution as well as due diligence of labor issues for M&A deals. Anna Pogrebna and Evgenia Novichkova are recommended as the firm’s leading specialists in the field of labor law.

Shevchenko Didkovskiy & Partners handles mediation and arbitration and litigates employment disputes before various relevant agencies, including the State Employment Office, State Tax Committee, and Ministry of Labor. The company advised two major international banks on share incentive programs for employees of their Ukrainian subsidiaries. Partners Armen Khachaturyan and Oleksandr Padalka are labor law experts who are highly regarded by their colleagues and received good references for their experience in this area.

Ernst & Young has dealt with a variety of employment related issues, in particular: developing and reviewing internal systems, policies, and documents (including collective bargaining and individual employment agreements); structuring labor relations for globally mobile employees; internal auditing for labor law compliance; advising on other labor law issues (remuneration, vacations, guarantees and benefits to employees) and a wide range of immigration matters (such as procuring work and residency permits). Olga Gorbanovskaya and Halyna Khomenko are the best practitioners of the firm in labor law issues.

Gramatskiy & Partners is well known due to the significant amount of its work experience in the field of labor law. The range of services rendered includes the spectrum of labor relations from the drafting of local acts of a certain enterprise and ending with the making of manpower policy with a look at recent labor market trends in the world. The firm’s clients included firms involved in constructing individual conceptions of manpower policy, like Huawei Technologies and others, which are world leaders in high tech. Artem Pivnenko is the firm’s key specialist in labor law.

The practice of the Jurvneshservice law firm in this field focuses mainly on drafting labor contracts and acquiring work permits. Taras Kulbaba and Anna Tsirat have vast practice of these issues. Frishberg & Partners have extensive experience advising corporate management on all aspects of labor and employment-related matters. Its attorneys advise numerous corporate clients on matters relating to employment law, including: obtaining work permits for foreigners in Ukraine; preparing all the necessary documents and registration of enterprises, which hire foreign citizens; legal support and preparation of documents for acquiring Ukrainian visas and passport documents for foreign employees; structuring relations with company management; drafting employment contracts, collective bargaining agreements, labor instructions; draft corporate profiles for employees during the privatization process and consult clients on compliance with Ukrainian labor legislation and the legislation of foreign countries. In 2007 Pravochin attorneys at law acted as legal adviser in a deal on restoring the general director of Borispol airport. Lawyer Nataliya Pokasova practices labor law for clients and protected their interests in the court. The Inyurpolis law firm provides advice on labor law issues, including labor contracts and work permits; trade union law; employee benefits and compensation; pension law; preparation of internal regulations for employers (collective agreements, rules of internal work schedule, job descriptions, regulations on different aspects of labor relations between employers and employees); dismissal; responsibilities of employers and employees; labor law training programs; employment-related litigation; legal representation of employers during inspections by different regulating government agencies. Partner Sergey Silchenko is the top practitioner in this said field. In 2007 the AstapovLawyers international law group, with associate lawyer Oksana Kneychuk, focused on the legal issues of labor law, namely on handling a deal on restoring the president of the Ukrprofzdravnitsa closed joint stock company.

The Legal Alliance Company provides a broad range of legal ser vices from state registration of legal entities and private entrepreneurs right up to dispute resolution through negotiation, arbitration and litigation and including labor and employment law. The Legal Alliance Company provided legal assistance in developing internal documentation on manpower policy in companies like Shering – Plough Central East AG and Novartis Pharma Services AG. llya Kostin and Artem Bazilevich are considered to be the firm’s labor experts. Salkom renders legal services on various issues regarding labor relations. Alexey Kot and Valeriy Lukomskiy are well recommended by clients and received many references for their labor-related experience.

The Economics and Law Consultants Union headed by Igor Godetskyi legally provided protection to employees who work on the territory of the exclusion zone, teachers and people of poorly protected strata in society in connection with unlawful dismissal.

The ANK law firm was recommended for its experience of labor law issues, especially in account and pensions pay-off; payment of salaries in foreign currency; dismissal of pensioners. Victoria Tarasenko is the leading specialist in the firm’s labor matters.

The Kiev Legal Company practices in various fields of law, including labor relations: consultation on employment law; optimization of the personnel documentation system inside a company; drafting of internal normative documents regulating a company’s activity and the activities of its departments; defense of employer’s rights in the controlling bodies of authorities; resolution of labor disputes in courts. Anna Sova is the senior lawyer of the company recommended by colleagues for her labor experience.