Ukrainian Employers Face Liability for Employees Who Evade Mobilization

Managers of public and private enterprises in Ukraine are obliged to report the data of employees who try to avoid draft and mobilization registration with the Territorial Center for Recruitment and Social Support (TSC), with possible administrative fines or criminal penalties if they don’t comply.

The military currently has an electronic register of persons liable for military service called Oberig, which shows where a Ukrainian is registered for military service and where he or she is actually located, spokesperson for the Land Forces Command Volodymyr Fitio said.

“For example, a citizen was registered in Kyiv, but now he is working in Lviv, because the tax on his salary – personal income tax – is paid to the Lychakiv district of Lviv,” said Fitio.

Accordingly, the military would then turn directly to the owner of the company where the evader of mobilization works: “The owner of a company, in any form of ownership, would be notified that this citizen needs to come to the Lychakiv TSC of Lviv,” Fitio said.

The head of the enterprise will be obliged to personally deliver the person to the military commissariat, the spokesperson said.

Kyiv Post sources in the TSC confirmed this information and said that the employer could be subject to an administrative fine if they don’t comply.

Kateryna Kondratenko, a Ukrainian lawyer, told Kyiv Post that the legislation makes the employer responsible for the employee and makes the employer liable under the current law.

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“Whether it is criminal or administrative [liability], and which article charges would be made under depends on the actions of the [employer],” Kondratenko said.

Upon hiring an employee, the employer should receive a relevant military registration document from the employee. The employer must then check for the presence of a mark of military registration with the Military Registration and Enlistment Committee, the Security Service of Ukraine or the Foreign Intelligence Service.

The law stipulates that a person liable for military service has seven days to register with the new military registration and enlistment office at the place of residence or employment when changing his or her place of residence. If they fail to do so, it may be considered evasion of registration.

In addition, Fitio said that representatives of housing offices and condominiums can legally serve summons, as well as village heads, starostas [a town or village administrative official] and representatives of territorial communities.

“These are the persons who can serve calls to persons liable for military service to report to their TSC to undergo a medical examination and clarify their military registration data,” Fitio said.