Termination of Employment via the “Diia” Portal
Due to the war, employees and employers are not always able to meet in person to address work-related matters, including termination of employment. To simplify this procedure for businesses located close to the front line, the government has enabled termination of employment via the “Diia”portal.
A mechanism for remote termination of employment relationships via the “Diia” portal was approved by Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers No. 410 of April 1, 2026. However, not everyone will be able to take advantage of this option. It is provided solely for companies that are registered and/or located in temporarily occupied territories or in active combat zones. The Resolution will enter into force on July 7 of this year. All necessary legislative documents for the implementation of this pilot project have been adopted, however, the service developers still need to finalize its functionality.
Who Can Use This Option
First of all, it should be noted that remote termination of an employment contract will be possible not only via the “Diia”, but also through the Unified Information and Analytical System “Obrii”.
Employees whose employers are registered in combat zones or in territories that are temporarily occupied by Russia have the right to terminate an employment contract at their own initiative pursuant to part 1 of article 38 of the Labour Code of Ukraine or part 1 of article 39 of the Labour Code of Ukraine. To do so, they must submit an appropriate application in electronic form via one of those platforms (“Obrii” or “Diia”). It should be noted that this option cannot be applied for employment termination of heads of enterprises, institutions, or organizations regardless of the form of ownership, or persons holding elected offices.
What Needs to Be Done
To submit an application in electronic form, an employee must create a personal user account on the “Diia” portal or install the mobile application, complete the application form, and sign it using the “Diia.Signature” (“Diia ID”) or an advanced electronic signature. The application is submitted in free form, but it must contain information about the employee submitting an application, the employer, as well as references to the provisions of the Labor Code of Ukraine under which the employment contract is terminated (as specified above).
All information provided in the application is automatically verified against the information from the relevant state registers. If the information in the application is incomplete or does not match the data in the registers, the application cannot be completed. Then the employee receives a notification stating the reasons why the application cannot proceed further. Once the reasons have been addressed, the employee may draw up and submit the application again. Please note that no amendments can be made to an application once it has been submitted and signed.
Termination of an Employment Contract
The date of termination of an employment contract at the employee’s initiative is the day following the date of registration of the application in the Unified System. The employer’s consent or issuance of an order is not required. The employee submitting a resignation application receives a notification of registration via the “Diia” portal and, where technically feasible, via the “Diia” mobile application, on the date the application is registered in the Unified System.
The employer receives a notification by email and in their “Diia” account on the day of registration of the application. The Pension Fund of Ukraine also receives information on the termination of the employment contract, indicating the date and grounds for termination, on the same day.
As for the final settlement and issuance of the employment record book, these actions differ from the standard ones. Specifically, the employer is obliged to make final settlement with the employee (without providing the employee with a copy of the termination order) no later than the next business day after the employee with whom employment relationships are terminated submits a written request following the cessation of active hostilities and/or the re-registration of the employer in another region of Ukraine. Within the same period, the employer is also obliged to issue the employment record book (provided it is kept by the employer). If access to the employment record book is unavailable or it has been lost, the employer must issue a duplicate employment record book to the employee.
To sum up:
- the mechanism enables the termination of the employment contract without direct contact with the employer;
- the employer’s consent and issuance of an order are not required;
- employment relations are terminated on the day following registration of the application;
- information on dismissal is automatically transferred to the Pension Fund of Ukraine and other registers;
- the employer is still obliged to settle all outstanding amounts and issue the employment record book, but this obligation must be fulfilled after de-occupation or resumption of operations.
This initiative is practical and necessary, so there is hope that after the initial phase with a limited group of users, this option will be made available to a broader range of businesses.
Natalia Shcherbak, Accounting and Tax Consultant