21.02.2022

Employment of people with disabilities: hidden tax and outstaffing as a solution

Every civilized state must support socially vulnerable citizens – this is right and this is good. The problem is that in Ukraine, care and social security consist mainly in shifting this honorable duty onto the shoulders of employers. Stimulation, motivation and other “gingerbread” – these factors Ukrainian employment law practically does not provide, habitually using the method of “whip”. It is easier and cheaper for the state.

This article is about:

  • legal requirements for employment of people with disabilities;
  • high and often inadequate fines for failure to comply with these regulations;
  • outstaffing as an effective and legal solution.

Some statistics. About 2.5 million citizens of Ukraine have a disability, and more than 80% of them (more than 2 million people) are of employment age. Certainly, not all of these people are capable to work. But the majority or up to 2 million people can do some work, ranging from highly intellectual to very simple, thereby fully or partially ensuring their needs.

“To supervise and punish”

In Ukraine, legal entities must comply with the requirements of the current legislation on the employment of persons with disabilities. If the company employs 8 or more people, among them there should be at least one person with the status. For the company of more than 25 employers, the rata of 4% applies, and part-timers are not included to it – these are people who may work for another employer most of the time.

A company that does not comply with these legal requirements is waiting for sanctions.

  • If a company employs 8 to 14 people, the fine is equal to half the average annual salary. For example, if it is 12 thousand UAH per month it would add up to 144 thousand UAH per annum. Accordingly, such a company will be penalised to 72 thousand UAH.
  • If the company employs more than 15 people, the amount of the fine is the average annual salary for each place where a person with a disability should work. So, for a company with 5 to 24 people, this fine of 144 thousand UAH and if the staff is 100 people – the fine is reaching 576 thousand UAH.

Conclusion. When making personnel decisions, a company cannot always afford to be guided by considerations of business benefits. Simply put, when choosing between a candidate who meets the requirements of a vacancy and an owner of disability certificate, the employer often has to choose the latter. It happens, of course, that the ideal candidate has the required status, but not always.

Legal alternative in Ukraine

Outstaffing is an opportunity to transfer some employees to the “leasing” mode, particularly, in order to reduce the number of full-time employees. It looks like this: people work for the employer, but are registered as employers of a company with which the employer has signed an appropriate agreement (for more information follow the link).

This decision is acceptable and legal for companies of different sizes and forms of ownership.

Firstly, this solution in no way restricts legal rights of both ordinary workers and persons with disabilities. After all, all employees registered with the outstaffer, work and receive salaries from which all taxes and social contributions are paid. In case of dismissal, disease, retirement or pregnancy, such a person has no problems. Secondly, the company that is a client of the outstaffer is protected. No doubts this is more important for the business as it receives:

– reduction of staff, which avoids the requirements for employment of people with disabilities;
– the ability to avoid problems in case of breaking rules by employees who have special social protection;
– the right to hire and fire people depending on the needs and the structure of business;
– avoidance of prosecution and fines;
– optimisation and simplification of taxation;
– saving resources for personnel accounting and reporting;
– the possibility of closing or changing the form of ownership, restructuring of the company without taking into account the status of employees. At the same time, people who do their job well and are useful for the company have not only a salary, but also a social package. This fundamentally distinguishes cooperation with an outstaffing partner from “grey” schemes or direct tax evasion. Top management simply gets the opportunity to think about business, not inspections, fines and courts.

How it works

Let’s say, you have seven employees and you need to employ an eighth. Knowing the requirements of the law, you are looking for a candidate among specialists with disability. Instead, you’ve found a person without the disability status, whose skills and experience completely satisfy you.

There is a dilemma: if you employ he/she, you will pay a fine, the amount of which will be equal to a half of the annual salary of this employee. We are talking about more than 60-70 thousand UAH per year – is it not too much? What if the number of these employees is 5 or 20 or 100? Of course, there is an option – to accept a compromise candidacy in order to satisfy the legal requirements. But will it benefit the business?

Decision. You turn to Leasing Service and get a solution. The parties – your company, our company as an outstaffer and a candidate – make a package of agreements. According to the package, the right employee is employed by the outstaffer, but actually works for your company. After all, Leasing Service which take him/her to work “leases” this person to you.

How much does it cost

The cost of the outstaffer service is about 1 thousand UAH per month or 12 thousand UAH per year. Compare the figure with the fines – and you will see savings of five or more times. When it comes to more than one person, but to dozens and hundreds of people, the outstaffer provides a discount on the service. Accordingly, the client saves even more.

In addition to direct savings on fines, there is a less obvious reduction in the cost of process management:

– record keeping;
– a need in personnel department;
– tax accrual;
– maintaining reputation;
– prosecutions as such or their threat.

Conclusion

Ukrainian legislation is constantly being “reformed”, and the state itself has been on the verge of a military invasion for eight years. But this is a very attractive country for business. The secret to success is flexibility and readiness for non-trivial decisions. We at Leasing Service know what they can be – and not only in the field of employment of persons with disabilities.

Please leave an application for a free consultation, and we will tell you about all the benefits of outstaffing for your company – https://leasingservice.com.ua/en/outstaffing.