Natalia Slipchenko,
Senior HR Specialist,
HR and Payroll Services Department
at BDO in Ukraine
Pursuant to the Article 29 of the Law “On Employment of the Population”, the right to undertake an internship in the profession (specialty) in which students are studying, at enterprises, regardless of their form of ownership, type of activity and business, under the conditions specified in the free time internship agreement, is granted to applicants for vocational (vocational-technical), professional pre-university, higher education who have obtained a profession (qualification) at the educational qualification level of a skilled worker, a specialty at the educational qualification level of a junior specialist, educational and professional degree of professional junior bachelor, higher education degrees of junior bachelor or bachelor and continue to get an education at the next education level and undertake an internship with an employer in the profession (specialty) in which they are studying.
The purpose of internship is to gain experience in performing professional tasks and duties, improve professional knowledge, skills and abilities, study and master new technologies, techniques, and acquire additional competencies.
The main condition — students have the right to undertake an internship only in the profession (specialty) in which they are studying. That is, it is not possible to qualify the formalization of such relations as an internship, unless it is in the profession (specialty) in which they are studying. Students can take internships in their free time. The law does not place any restrictions on the number of hours.
Below is a detailed consideration of the procedure and basic conditions for formalizing an internship, which must be fulfilled by the employer and the intern:
| 1. |
To register for an internship, a student shall submit the following documents: an application in the approved form, a copy of passport, identification code, and a certificate of education (if any). |
| 2. |
No notification is filed with the state tax authority about the student's acceptance for the internship. |
| 3. |
The terms and conditions of the internship shall be specified in the internship contract. It is concluded in two copies, one of which is kept by the employer and the other by the trainee / his/her parents / other legal representatives if he/she is a minor. In Ukraine, there is a standard form of an Employer's Internship Contract for Applicants for Vocational (Vocational and Technical), Professional Pre-university Education, and Higher Education, approved by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 20 dated January 16, 2013, as amended by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 146 dated February 17, 2023 (hereinafter — Resolution No. 20). |
| 4. |
The contract internship period may not exceed 6 months. The term of the contract cannot be extended for a longer period. In doing so, another (new) internship contract cannot be concluded with such an intern. If the employer plans to continue the relationship with such an intern, a regular employment contract may be concluded. |
| 5. |
Simultaneously with the conclusion of the internship contract, the employer shall approve the individual internship program and issue an order on the internship, specifying the terms and place of the internship (structural unit), the specialty (qualification) or profession (qualification level) of the intern, the terms and conditions of the internship, as well as the intern's supervisor.. |
| 6. |
Before the trainee is allowed to perform work or participate in the production process, he or she must be instructed on occupational safety and health. |
| 7. |
Each trainee shall be assigned an internship supervisor. |
| 8. |
The internship is conducted in accordance with an individual program under the supervision of an employee of the company who has at least three years of experience in the relevant profession (specialty). |
| 9. |
The internship supervisor together with the trainee shall develop an individual internship program according to the obtained specialty (qualification) or profession (qualification level), which shall specify the list of works to be performed by the trainee during the internship. The completed program shall be submitted for approval to the supervisor. |
| 10. |
It should be noted that no more than two interns can be assigned to one internship supervisor. |
| 11. |
The work of internship supervisors appointed from among the company's employees may be additionally paid by the company from funds provided for training, retraining, and advanced training of personnel, additionally for the internship period monthly in the amount of not less than 5% of the basic wage received at the principal place of work. |
| 12. |
The employer shall make an internship record in the intern's work record book. The record shall be made no later than one week from the date of the student’s acceptance to the internship, indicating the position, period and place of the internship, specialty (qualification) or profession (qualification level) of the intern. The basis for such records is the internship order. |
| 13. |
After the internship, the intern shall be issued a conclusion, indicating the works performed and the assessment of the quality thereof, the characteristics of professional competence, personal and business qualities of the intern. |
| 14. |
An internship contract between an employer and an intern is of a civil law nature: |
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- firstly, interns are provided with jobs on the basis of an internship contract, which is a civil law contract with the subject being the student's internship, and not on the basis of an employment contract, the subject of which is the labor process;
- secondly, the intern's working hours are not accounted for;
- thirdly, the basis for accruing remuneration under the internship contract is a monthly work acceptance certificate signed by both parties, i.e., work performed by the intern is paid on the basis of a work acceptance certificate (as stated in clause 7, sub-clause 7 of the Standard Internship Contract)..
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| 15. |
If the intern performs professional work under the individual internship program in accordance with the established standards, the organization shall ensure timely payment on the basis of a work acceptance certificate. In doing so, the law does not require interns to be paid for the time spent at the organization but obliges the employer to pay for the actual work performed by the student intern, since the fact that the intern is at the workplace does not mean that he/she has accurately performed a certain practical task during this time. |
| 16. |
If the intern did not perform work but only acquired knowledge and skills, payment is not required. |
| 17. |
Trainees are not entitled to any bonuses, compensation or guarantees provided for employees of the company by labor laws or internal policies of the company. If it becomes necessary to pay the intern a higher amount in a certain month, this should be noted in the work acceptance certificate. However, this must be specified in the internship contract. |
| 18. |
Trainees are not entitled to any vacation time guaranteed by labor law. |
| 19. |
Upon completion of the internship, the company may hire the student, but this is not an obligation but a right of the employer. |
Instead of an internship, a company may hire a student under an employment contract, regardless of the form of study. In doing so, such an employee will have the same rights and guarantees as other employees. The right of university students to work outside of school hours is enshrined in clause 3 of part 1 of Article 62 of the Law of Ukraine “On Higher Education” dated July 1, 2014, No. 1556-VII.
A student may enter into either a fixed-term employment contract for a period of time that suits both parties, or an indefinite one. The form of an employment contract with a student over 18 years of age may be either written or oral.
However, in practice, many questions arise, for example, whether the labor law does not provide for any restrictions on combining work and study by students of higher education institutions, in particular those who study full-time. After analyzing the legal provisions, we can conclude that there are no such restrictions. Therefore, the organization has the right to hire such employees, including at the main place of work and on a full-time basis. This position was also confirmed by the Ministry of Social Policy in a letter dated 25.07.2014 No. 301/13/116-14. However, part-time work is usually established for students so that they can attend classes at an educational institution, and in this case, remuneration is paid in proportion to the time worked. Furthermore, part-time work does not restrict the labor rights of a student employee.
Thus, in the case of an employment contract with a student who is undertaking an internship at an enterprise, he/she acquires the status of an employee with the appropriate formalization and consequences in the form of labor guarantees in accordance with the current labor legislation of Ukraine and notification to the state tax authority of the employee's employment. A corresponding record of the work, not an internship, is made in the employment record book of such a student employee. They are paid a salary set by agreement of the parties, but not lower than the minimum wage established by law. In other words, the process is completely identical to that of employment and payroll for other employees of the company.
It should be noted that the fact of employment does not affect the student's right to receive a scholarship (if any).
An employment contract with a student is terminated on the same grounds as with all other employees of the company.
Please note that starting from 29.04.2023, by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 146 dated February 17, 2023, the procedure for student internships was amended.
The main changes are as follows:
- It has been established that information on internships must be entered into the register of insured persons of the State Register of Compulsory State Social Insurance. The procedure is the same as for entering information about employees. The information is entered on the portal of the Pension Fund of Ukraine in the Insured's office at https://portal.pfu.gov.ua/.
- Some concepts are defined and clarified:
An employer is a legal entity or an individual entrepreneur who uses the labor of individuals as part of an employment relationship. This means that from now on, internships can also be conducted at individual entrepreneurs;
Trainees are applicants for vocational (vocational-technical), professional pre-university education, higher education who have obtained a profession (qualification) at the educational qualification level of a skilled worker, a specialty at the educational qualification level of a junior specialist, an educational and professional degree of a professional junior bachelor, higher education degrees of junior bachelor or bachelor and continue to receive education at the next level of education and undergo an internship with an employer in the profession (specialty) in which they are studying, on the terms specified in the internship contract in their out of study time.
For comparison, prior to the amendments to Resolution No. 20, internships were available to students of higher education institutions and students of vocational (vocational-technical) education institutions who had obtained a specialty or profession at the educational qualification level of “skilled worker”, “junior specialist”, educational and professional degree “junior bachelor”, educational degree “bachelor” and continue to obtain education at the next degree (educational qualification level).
- It is established that an internship contract is concluded by the employer and the intern (if he/she reached the age of majority) or his/her parents or other legal representatives.
- It is established that the employer shall make a record of the internship in the labor record book (if any), which, if absent at the request of the intern, shall be issued in accordance with the law.
The forms of the application for internship and the Standard Internship Contract for Applicants for Vocational (Vocational and Technical), Professional Pre-University and Higher Education with an Employer have also been amended.
Summarizing the above, it should be noted that when registering for an internship, all conditions and procedures established by Resolution No. 20 should be followed. Since if at least one condition is not met, such an internship may be qualified by the State Labor Service as a violation of labor law, namely, the actual admission of an employee to work without entering into an employment contract. In addition, when formalizing an internship, the new form of the Standard Internship Contract should be used.
Finally, as for the intern's remuneration, there are formally two options: 1) salary under an employment contract if the company and the student have chosen this option for formalizing the relationship, or 2) remuneration based on a civil law contract, i.e., an internship contract.
For a more detailed consultation, please contact experts of BDO in Ukraine.