The Electronic HR Document Workflow: Perspectives for Implementation under Martial Law

In recent years, businesses have faced the problem of organizing remote work for employees. In particular, one of the key issues for companies remains the management of personnel documents. Working remotely and being in another city or abroad, employees cannot come to the office every time to sign personnel documents.

As martial law was imposed, the government made important steps towards business by providing the opportunity to handle all paperwork via electronic means. In this article, we will talk about how the current legislation regulates this issue.

The electronic HR document workflow – what the law states about it?

The prerequisites for the introduction of electronic HR document flow are laid down in the following normative acts:

• Articles 29, 60-2 of the Labor Code of Ukraine;
• Article 7 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Organization of Labor Relations under Martial Law”;
• The Law of Ukraine “On Electronic Documents and Electronic Document Workflow”;
• The Law of Ukraine “On Electronic Trust Services”;
• Procedure for working with e-documents in the records management and their preparation for transfer to the archival storage approved by the order of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine No. 1886/5 dated November 11, 2014.

As of 2022, there was ambiguous language in the HR document workflow legislation that created barriers to the implementation of HR ODE in practice. More specifically:

1. Order No. 1886/5 of the Ministry of Justice determined the need to store personnel documents of permanent and long-term storage in two forms: paper and electronic. In fact, this meant duplication of documents.
2. Among all personnel documents, the vast majority are the documents of permanent and long-term storage. Their duplication requires significant resources of the company.
3. The creation of such documents should be coordinated with the appropriate state archival institution. Regulatory documents did not specify a mechanism for approving e-documents, so archival institutions approved documents in paper copy only.

What has changed since martial law was imposed?

In July 2022, part two was added to Article 3 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Organization of Labor Relations under Martial Law”. It states:

This norm of the law allows companies to use any means of electronic communication – not only ODE services, but also e-mail, messengers, etc. A prerequisite for this is the mutual consent of the employer and the employee, recorded in writing.

In October 2022, a number of amendments were made to Order No. 1886/5. Let’s take a look at those that relate to the electronic HR document workflow.

The new wording eliminated the requirement to coordinate electronic HR documents with an archival institution. This removed the restrictions on electronic HR document workflow and gave new opportunities for its practical use in companies.

The Ministry of Justice has also changed the requirements for creating a paper version of an electronic document:

According to the new norms, the creation of temporary storage documents up to 10 years old in paper form is not obligatory. This made it possible to create vacation requests, vacation schedules and other types of personnel documents exclusively in electronic form.

The above paragraph also defines that the paper form of an e-document is its certified paper copy, created in compliance with the institution’s Records Management Manual. Storage in two forms (paper and electronic) should not be understood as the creation of two identical documents, but as the printing of the already existing electronic document with its subsequent certification. It is not allowed for the same document to go through the institution’s records management in electronic and paper form. Therefore, there is no need to duplicate personnel documents.

As we can see, the changes in legislation provide great opportunities for the implementation of electronic HR document workflow in business. Let’s look at how to do this in practice.

How to start an electronic HR document workflow in the company?

Before switching to the electronic format of HR documents, it is necessary to create internal manuals and regulations for the company. They should describe the processes related to electronic documents.

The Ministry of Economy of Ukraine in its comment from July 19, 2022 recommends that the parties record an agreement in writing on the use of electronic HR document workflow. The written agreement should contain a link to the ODE service that the company intends to use, indicating the address or telephone number of the employee to be used for official notification on personnel matters or other means of electronic communication.

Judicial practice also confirms the need for prior agreement of the parties on the implementation of electronic HR document workflow. Specifically, this is noted in the decision of the Supreme Court No. 686/21222/16-ц dated December 03, 2018.

If a company decides to use an ODE service for HR document workflow, the next step is to select the service and register employees in it.

What will happen after martial law is over?

The norms of the Law of Ukraine “On the Organization of Labor Relations under Martial Law” have a time limit. After the end of martial law, it should be expected that the circulation of personnel documents by email, messengers and other alternative means will lose its legal force.

It should be expected that the use of ODE services will remain legitimate in this case. This is proved, in particular, by Article 8 of the Law of Ukraine “On Electronic Documents and Electronic Document Workflow”. It states that the legal validity of an e-document cannot be denied solely because it has electronic form.