New weekend rules for donors

This year, a new Law of Ukraine "On Safety and Quality of Donated Blood and Blood Components" was adopted. It repealed the old "donor" law and introduced changes to labor guarantees for donors.

What are the labor benefits for a donor employee?

The employer must provide:

• paid day off for an employee-donor on the day of medical examination and on the day of blood (blood components) donation;
• an additional paid day off, which the employee can use the day after the blood donation or add to his/her annual vacation. The additional day is granted even if the employee donated blood on a day off or a non-working day.

If an employee donated blood on the weekend, should they be given an extra day of vacation?

Consider the following situation: an employee has written a statement of intent to donate blood on Saturday. The company is closed on that day, as it has a five-day working week. Should the employee be given an additional day off?

It will not be possible to give an employee an extra day off the day after blood donation, since it will be Sunday and the employee is not working on that day anyway. Previously, under the old Law, it was possible to give an additional day off the next business day or add an additional day to a vacation.

Under the new Law, an employee may be granted an additional day off only if the day of blood donation and the following day fall on the employee's working days.

That is, if an employee donates blood on a working day and the next day is also a working day, then he or she should be given an additional day of rest. In our example, the day of the blood donation is a day off and the next day is also a day off, so the employee does not need to be given an additional day off.

If an employee donates blood on a day off, for example, Sunday, and Monday is a working day, then the employee should be given an additional day off. They can make Monday a day off or add it to their annual vacation.

If an employee donated blood during his vacation, does he need to extend his vacation?

The previous "donor" law provided for a two-day extension of vacation if an employee donated blood during their annual vacation. One day was given for donating blood and another for rest.

The new law has reduced the number of additional days. Now, if an employee donates blood or its components during his or her annual vacation, he or she is entitled to extend the vacation by one day.

Even if an employee donates blood on the last day of vacation and the next day is a working day, they do not need to be granted an additional day of vacation.