1. The subject of the dispute is the recovery from the employer of wage arrears, compensation for delayed payments, average earnings for the period of delay in settlement upon dismissal, compensation for unused vacation, severance pay, indexation, and compensation for moral damages.
2. The court of cassation established that the courts of previous instances incorrectly applied the norms of substantive law, in particular Article 117 of the Labor Code of Ukraine as amended after July 19, 2022, instead of the version that was in effect at the time the disputed legal relations arose, and also did not take into account the conclusions of the Supreme Court regarding the distribution of the burden of proof in labor disputes, placing on the employee the obligation to prove the fact of not using the vacation. In addition, the courts did not take into account that a violation of an employee’s labor rights may be grounds for compensation for moral damages, and did not investigate the circumstances indicating the plaintiff’s moral suffering. The court also noted that compensation for moral damages is not absorbed by the fact of restoring the situation that existed before the violation of labor relations. The Court indicated that the courts of previous instances did not take into account the legal conclusions set forth in the rulings of the Supreme Court regarding the application of Articles 116, 117 and 237-1 of the Labor Code of Ukraine, as well as regarding the distribution of the burden of proof in labor disputes.
3. The Supreme Court reversed the decisions of the previous courts in the part of resolving the claims for recovery of average earnings for the period of delay in settlement upon dismissal, compensation for unused annual vacation days, compensation for moral damages, and distribution of court costs, and remanded the case in this part for a new trial to the court of first instance.
