Courts have overturned half of the fines imposed for refusing to hire people with disabilities

Since the start of the full-scale war, Ukrainian courts have heard nearly 2,000 cases involving violations of employment quotas for people with disabilities. 

This is according to data from Opendatabot.

According to the statistics, businesses have successfully appealed nearly half of the fines imposed. As a result, the courts ruled:

• in 995 cases, they ordered employers to pay the fines;
• in 997 cases, they ruled against the Social Protection Fund for Persons with Disabilities.

The total amount of fines that the courts ultimately upheld exceeded 109.5 million UAH. At the same time, the amount of dismissed claims reached approximately 286.5 million UAH.

The largest number of decisions was issued in 2023—733 cases—and a record amount of collections was also recorded that year—over 35 million UAH. In 2024, there were 559 decisions; in 2025, 452; and since the beginning of 2026, 85 decisions have already been issued.

The Kharkiv region led in the number of cases—560 rulings (over 28% of the total). Next are the Cherkasy, Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

Courts most often ruled in favor of businesses due to:

• employers creating job openings for people with disabilities;
• the absence of a proven violation;
• actual compliance with the quota;
• the absence of an obligation to comply in specific cases.

The largest penalty, amounting to 5.49 million UAH, was imposed in the case against “Ukraerorukh.” At the same time, the record fine of over 213 million UAH imposed on “Energoatom” was overturned.

Starting in 2026, Ukraine has changed its approach to employer liability: instead of fines, a mandatory contribution to support the employment of people with disabilities has been introduced.