In practice, in some cases, the employer wants to check whether a person is suitable for the position. In such cases, the employer, in order to insure himself against undesirable consequences, conducts an internship for employees before hiring them. However, this is not legal.

First, the legislation of Ukraine provides for internships only for certain categories of persons – students of vocational and technical educational institutions and students of higher educational institutions, as well as in cases of professional training, retraining and advanced training of registered unemployed, civil servants in accordance with the Law of Ukraine “On Civil Service”.

In other cases, the employer cannot accept a person specifically for an internship, and allow him to work without concluding an employment contract.

However, a completely legal mechanism for checking the employee’s suitability for the work assigned to him is a probationary period.

The main criteria for such a mechanism are:

• The probationary period must be recorded in the employment order.
• In most cases, the probationary period upon employment cannot exceed three months, and for blue-collar professions – 1 month.
• During the probationary period, employees are subject to labor legislation.

If during the probationary period the employer establishes the employee’s incompatibility with the work for which he was hired, the employer may terminate the employment contract on the grounds provided for in paragraph 11 of Article 40 of the Labor Code, giving the employee three days’ written notice.

Thus, in accordance with Article 24 of the Labor Code, an employee may not be admitted to work without concluding an employment contract, drawn up by order or order of the owner or an authorized body.

If an employee starts work without drawing up an employment contract, the employer may be fined UAH 142,000.00, and an official of the employer may be fined up to UAH 17,000.00.