A problem or a complaint? Tell us.

Ukraine Works wants to know when something is wrong. Complaining costs nothing, and nobody may punish you for it.

If you are in danger now

In Ukraine call the police on 102 or an ambulance on 103. Then write to us.

If you cannot call, tell us and we will call for you.

How to reach us

• Email: support@ukraineworks.com.ua
• Phone, WhatsApp or Telegram: +380 99 878 1755
• On WhatsApp or Telegram you can write, send a voice message or call.
• Post or visit: Ukraine Works, 42 Holosiivskyi Avenue, office 307, Kyiv, 03039, Ukraine. The office is open Monday to Friday, 10:00 to 18:00 Kyiv time.
• You can also tell any member of our staff, face to face or when we call you. They write down what you say on the same day and read it back to you.
• You can use the form at the end of this page. You do not have to.
• You do not have to complain to the agency in your country or to your employer first.
• Write in English, Hindi, Ukrainian or any other language. Use the language you know best.
• We answer in the language you used. If you used a language other than English, Hindi or Ukrainian, we ask you which of these three you want.
• If it is urgent, start your message with the word URGENT. We read these first.
• You may write without giving your name. We will still look into it, but we cannot answer you or ask you anything unless you leave a phone number or an email.
• A person you trust may help you or come with you at every step.

Who can complain

• You, if we or our partner agency recruited you or are recruiting you now.
• You can complain at any time, also after the job has ended or after you have gone home. It does not matter whether your visa or permit is still valid.
• Your family, a friend or anyone else you ask to write for you.
• A co-worker, a trade union, an organisation that helps workers, or any person who knows that our rules were broken.
• If someone writes for you, we ask you to confirm it before we tell that person anything about you.

What you can complain about

• Somebody asked you for money for the job.
• Somebody took or kept your passport or other documents.
• The job, the pay, the hours or the housing are not what you were promised.
• Your wages are late or not paid in full.
• Threats, violence, insults or harassment.
• Unsafe work or unsafe housing.
• You are not allowed to leave the workplace or the place where you live.
• Somebody took your phone or stops you from calling or writing to people.
• You are treated worse than other workers because of who you are, for example your country, religion, caste or sex.
• Somebody used your personal data, or passed them on, in a way you did not agree to.
• Somebody punished or threatened you or your family because you complained or helped another person to complain.
• Anything else that worries you about our agency, the agency in your country or your employer.

When a complaint is urgent

We treat your complaint as urgent, also if you did not write URGENT, in any of these cases:

• A person's life, health or freedom is in danger.
• There is violence, a threat of violence or sexual harassment.
• Somebody is keeping your passport or another of your documents.
• You are not allowed to leave the workplace or the place where you live, or to contact people.
• Your wages are being kept back, or a debt is being used, to keep you in the job.
• You are being forced to work, or there is another sign of forced labour or human trafficking.
• You have been left without documents, money or a place to stay.
• A person under 18 has been recruited or is working.
• Somebody is punishing or threatening you because of a complaint.

Within 24 hours after we receive an urgent complaint, on any day of the week, we read it, decide what must be done first and contact you, if you gave us a way to reach you.

What to write

• What happened, where and when.
• Who did it: the agency, the employer, or the person's name if you know it.
• If you paid money: how much, to whom and when. Send a photo of the receipt or the message if you have one.
• No receipt? Tell us anyway. We do not reject a complaint about money because there is no receipt.
• What you want us to do.
• How we can reach you.
• Tell us as much as you can. If we need more, we ask you.

What happens next

• We reply within 3 working days to say that we have your complaint and who is dealing with it.
• The reply gives you a reference number and the date by which you will have our answer.
• Our complaints officer (the Ethical Recruitment Officer of Ukraine Works) looks into it. If the complaint is about that officer, our Director looks into it.
• If the complaint is about our Director, our complaints officer looks into it and the Director takes no part.
• An agency or an employer never looks into a complaint about itself. The agency you complain about never translates your message.
• We ask the employer or the agency only what we need to know. We do not give them your name unless you agree.
• If we cannot look into your complaint without the employer or the agency learning who you are, we tell you first, and you decide.
• Before we decide, we tell you what we have found and ask you what you want done.
• Within 10 working days we give you our answer and tell you what will be done.
• The answer is in writing, in the language you used, and gives our reasons.
• If we cannot find out all the facts in 10 working days, we tell you within those 10 working days what we have found, what we have done and the date of our final answer. The final answer comes within one month after we received your complaint. If we need longer, we tell you why before the month ends; the limit is 45 calendar days after we received your complaint.
• If you do not agree with the answer, tell us. A person who did not handle your complaint reviews it and answers within 10 working days.
• You do not have to give a reason for asking, and you can ask at any time.
• We check that what was decided is done, and we ask you to confirm it. Until it is done, we tell you at least once every 30 calendar days what we have done about it.
• When we close your complaint, we tell you in writing how it ended and why, and we ask you whether it was handled fairly.
• You can take your complaint back at any time. If it is urgent, we still look into it.

What we can do

• Require whoever took a fee or a deposit from you for the job, or a payment that is not on your Cost Disclosure Statement, to pay it back in full within 30 calendar days of our written notice.
• If a member of our own staff took the money, we pay you back ourselves within the same 30 days.
• We follow it up until you confirm that you have the money, or until we have used every means that our agreement with that agency or employer gives us.
• Require, on the day we learn of it, that your documents are returned to you at once, and follow it up in the same way.
• Require the employer to pay the wages it owes you, to keep to your contract and to make unsafe work or housing safe, and follow it up in the same way.
• Require that the wrong conduct stops and is not repeated, and that any punishment for complaining is undone. We can also require an apology.
• Help you to end the job and to go home, if that is what you want. In some cases our agreement with the employer makes the employer pay for your journey home, for example if it broke your contract or the law, or if you suffered violence or forced labour.
• End our cooperation with an agency or an employer that breaks the rules.
• Take action against a member of our own staff who broke the rules.
• Help you reach the police, a labour inspector or your embassy.
• In an urgent case we can act before we give our answer: require the return of a document, stop sending workers to that employer, or help you move to another place to stay.

What we cannot do

• We are not your employer, the police or a court. We cannot order an agency or an employer to pay you or to give back a document. We can require it under our agreements with them, and we can stop working with them.
• We cannot promise a result that depends on another person or company. If they still refuse after we have used every means that our agreement gives us, we tell you so in writing and help you to go to a State body or a court that can order it.
• After a fixed time we delete the records of your recruitment; our Privacy Notice gives the periods. You can still complain later, but we may then not be able to find out what happened.

Our promises

• Free. You never pay to complain.
• We pay for translation.
• Private. Only the people who deal with your complaint see it.
• If a law obliges us to give your complaint to a court or a State body, we tell you before we do so, unless the law forbids that.
• No punishment. Nobody may punish you, dismiss you or send you home because you complained. If someone tries, tell us at once.
• We treat that as urgent. A threat to your family counts as punishment. The same rule protects anyone who helped you and anyone who gave us information, and it applies even if we cannot confirm what you told us.
• If a member of our staff punishes a person for complaining, we take action against that staff member. An agency or an employer that does so can lose its agreement with us.
• Recorded. Every complaint goes into our register with the date and the result.
• We keep the file for 3 years after the complaint is closed. Then we delete it and remove your name from the register.
• Your rights stay. We never ask you to give up a right, or to take back a complaint you made to a court or an authority, in return for what we decide you should have.
• Open. By 31 March each year we publish on our website how many complaints we received in the year before, what they were about and how they ended. No names are published.

Other places to go in Ukraine

You do not have to come to us first. Complaining to us does not take away any of these rights.

You can go to them before, during or after your complaint to us. We go on with your complaint all the same.

• Government hotline on human trafficking: 1547
• Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights: 1678 (free in Ukraine); from other countries +380 44 299 74 08; hotline@ombudsman.gov.ua
• State Labour Service of Ukraine (Derzhpratsi), for unpaid wages and unsafe work: (044) 288 10 00
• Embassy of India in Ukraine: 20-B Maxima Berlinskogo Street, Kyiv, 01901; +380 44 468 6661, +380 44 468 6219, +380 44 468 7032; emergency +380 93 355 9958; cons.kyiv@mea.gov.in
• A court in Ukraine
• Your employer. Ask the employer who takes workers' complaints at your workplace.
• A trade union at your workplace, if there is one.

These lines usually answer in Ukrainian. If you need help to speak to them, ask us.

Places to go in your own country

• India: the Protector General of Emigrants, Ministry of External Affairs, for complaints against recruiting agents: 10th Floor, Akbar Bhavan, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi 110021; pge@mea.gov.in
• India: Pravasi Bharatiya Sahayata Kendra, the 24-hour helpline of the Ministry of External Affairs for Indians who work abroad or plan to: 1800 11 3090 (toll-free in India)
• India: the eMigrate portal of the Ministry of External Affairs, where you can check whether a recruiting agent is registered: emigrate.gov.in
• India: the MADAD portal of the Ministry of External Affairs, for Indian nationals abroad who need help from a consulate: madad.gov.in

This page is a short description of the Grievance and Remedy Procedure of Ukraine Works (UW-PRO-01). The full Procedure is on ukraineworks.com.ua, and we give it to you if you ask. If this page and the Procedure differ, you lose nothing by having relied on this page.

Complaints Leaflet UW-LFT-01, version 2.0. Parent document: Grievance and Remedy Procedure (UW-PRO-01).

Complaint Form (UW-F-12)

You do not have to use this form, and you may leave any field empty. Send it to support@ukraineworks.com.ua or to WhatsApp or Telegram +380 99 878 1755, post it to our office, or give it to any member of our staff.

If you answer No to question 11, we look into your complaint as far as we can without your name.

What I have written is true as far as I know.