Amid an acute shortage of personnel and growing demand for taxi services in Ukraine, the issue of protecting drivers from mobilization has arisen. However, as it turns out, taxi aggregators currently lack legal mechanisms to reserve their partners.
Status of Independent Partner
A representative of Bolt in Ukraine explained the situation in an interview with RBC-Ukraine. The company's General Manager, Serhiy Pavlyk, emphasized the key difference in the drivers' status: they are not full-time employees of the platform but work as independent partners.
According to current legislation, the obligation to reserve military-age individuals lies with employers regarding their hired employees. Since the legal relationship between Bolt and drivers is based on a partnership, the company has no legal tools to arrange conscription deferment.
"Since drivers cooperating through the Bolt platform are independent partners and not full-time employees of the company, we do not have legal mechanisms to reserve them," Pavlyk noted.
Economic Conscription Deferment and Staff Shortage
Despite current legal restrictions, the company does not intend to stand aside from solving the problem. Bolt is ready to join discussions on the possible introduction of an economic conscription deferment mechanism. If state authorities begin to consider relevant initiatives, the service plans to take an active part in the dialogue.
The issue of supporting drivers remains extremely relevant against the backdrop of the ongoing staff shortage and growing demand for transport services. Solving this problem will require cooperation between business and the state to create new legal tools.