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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Money for exams and “correct” conclusions in a case about people’s deaths: does State Labor Service head Ihor Degnera see corruption in the structure under his authority, and has there been an appropriate response?
Unofficial payments for occupational safety exams, “certificates by mail,” probable payments for “favorable” conclusions about workers’ deaths. In just ten months of 2026, law enforcement authorities reported at least four possible corruption schemes in the territorial bodies of the State Labor Service of Ukraine. And the suspects are not rank-and-file inspectors but regional and interregional leaders. StopCor analyzed open data and tried to determine: what improper schemes might operate in this system, whether the central office received signals about these violations before law enforcement intervened, and how it reacted?
We analyzed publications from law enforcement agencies and the media about alleged abuses in the State Labor Service during 2026 and found that this year the agency’s activities were accompanied by several high-profile corruption scandals across different regions — from Khmelnytskyi to Volyn. Here is a brief chronology.
March. The State Bureau of Investigation (DBR) officially reported the detention of the head of the State Labor Service department in Khmelnytskyi region together with a private entrepreneur. According to the investigation, the official received blank forms, attendee questionnaires, and money by mail, and returned already signed certificates — without actually checking knowledge.
In just one month DBR investigators documented the unlawful issuance of almost 300 certificates, approved in violation of established procedure.
May. In Mykolaiv region, the first deputy head of the Southern Interregional Department of the State Labor Service was detained. DBR reported that since the beginning of the year a system of extortions for exams and permits for high-risk work allegedly operated in the department, and, according to the investigation, an illegal currency exchange point was used to distribute the funds.
According to the Mykolaiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office, in February–May the suspect could have received almost 428 thousand UAH from two training centers.
July–October. The high-profile case of the South-Western Interregional Department (Ivano-Frankivsk, Ternopil, and Chernivtsi regions), which StopCor wrote about back in December of 2025, received a continuation.
On 21 July new suspicions were notified to the department head, two of his subordinates, and an intermediary, and on 29 October the indictment was sent to court. The prosecution lists nine episodes totaling over 450 thousand UAH.
Most telling: for $2500, according to the indictment, the enterprise was ensured a “positive” conclusion of the investigation into the electrican’s death, and the deceased was retroactively entered into the record as having taken an occupational safety exam.
October. In Volyn, the deputy head of the Western Interregional Department was notified of suspicion of extorting $20 thousand for a conclusion that a construction worker who fell from a height died due to his own negligence. The court imposed around-the-clock home arrest; the official was suspended.
Coincidence or pattern?
Common to all four stories is the probable receipt of illicit benefits for the service’s key functions: testing occupational safety knowledge, issuing certificates and permits, and investigating accidents. In almost every case mentioned above, commissions controlled by department heads and training centers acting as intermediaries are involved.
If the investigators’ versions are confirmed in court, this could mean that the State Labor Service’s corruption vulnerability is rooted not only in specific individuals but in the transparency of the procedures themselves.
And procedures are the center’s responsibility. Interregional departments are territorial bodies of the service itself (this is explicitly stated in the Regulation on the State Labor Service), so organizing their work and controlling them is the direct duty of the central office headed by Ihor Degnera:
Thus, paragraph 7 of the Regulation establishes the status of territorial bodies, stating that the State Labor Service exercises its powers directly and through territorial bodies created in the prescribed manner (in particular, tasks can be assigned to them on an interregional basis).
Paragraph 11 defines the powers and duties of the head. In particular, the head of the State Labor Service organizes and controls the work of territorial bodies, approves regulations about them, their structure, and budgets.
Formally, the central office acknowledges the presence of corruption risks: in June a document titled “State Labor Service Anti-Corruption Program for 2026–2028” even appeared on the agency’s website — likely a draft program.
How did the State Labor Service leadership react to the arrests of officials?
After the disclosure of the Ivano-Frankivsk scheme, the State Labor Service announced an internal investigation, an internal audit of procedures that could have been used for abuses, and the development of channels for whistleblowers.
As of the publication date, we did not find information in open sources about personnel decisions regarding the department leaders, so a corresponding inquiry with questions has been sent to the State Labor Service.
As the outlet Parlament.UA notes (quote): “Ihor Degnera heads the State Labor Service, but his position in this story seems to be more formal than substantive.”
The head himself studied abroad in 2026. As media OBOZ.UA found, Degnera completed a seven-day OSINT course in Slovakia, and from 19 to 28 June he was in Turin on a program about the digital transformation of labor inspections.
Questions without answers
Ihor Degnera is not new to the system: he headed the service before in 2019–2020. What are the results of the internal inspection and audit announced after the Ivano-Frankivsk case? Has the procedure for the work of knowledge-assessment commissions and accident investigations been changed? Have the managers who were supposed to supervise the suspects faced disciplinary action? And did the State Labor Service itself uncover any of these schemes before the DBR, police, and SBU did?
The editorial office sent corresponding inquiries to the State Labor Service and the DBR.
Recall that earlier authorities reported the exposure of the deputy head of one of the interregional departments of the State Labor Service in Volyn. According to law enforcement, the official demanded 20 thousand dollars for a conclusion that would place responsibility for the tragedy on the worker himself.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Чотири кримінальні справи за 10 місяців: що відомо про ймовірні схеми в Держпраці і як реагує керівництво служби". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: StopKor.
