Changes have been made to the Labour Code of the Russian Federation regarding electronic document management in the field of labour relations for all categories of employees. Until now, such an opportunity was provided only for remote employees.
The changes were approved by Federal Law of November 22, 2021 No. 377-FZ "On Amendments to the Labour Code of the Russian Federation", which was published on the on 22.11.2021.
Chapter 2 of the Labour Code of the Russian Federation (hereinafter referred to as the RF Labour Code) has been supplemented with special articles 22.1 - 22.3 that regulate the procedure for creating, signing, using and storing work-related documents in electronic form. A number of documents can no longer be duplicated on paper. However, there are exceptions. Electronic HR document management (hereinafter referred to as EHRDM) is not applied to labour books and information about labour activities of employees. It is impossible to draw up in electronic form an industrial accident report and a termination order. Documents confirming that the employee has passed labour protection briefing must also be drawn up on paper.
Employer can carry out electronic document management through its own information system, or use a single digital platform "Work in Russia", access to which will be possible also through a unified portal of state and municipal services.
Electronic documents in their composition and format must comply with uniform requirements that will be established by federal executive authorities.
Implementation of EHRDM in an organization requires the employer's desire and employees' consent.
The main stages of the transition to electronic document management:
- Determination of the information system (information systems) that will be used for the exchange of electronic documents;
- Determination of the list of documents that will be created and stored in electronic form without duplication on paper;
- Determination of the list of electronic digital signatures that the employer will use to sign electronic documents (depending on the composition of documents that will be created in electronic form);
- Approval of a local regulatory act containing the provisions established by Article 22.2 of the Labour Code of the Russian Federation;
- Notification of each employee, within the time period established by a local regulatory act, about the transition to interaction with the employer through electronic document management about the right to consent to electronic interaction;
- To get written consent of employees to interact with the employer through electronic document management.
When hiring new employees, the employer must familiarize them with the local regulatory act on electronic document management (if one has already been approved) and get their written consent to participate in it. It is not required to get consent from persons who are hired after December 31, 2021 for the first time.
Employees who refuse to interact with the employer through electronic document management or who have not given written consent can give this consent in the future.
In addition to the introduction of new articles into the RF Labour Code, amendments have been made to a number of existing articles. So, for example, article 68 of the RF Labour Code now allows the registration of employment only on the basis of an employment contract. The order to hire an employee becomes optional. And article 312.1 of the RF Labour Code in the new edition allows employers to make a decision on extending the rules for the implementation of electronic document management to the interaction with remote employees in accordance with the provisions of Articles 22.1-22.3 of the Labour Code of the Russian Federation.
Most of the amendments will enter into force on November 22, 2021. However, some rules will take effect at different times:
- from November 16, 2021, the provisions of Article 22.1 are applied to the rights and obligations of employers who participated in the experiment on the use of work-related electronic documents, in accordance with Federal Law No. 122-FZ of April 24, 2020, and who have decided to continue implementing electronic document management after the end of the experiment, and to their employees.
- from September 1, 2022, the provisions of Article 22.1 concerning the interaction of the Unified Digital Platform "Work in Russia" and the employer's information system with the unified portal of state and municipal services will be applied.
- from March 1, 2023, the procedure for interaction between the employee and the employer through electronic document management (paragraph 10 of Article 22.1 of the Labour Code of the Russian Federation) comes into effect by use of the employer's information system.
