- Effective as of January 1st, 2016, scheduled inspections of labor authorities in minor enterprises are temporarily prohibited. The exemption from inspections will remain effective through December 31st, 2018. However, there are exceptions for enterprises engaged in certain operations, or committed administrative violations. This procedure is provided in part 1 of Clause 26.1 of the Federal Law 294-FZ “On Protection of Rights of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs During State and Municipal Supervision” d.d. December 26th, 2008. As of July 1st, 2016, the law is complete with amendments as to the procedures of inspection. Thus, state entities while performing an inspection are not entitled to request papers already present in e-bases of other state entities. Such documents are subject to reception pursuant to the procedures of inter-entity exchange of state entities (as per Federal Law 306-FZ d.d. November 3rd, 2015.)
- Agency labor is prohibited in Russia as of January 1st, 2016. The Labor Code of Russia was supplemented with Clause 56.1 which stipulates prohibition of agency labor (Federal law 116-FZ d.d. May 5th, 2014.) Agency labor is allowed only in cases stipulated by the legislation pursuant to the procedures set forth in Chapter 53.1 of the Labor Code of Russia (also introduced in the Federal Law 116-FZ d.d. May 5th, 2014.)
- The Federal Law 434-FZ d.d. December 30th, 2015, introduces amendments to clause 142 of the Labor Code of Russia, pursuant to which employers are directly responsible for retaining average wages for employees who halted their operations due to backdated wages. Said amendments are effective as of January 10th, 2016.
- March 2nd, 2016, the Russian president signed the Federal Law 36-FZ on Ratification of the Part-Time Work Convention (Convention 175). However, ratification did not entail any substantial changes regarding the rules for establishment of part-time work. Provisions of the Russian Labor Code do not contradict the provisions set forth in Convention 175. Nevertheless, prior to the ratification, employers could interpret clause 93 of the Labor Code ambiguously. In particular, if interpreted literally, an employer could establish either a part-time day, or a part-time week. Ratification of Convention 175 means that employers are entitled to enforce both approaches. In practice, employers enforced both part-time days and weeks even prior to the Convention’s ratification, provided it had been done in the employee’s interests, i.e. improved their status. Now, all doubts arising from the issue are settled.
- The Federal Law 43-FZ “On amendments to the Federal Law on Archive Keeping in the Russian Federation” d.d. March 2nd, 2016 changes the terms of keeping HR documentation on the personnel. Documents created prior to 2003 have to be kept for 75 years (as before), while those created as of 2003 are to be stored for only 50 years. However, there are some exceptions for certain personnel documents. Said amendments are effective as of March 13, 2016.
- As of June 1, 2016, the Federal Migration Service of Russia is discontinued. Earlier, employers had to send notifications on employment and termination of employment of foreign nationals thereto. Now, said notifications are to be sent to the Chief Directorate of Migration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, which absorbed all functionality and authority of the Federal Migration Service.
- The Federal Law 122-FZ d.d. May 2nd, 2015, introduces amendments and supplements to Section IX of the Labor Code of Russia. The very name of the section in the newest revision of the Code reads: Qualification of Employees, Professional Standards, Training, and Additional Professional Education of Employees. The name has new words, i.e. ‘qualification of employees’ and ‘professional standards.’ Clause 195.1 is changed and supplemented with clauses 195.2 and 195.3. All those changes are caused by introduction of professional standards and the obligation of some employees to enforce them in some cases while concluding labor agreements. Said amendments are effective as of July 1st, 2016. Employees must enforce professional standards for certain positions if work on said positions involves compensations, benefits, or restrictions, and if qualification requirements for the employee necessary to perform their duties are set forth in the Labor Code of Russia, Federal Laws or other statutory instruments of Russia. State and municipal entities, extra-budgetary funds, state unitary enterprises, as well as state corporation and companies where the state’s share exceeds 50 per cent are obliged to enforce professional standards. Otherwise, if the legislation does not provide qualification requirements, professional standards are non-binding.
- The Decree of the Russian Government “On Limit Values of Revenue from Entrepreneurship for Each Category of Small and Medium Entrepreneurship Subjects” d.d. April 4th, 2016, sets forth new categories to determine special statuses of enterprises, i.e. micro, small and medium ones. Determination of a status entails several advantages and benefits for organizations. Thus, as of January 1st, 2017, organizations classified as micro enterprises may avoid approving some local instruments, and apply a typical form of labor agreements instead.
- The Federal Law 272-FZ d.d. July 3rd, 2016, introduces amendments to the Labor Code as to the procedures of remuneration of labor. The same law introduces changes to the Code of Administrative Violations, which stiffen employer’s responsibility for their failure to pay out the salary, or to pay it in time/to the full extent. The amendments are effective as of October 3rd, 2016.
Clause 136 of the Labor Code of Russia sets forth the limits for the term of salary payout, which is not later than in 15 calendar days as of the end of the payable period. This means that the rules of internal work procedures have to set forth the days of payment
- for the first 15 days (from days 16 to 30/31) of the current period;
- for the second 15 days of said period (from days 1 to 15 of the following month.)
Terms for payment of bonus payments awarded for a month, a quarter year, a year, or other period may be set forth in a collective agreement or a local regulatory instrument. Thus, if a provision on bonuses stipulates that bonuses are payable in March of the next year, it has to be included in payroll calculation for March, and paid on the day set as the payout day for March. A local regulatory instrument may also stipulate a particular date for payout of said bonus.
The amount of remuneration for backdated wages has changed as well: now it stands at 1/150 of the policy rate (Clause 236 of the Labor Code of Russia.)
In case of disputes concerning failure to pay out wages and other remunerations, the term for legal action is prolonged. Now it covers one year as of the date of payout, including cases of failure to pay after termination of labor agreement (clause 392 of the Labor Code.) Clause 5.27 of the Code of Administrative Violations now includes clauses on administrative liability for undue payment of salaries, or its payout to the extent which is lower than that stipulated by the labor legislation. If said actions have no features of criminal actions, the employer’s director will be mulcted up to 20,000 rubles; individual entrepreneur up to 5,000 rubles; an enterprise up to 50,000 rubles. The penalty fee will increase dramatically in case of further violations.
- The decree of the Russian Ministry of Labor No. 588n d.d. October 31st, 2016 introduces amendments to the Guidelines on Filling in Service Records as approved by the Decree of the Ministry of Labor and Social Development No. 69 d.d. October 10th, 2003. Said changes are related to the fact that the Federal Law 82-FZ d.d. April 6th, 2015 stipulates that enterprises could be exempt from their duty to have a stamp under certain circumstances. Now, entries in a service record could be exempt from certification with a stamp in case the company does not use a stamp, and a respective condition is set forth in the organization’s charter.
- The Decree of the Government of Russia No. 1213 “On Amendments to Clause 10 of the Provision on Federal State Supervision over Compliance with Labor Legislation and Other Statutory Instruments Containing Labor Legislation Provisions” d.d. November 18th, 2016 supplements the list of grounds for non-scheduled inspections by labor authorities with a provision on claims of employees stating their wages aren’t paid or not paid in full, or if their salary amount is lower than the minimum monthly wage (effective as of December 1st, 2016.)
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