Federal Law No. 407-FZ dated December 8, 2020 made material amendments to the section of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation which regulates distance work. The necessity for such amendments became evident as soon as employers started to switch their staff to work from home in large numbers at the beginning of 2020.

In addition to recent measures supporting the economy and preventing spread of COVID-19 a new law No. 166-FZ dated 8 June, 2020 «On amendments to certain legislative acts of the Russian Federation with a view to taking urgent measures aimed at ensuring sustainable economic development and preventing the consequences of the spread of a novel coronavirus infection» was adopted (hereinafter referred to as Law no. 166). Law No. 166 amended regulations provided by the Bankruptcy law with several novels.

Deputies of the Moscow city Duma introduced a bill suggesting adding provisions for remote work to the Labour Code. The ground for making such amendments are the difficulties in formalising transfer of employees to remote work which the employers faced during the pandemic.

The State Duma of the Russian Federation adopted the Law¹ in the third reading which provides the opportunity to require early termination of leases for tenants affected by the deteriorating economic situation resulting from the spread of a new coronavirus infection. The final version of the Law in this part has undergone multiple fundamental changes.

On April 30, 2020, The Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation (hereinafter referred to as “the SC”) adopted the Review on certain matters of judicial practice related to the application of legislation and measures to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) No. 2 (hereinafter “Review”). The release of the second review was known in advance: it was reported on the official website of the SC, and after the release of the first review many unresolved issues remained.

The period from March 30th till April 30th were declared as non-working days with preservation of salary payments under President’s decrees No. 206 of 25 March 2020 “On declaration of non-working days in the Russian Federation” and No. 239 of 2 April 2020 “On measures for people’s sanitary-epidemiological welfare in condition of new coronavirus infection (COVID-19) spread”. Since primary intention of decrees is to reduce personal contacts during communication of disease, employers subsequently raised up questions about remote work and compensations during this period.

On the June, 26th 2018 the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation adopted the Resolution No. 27 “On challenging of the major and interested party transactions” (hereinafter — The Resolution).

On 30 July 2018, the Federal Constitutional Law № 1 FKZ “On amending the Federal Constitutional law „On the Judicial System of the Russian Federation“ and certain Federal Constitutional Laws in regard to creating general jurisdiction courts of cassation and general jurisdiction appellate courts” dated 29 July 2018 was published.