The coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19) served as a trigger for a targeted effort to assess and manage the possible effects of it. The Russian Government continues to update the measures taken or introduce new ones, trying to act ahead of the possible adverse consequences. Our lawyers are closely monitoring the situation, watching out for the new measures introduced in relation to the coronavirus.
We offer overview of key legislative changes and recommendations for business in the current pandemic.

On May 5, 2020, a law comes into force that establishes the procedure for experimenting on the use of employment in electronic form without their duplicating on paper documents by certain employers and employees. More detailed rules for experimenting will be set out in the regulations on conducting the experiment, which must be approved by the Russian Ministry of Labor.

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.

In its recent Ruling, the Russian Constitutional court clarified the provisions of the Labor Code regarding the conclusion of a fixed-term employment contract with persons who are employed to perform certain work when the date of completion of work cannot be determined by a specific date (paragraph 8, part 1 of article 59 of the Labor Code).

On April 18, 2020, the President of the Russian Federation signed a decree “On temporary measures to regulate the legal status of foreign citizens and stateless persons in the Russian Federation in connection with the threat of the further spread of a new coronavirus infection (COVID-19)” (“Decree”).

By the end of 2020, the Pension Fund must be notified of the employee’s employment and dismissal within one business day

On February 04, 2020, the Russian Constitutional Court recognized clause 2 of article 67 of the Russian Labour Code (employer’s obligation to issue an employment contract within 3 business days from the date of the employee’s actual work authorization or the date of the court’s recognition of civil relations as labor ones) and paragraph 1 of clause 8 of article 13 of the Federal law No. 115-FZ “On the legal status of foreign citizens in the Russian Federation” (obligation of an employer or customer to notify regarding the conclusion or termination (cancellation) of the labor or civil contract with a foreign citizen within 3 business days from the date of concluding or termination (cancellation) of the relevant contract) as constitutionally acceptable.

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.

The Moscow Mayor Decree dd 04.04.2020 No. 39-UM “On amendments being made to the Moscow Mayor decree dd 05.03.2020 No. 12-UM” (“Mayor Decree”) stipulates a number of amendments.

The recent Decree of the Russian President (“Decree”) establishes non-working days for the week from March 30 to April 3, 2020, to ensure the sanitary and epidemiological well-being of the population on the Russian territory, with the preservation of salaries for employees.