Review of recent changes in labor legislation - 2020

Independent assessment of qualifications

An independent assessment of qualifications will allow the employee to independently confirm the compliance of his qualifications with the requirements of the professional standard or qualification requirements.
Why does the employee need this? In essence, an independent assessment of qualifications is a paid professional examination, the results of which determine whether the employee’s qualifications comply with the provisions of the professional standard or the qualification requirements established in other regulations. Special organizations that have permission to do so—qualification assessment centers (QACs)—can conduct a professional exam to test an employee’s qualifications.

Employees who have a certificate of qualification receive advantages in employment in those organizations where the application of professional standards is mandatory.

For companies operating in the B2C system, the presence of qualified employees whose qualifications are confirmed by certificates of independent assessment of qualifications and compliance with professional standards is one of the advantages.

Federal Law No. 238-FZ dated July 3, 2016 “On independent assessment of qualifications” came into force on January 1, 2020.

1. A procedure has been established for conducting an independent assessment of the qualifications of employees.
2. The assessment is carried out by independent qualification assessment centers.
3. The employee will be able to independently confirm the compliance of his qualifications with the requirements of the professional standard or qualification requirements.
4. An employee can undergo an independent qualification assessment at the direction and expense of the employer. If an employer refers employees to undergo an assessment, it must set out the referral procedure in a collective agreement or employment agreement. The employee's consent to undergo the assessment is required.
5. An independent assessment of compliance with the professional standard is exclusively voluntary.
6. Employees retain their place of work and average salary during the off-the-job assessment.

Wages, unemployment benefits, increase in minimum wage and calculation of sick leave

Salary : The current year will bring a slight increase in salary. Thus, last year the average salary was 31,200.00. In the coming year, the average salary will be no more than 33,000.00. The main reason is the rather difficult economic situation in the country.

Unemployment benefits : As you know, every year the government of our country sets a certain amount of unemployment benefits. In the coming year, the maximum possible amount to receive benefits will be 4900.00 per month. The minimum benefit amount will be 850.00 per month.

But it is worth considering that residents of the Far North and other regions that are equivalent to this region will receive increased benefits. And it will be accrued according to the coefficient of a specific area. Also, people who worked in Chernobyl after the explosion can count on an increased amount of benefits. Also, other isolated cases.

Increasing the minimum wage : In the coming year, according to the resolution of the ministry, the minimum wage will be 6204.00. When compared with the past year, this payment has increased by 240 rubles. In addition, it is planned to further increase this indicator in the near future.

Calculation of sick leave : When paying for temporary incapacity (sick leave), the employee’s average earnings for a certain time are always taken into account. But in some situations the minimum wage may be applied, namely:

• If a person is employed part-time;
• A person engaged in part-time work;
• If the employee has less than 6 months of work experience;
• A woman on maternity leave.

Microenterprises

Federal Law of July 3, 2016 No. 348-FZ “On amendments to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation regarding the specifics of regulating the labor of persons working for employers - small businesses that are classified as micro-enterprises.”
Came into force on January 1, 2020. The Labor Code has been supplemented with Chapter 48.1. Peculiarities of labor regulation of persons working for employers - small businesses, which are classified as micro-enterprises.

With the introduction of these changes, personnel records management at micro-enterprises is simplified. Individual entrepreneurs and organizations that are classified as micro-enterprises may refuse to approve some local acts. In this case, all conditions and guarantees must be included in the employment contract, which will be concluded in a standard form.

Such mandatory local regulations (LNA) include Internal Labor Regulations and Regulations on the procedure for processing personal data of employees. Other LNAs may be mandatory depending on the specifics of the organization. For example, the Regulations on remuneration and bonuses, the Regulations on the traveling nature of work, etc. Micro-enterprises are currently exempt from such obligations. But they are entrusted with the obligation to spell out in detail in employment contracts what previously had to be spelled out in the LNA.

Will this be a significant reduction in labor costs in terms of document flow for employers belonging to micro-enterprises?

The employer has the right to unilaterally make changes to the PVTR (within the framework of the law, of course), familiarize employees with these changes under the employee’s signature and oblige employees to comply with the LNA. This procedure is less labor-intensive than amending employee employment contracts, since the terms of the labor agreement can only be changed by mutual agreement of the parties. There are, of course, cases when an employer can unilaterally make changes to the TD, but this procedure can only be applied in certain situations, it is complex and fraught with consequences.

If an employer-microenterprise decides to abandon the LNA, then he has no risk of receiving penalties for the absence of a LNA, for violating the procedure for its approval, or for the fact that when hiring an employee, he forgot to familiarize him with the LNA against signature.

The register of organizations classified as micro-enterprises is maintained by the Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation: https://rmsp.nalog.ru/.

Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated August 27, 2016 No. 858 “On the standard form of an employment contract concluded between an employee and an employer - a small business entity that is classified as a micro-enterprise.

A standard form of employment contract has been approved, which must be used by employers who belong to micro-enterprises that decide to refuse to approve local regulations.

The standard form may be used by other employers.

Changes in labor legislation in 2020

In July 2020, the 81st edition of the Labor Code came into force.

The number of changes made in 2020 is small, which may create a false illusion of the possibility of their non-application or their insignificance. Each inaccuracy in the application of legal norms of legislation has its own cost, which is determined by inspection and supervisory authorities, and legal disputes with employees. The standard of punishment was significantly increased, as evidenced, among other things, by changes to Article 5.27 of the Code of Administrative Offences. Considering the busy nature of specialists who are guided in their work by the Labor Code, I offer a brief overview of the changes in 2020, reflecting some of the features of their implementation.

The areas of labor relations regulation changed in 2020 include:

1. a clarified procedure for amending, suspending, or invalidating the provisions of the Labor Code;
2. labor relations with persons under the age of majority;
3. establishment and regulation of part-time work;
4. remuneration for work outside the established working hours;
5. payment of compensation to the head of the organization upon his dismissal;
6. introduction of the concept of “foreign financial instruments”;
7. some features of regulation of wages for certain categories of employees of credit institutions.

Based on the quality of the main changes that came into force or were introduced into the text of the Labor Code, the significance of these changes can be determined.

Let's consider the main points of innovation and some aspects of their application by employers.

1. The procedure for amending, suspending, or invalidating the provisions of the Labor Code has been clarified.

The added part six of article 5 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation reads as follows:

Amendments to this Code, as well as suspension of its provisions or recognition of such provisions as invalid, are carried out by separate federal laws. Provisions providing for amendments to this Code, suspension of the validity of its provisions or recognition of such provisions as invalid cannot be included in the texts of federal laws amending other legislative acts of the Russian Federation, suspending their validity or declaring them invalid, or containing an independent subject of legal regulation .

The current parts three and four of this article read:

Labor law standards contained in other federal laws must comply with this Code.

In case of contradictions between this Code and another federal law containing labor law norms, this Code is applied.

Joint consideration of the added part six, the current parts three and four of this article and the preamble of the Resolution of the State Statistics Committee of the Russian Federation dated 01/05/2004 N 1 “On approval of unified forms of primary accounting documentation for recording labor and its payment”, clearly determines the employer’s obligation to use the documents specified in the Resolution. And the reference to Article 9 of the Federal Law of December 6, 2011 N 402-FZ “On Accounting”, which allows the head of an economic entity to determine the forms of primary accounting documents, obliges the employer not only to use the established forms of primary accounting documents for accounting labor and its payment, but and indicate them in the accounting policies of the economic entity. Law enforcement in labor relations of forms of primary accounting documents means the obligation:

— the employer to issue primary accounting documents with all procedures for familiarizing employees,

— the employee signs the relevant primary accounting documents,

which, in turn, requires the employer to properly regulate these processes in internal labor regulations, employment contracts, job descriptions (or similar documents) and other local regulations, including the accounting policies of a legal entity.

2. Labor relations with persons under the age of majority are subject to significant changes.

First of all, the employer of minor workers should determine whether the employee has completed general education or not. If you have completed general education, an employment contract can be concluded with an employee who has reached 14 years of age. Article 63 provides for the possibility of concluding an employment contract with an employee who has not received general education for legally established reasons or is undergoing training at this level. Employers intending to enter into employment contracts with citizens who have reached the age of 14 years should reflect in the collective agreement (if any), internal labor regulations, job descriptions (or similar documents) the procedure for concluding contracts with minor workers, including reflecting the procedures for providing light work that does not cause harm to their health, and procedures for ensuring that there is no harm to the given employee’s mastering of the educational program in compliance with the requirements for the protection of information protected by the state, including personal data.

When concluding an employment contract with employees under 16 and 18 years of age, it should be taken into account that they have a reduced working time of 24 and 35 hours per week, respectively, and employees of these age categories who are receiving general education or secondary vocational education and who combine education during the academic year with work, working hours are set at half the age-appropriate norm. Similar requirements for reducing the duration of daily work (shift) are contained in Article 94, highlighting the duration of daily work (shift) during the holiday period and during the school year.

3. Part-time working hours can be established for any employee for any period agreed upon by the parties to the employment contract.

This possibility is provided for in Article 93. The employer’s obligation to establish a part-time working schedule for certain categories of employees is secured by the newly introduced part of the above article. The legislator included a pregnant woman, one of the parents (guardian, trustee) with a child under the age of fourteen (a disabled child under the age of eighteen), and persons caring for a sick family member in accordance with a medical report.

The possibility of establishing part-time working hours and the procedure for establishing part-time working hours should be reflected in the collective agreement (if any), internal labor regulations, defining the procedure for the employee to initiate the establishment of this working time regime and its proper reflection in the terms of the employment contract.

When determining the working time and rest time regime, it should be taken into account that an employee working on a part-time basis can have an irregular working day only if the agreement of the parties to the employment contract establishes a part-time working week, but with a full working day (shift).

Also, Article 108 defines the possibility of not providing time for a break for rest and lunch if the duration of daily work (shift) established for the employee does not exceed four hours. This opportunity may be provided by a collective agreement (if any), internal labor regulations or an employment contract to any employee working a given daily working time.

4. Remuneration for work outside the established working hours has acquired certainty of calculation.

The newly introduced part three of Article 152 clarifies that work performed in excess of working hours on weekends and non-working holidays and paid at an increased rate or compensated by the provision of another day of rest in accordance with Article 153 is not taken into account when determining the duration of overtime work subject to payment in increased amount in accordance with part one of this article. Those. if the employee has already been paid at an increased rate for work on weekends or non-working holidays, then overtime work is not subject to additional increased payment. This norm should be included in the collective agreement (if any), internal labor regulations, regulations on remuneration (if any) and the accounting policies of the organization. It is important to remember that the duration of work of each employee outside the established working hours is limited to 120 hours per year and 4 hours for two consecutive days.

Article 153 specifies payment for hours actually worked on a weekend or non-working holiday in an increased amount. If part of the working day (shift) falls on a weekend or non-working holiday, the hours actually worked on the weekend or non-working holiday (from 0 hours to 24 hours) are paid at an increased rate. This norm should also be included in the collective agreement (if any), internal labor regulations, regulations on remuneration (if any) and the accounting policies of the organization.

5. Payment of compensation to the head of an organization upon his dismissal is made only in connection with the adoption by the authorized body of a legal entity, or the owner of the organization’s property, or a person (body) authorized by the owner of a decision to terminate the employment contract.

In other cases, such payments are unauthorized. The amount of compensation also has limitations reflected in Articles 349.3 and 279. These norms should be included in the text of the employment contract with the head of the organization in compliance with all procedures for changing the terms of the employment contract determined by the parties.

6. The concept of “foreign financial instruments” has been introduced, allowing the employer to dismiss an employee if there is a reason for the employer to lose confidence in the employee when the employee or his spouse uses foreign financial instruments.

Foreign financial instruments in the meaning defined by Federal Law No. 79-FZ of May 7, 2013 “On the prohibition for certain categories of persons to open and have accounts (deposits), store cash and valuables in foreign banks located outside the territory of the Russian Federation, and own and (or) use foreign financial instruments” are considered:

1) securities and related financial instruments of non-residents and (or) foreign structures without forming a legal entity, which, in accordance with the international standard “Securities - International Securities Identification System (International Securities Identification Codes (ISIN)", approved by the international standardization organization has been assigned an international security identification code. In this Federal Law, the concept of “foreign structure without forming a legal entity” is used in the meaning defined by the legislation of the Russian Federation on taxes and fees, the concept of “non-resident” in the meaning defined in paragraph 7 of part 1 of the article 1 Federal Law of December 10, 2003 N 173-FZ “On Currency Regulation and Currency Control”;

2) participation shares, shares in the authorized (share) capitals of organizations whose place of registration or location is a foreign state, as well as in the property of foreign structures without forming a legal entity, not defined in accordance with paragraph 1 of this part as securities and classified financial instruments to them;

3) contracts that are derivative financial instruments and defined by part twenty-nine of Article 2 of the Federal Law of April 22, 1996 N 39-FZ “On the Securities Market”, if at least one of the parties to such a contract is a non-resident and (or) a foreign structure without formation of a legal entity;

4) trust management of property established in accordance with the legislation of a foreign state, the founder and (or) beneficiary of which is the person specified in Part 1 of Article 2 of this Federal Law;

5) loan agreements, if at least one of the parties to such an agreement is a non-resident and (or) a foreign structure without forming a legal entity;

6) loan agreements concluded with foreign banks or other foreign credit organizations located outside the territory of the Russian Federation.

Due to the loss of trust, the initiative to terminate the employment contract will come from the employer in accordance with paragraph 7.1 of Article 81. The employer will have to follow all procedures for terminating the employment contract on his initiative, including taking care of the availability of necessary and sufficient evidence (Article 56 of the Civil Code). Procedural Code of the Russian Federation dated November 14, 2002) on the validity of such dismissal. The concepts of “foreign financial instruments”, “loss of trust” and the procedure for loss of trust by the employer must be defined by local regulations, including a collective agreement (if any), internal labor regulations, including the issuance of a separate detailed regulatory document, and also reflected in the employment agreement (contract) of the employee (employee).

7. Some features of the regulation of wages for senior categories of employees of credit institutions have been clarified.

In particular, a day has been determined after which it is prohibited to increase the amount of wages for the head of the bank, his deputies, members of the bank’s collegial body, the chief accountant, his deputies, the head of a bank branch, his deputies, the chief accountant of the branch: the day of approval of the participation plan of the Bank of Russia or the participation plan of the state corporation "Deposit Insurance Agency" in implementing measures to prevent bank bankruptcy.

For the above-mentioned categories of bank employees, the employer’s obligation to pay incentive payments, allowances, bonuses and other incentive payments is terminated if the Bank of Russia’s participation plan in the implementation of measures to prevent bankruptcy is approved.

The previously mentioned categories of employees of credit institutions, in the event of their dismissal, are prohibited from payments exceeding the amount of payments provided for in Article 181, if the participation plan of the Bank of Russia or the participation plan of the state corporation “Deposit Insurance Agency” for the implementation of measures to prevent bank bankruptcy have been approved. This prohibition applies even if these payments are provided for by a collective agreement, agreements, local regulations, or employment contracts.

These restrictions should be reflected in the collective agreement (if any), internal labor regulations, regulations on wages (if any), and employee employment contracts.

In conclusion, it is necessary to note that, according to Article 12, a local normative act or its individual provisions cease to be valid due to the entry into force of a law or other normative legal act containing labor law norms, which may invalidate many legal norms of the regulations of organizations falling under the considered earlier changes to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

Foreign workers

On January 1, 2020, Order of the Ministry of Health of Russia dated October 27, 2020 No. 803n “On Amendments to the Rules of Compulsory Health Insurance”, approved by Order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation dated February 28, 2011 No. 158n, came into force, in order to implement provisions of the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union, signed in Astana on May 29, 2014.
Foreigners, citizens of states that are members of the Eurasian Economic Union, temporarily staying in the Russian Federation, can take out a compulsory health insurance policy. This rule applies to foreign citizens who work in the Russian Federation under employment contracts.

Appearance of a new report in the Pension Fund

In connection with the maintenance of electronic work books, the employer will have to submit new personalized reports with information about the work experience of employees.

From January 1, 2020, employers will be required to provide information about the work activities of insured persons to the PFR information system.

Information will be submitted monthly no later than the 15th day of the month following the reporting month.

From January 1, 2021, in cases of hiring or dismissal, this information must be sent no later than the business day following the day of publication of the document that is the basis for hiring or dismissal.

It is assumed that employers will transfer information about the work activities of employees to the PFR information system using the SZV-TD form, but it has not yet been approved.

Simply and easily send the SZV-TD report to the Pension Fund of Russia, containing information about the work activities of employees.

Try it

Employer checks

Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of February 13, 2020 No. 177 of March 1, 2020.
Labor inspectors will check employers using approved checklist forms.

Rostrud will publish the approved forms of checklists on its official website on the Internet https://www.rostrud.ru/.

Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of February 16, 2020 No. 197 of March 1, 2020.

A risk-based approach began to be used during routine inspections of employers. Now the frequency of scheduled inspections depends on which risk category the organization’s activities are classified into. The risk category depends on the indicator of potential harm that could be caused, for example, to the life and health of workers, their labor rights, including the payment of wages and compliance with the deadlines for their payment.

Federal Law No. 125-FZ dated June 18, 2017 “On Amendments to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation” came into force on June 29, 2017.

Workers will be able to send electronic applications to employers

Currently under consideration is bill No. 736455-7, which allows for the exchange of electronic applications between employees and employers. It is intended to enable employees to send documents using electronic or other technical means that allow the content of the message to be reproduced unchanged on a tangible medium. If the bill is adopted, the Labor Code will be supplemented with articles 15.1 - 15.3.

Initially, the bill provided that amendments to the Labor Code would take effect on October 1, 2020. But so far there are no clear decisions on this issue.

Irregular working hours

1. Amendments have been made to Article 101 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.
2. The procedure for organizing irregular working hours has changed. Now, employees working part-time can have irregular working hours only if they work part-time, but with a full-time shift.
3. Breaks for rest and food.

In addition, amendments have been made to Article 108 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.
Article 108, which regulates the procedure for providing breaks for rest and food, is supplemented with the following wording: “Internal labor regulations or an employment contract may provide that the specified break may not be provided to an employee if the duration of daily work (shift) established for him does not exceed four hours".

Labor Code of the Russian Federation 2020: changes on the labor of minors

In this part, the law of July 1, 2017 No. 139-FZ made the following amendments:

• The consent of the parent and the guardianship authority to conclude an employment contract with a person who has reached the age of 14 must now be given only in writing (Article 63 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation);
• The categories of students under 18 years of age whose standard working time should not exceed half of that established for a shortened working day have been specified - these are students receiving general or secondary vocational education (Part 4 of Article 92 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation);
• The maximum duration of daily work for workers from 14 to 15 years old has been introduced - 4 hours (Part 1 of Article 94 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

Payment for work on weekends and non-working holidays

According to Federal Law No. 125-FZ dated June 18, 2017 “On Amendments to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation,” which entered into force on June 29, 2020:

• Article 153 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation on payment for work on weekends and non-working holidays has been supplemented with the following paragraph: “An increased payment is made to all employees for hours actually worked on a weekend or non-working holiday. If part of the working day (shift) falls on a weekend or non-working holiday, the hours actually worked on the weekend or non-working holiday (from 0 hours to 24 hours) are paid at an increased rate.”
• Note: Articles 152 and 153 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation have been supplemented with norms that were previously used on the basis of the Explanation of the State Committee for Labor of the USSR and the Presidium of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions dated 08.08.1966 N 13/P-21. This document was recognized as not valid on the territory of the Russian Federation in May of this year, therefore its provisions were transferred to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

For compulsory medical insurance funds, maximum levels have been established for the ratio of salaries of management and “ordinary” workers

On January 1, 2020, in accordance with the Federal Law of July 3, 2016 No. 347-FZ “On Amendments to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation,” new provisions of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation came into force regarding the salaries of managers, their deputies and chief accountants and the maximum level salaries of these categories of workers in some organizations.

Thus, the range of organizations for which the terms of remuneration of the specified employees are established by an employment contract on the basis of the relevant legal acts has been expanded. The territorial Compulsory Health Insurance Fund (MHIF) has been added to the extra-budgetary funds and state and municipal institutions and unitary enterprises.

The law was adopted, published and put into effect in 2020, so we will present only those innovations that were established from January 1, 2020.

Thus, from this date, the maximum levels of the ratio of the average monthly salary of managers, their deputies, chief accountants of state extra-budgetary funds of the Russian Federation, territorial compulsory medical insurance funds, state and municipal institutions, state unitary enterprises and municipal unitary enterprises and the average monthly salary of employees of such funds, institutions, enterprises, established in accordance with Part 2 Art. 145 Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

Personal Information

Federal Law No. 13-FZ dated 02/07/2017 On amendments to the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses came into force on July 1, 2020.

• Amendments have been made to Article 13.11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, which provides for administrative liability for violation of the procedure established by law for the collection, storage, use or dissemination of information about citizens (personal data).
• Instead of a single type of violation, seven appeared, each of which provides for separate liability.

Drivers

Federal Law No. 132-FZ dated 05/05/2014 on amendments to Article 3 of the Federal Law “On Amendments to the Federal Law “On Road Safety” and the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offences”.
Came into force on June 1, 2020. A new procedure has come into force, according to which a foreign citizen, regardless of his status, can be hired as a driver only if he has a Russian driver’s license (Article 3 of the Law of May 7, 2013 No. 92-FZ, Article 2 of the Law of 2 November 2013 No. 285-FZ). If this requirement is violated, the organization will face administrative liability.

Federal Law No. 204-FZ of July 26, 2017 on amending Article 25 of the Federal Law “On Road Safety”. Came into force on July 26, 2020.

• Citizens of states where Russian is the official language were allowed to work as drivers in Russia using national driver's licenses.
• Such states include: the Republic of Belarus; The Republic of Kazakhstan; The Republic of Tajikistan; Republic of Kyrgyzstan.