What is the maximum duration of a collective agreement?

In the process of activity of each organization, many documents are always generated. The main volume is related to conducting commercial activities, interaction with counterparties, communication with government agencies, etc.

Each document has certain storage periods. These terms depend on the type of document and the relations regulated by it. Copies of contracts, agreements, payment documents can and should be presented as evidence in court or a supervisory authority. All this determines their shelf life.

But in addition to the commercial activities of the enterprise, a huge amount of documentation is associated with labor relations. Personnel documentation has significant storage periods, which depend not only on the statute of limitations, but also on the average human life expectancy.

An enterprise employee is not only a well-functioning mechanism, but also a person who, at the end of his life, receives the right to various benefits from the state, and the amount of benefits may depend on the work performed and its duration.

All this is confirmed by documents, the shelf life of which depends on the duration of human life and is determined by the Federal Archive. The list and storage periods of documents are regularly updated. Thus, at the end of February 2020, the order of Rosarkhiv came into force, approving the list of standard documents created by government bodies and organizations, and their storage periods (Order of Rosarkhiv dated December 20, 2019 No. 236 “On approval of the List of standard administrative archival documents generated in process of activities of state bodies, local government bodies and organizations, indicating their storage periods" (registered with the Ministry of Justice of Russia on 02/06/2020 No. 57449)).

Below I offer revised excerpts from the approved list indicating shelf life.

Article 40. Collective agreement

A collective agreement is a legal act that regulates social and labor relations in an organization or an individual entrepreneur and is concluded by employees and the employer represented by their representatives.
If agreement is not reached between the parties on certain provisions of the draft collective agreement within three months from the date of the start of collective negotiations, the parties must sign a collective agreement on the agreed terms and simultaneously draw up a protocol of disagreements.

Unsettled disagreements may be the subject of further collective negotiations or resolved in accordance with this Code and other federal laws.

A collective agreement can be concluded in the organization as a whole, in its branches, representative offices and other separate structural units.

To conduct collective negotiations on the preparation, conclusion or amendment of a collective agreement in a branch, representative office or other separate structural unit of the organization, the employer vests the necessary powers with the head of this unit or another person in accordance with part one of Article 33 of this Code. In this case, the right to represent the interests of employees is vested in the representative of the employees of this division, determined in accordance with the rules provided for conducting collective bargaining in the organization as a whole (parts two - five of Article 37 of this Code).

Extension

We discussed the concept and content of a collective agreement above. Such documents must take into account the provisions of the Labor Code. According to this, the parties to the agreement can extend the validity period of the document when the previous period has expired. This fact can be included in the automatic renewal clause. But the conclusion of the agreement, as well as its extension, cannot exceed three years.

A collective agreement can be automatically extended only if neither party has spoken out against this action.

But according to legislative norms, both the employer and employees may express a desire to draw up a new agreement. In this case, the previous contents of the collective agreement will be canceled, along with the terms and conditions.

The parties must remember that the agreement must contain a clause regarding the duration of its validity. Otherwise, the automatic extension of the contract will be considered illegal and contrary to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

Article 41. Content and structure of the collective agreement

The content and structure of the collective agreement are determined by the parties.

A collective agreement, taking into account the financial and economic situation of the employer, may establish benefits and advantages for employees, working conditions that are more favorable in comparison with those established by laws, other regulatory legal acts, and agreements.

Part four is no longer valid.

The collective agreement may include obligations of employees and the employer on the following issues:

forms, systems and amounts of remuneration;

payment of benefits, compensation;

a mechanism for regulating wages taking into account rising prices, inflation levels, and the fulfillment of indicators determined by the collective agreement;

employment, retraining, conditions for releasing workers;

working time and rest time, including issues of granting and duration of vacations;

improving working conditions and labor protection for workers, including women and youth;

respecting the interests of workers during the privatization of state and municipal property;

environmental safety and health protection of workers at work;

guarantees and benefits for employees combining work with training;

health improvement and recreation for employees and members of their families;

partial or full payment for food for employees;

control over the implementation of the collective agreement, the procedure for making changes and additions to it, the responsibility of the parties, ensuring normal conditions for the activities of employee representatives, the procedure for informing employees about the implementation of the collective agreement;

refusal to strike if the relevant conditions of the collective agreement are met;

other issues determined by the parties.

Parties

A collective agreement is concluded between the employees of the enterprise and directly its manager or his authorized person. The role of a representative on behalf of the manager can be his deputy, the head of a department, the company’s lawyer, as well as any third party authorized to represent it. Any elected body can act on behalf of employees. In private cases, this is a trade union organization.

These parties determine the content and structure of the collective agreement, as well as the timing of its conclusion. Why do organizations resort to this type of agreement? Because it carries more extensive obligations than a regular employment contract.

Article 43. Validity of a collective agreement

A collective agreement is concluded for a period of no more than three years and comes into force on the day it is signed by the parties or on the date established by the collective agreement.

The parties have the right to extend the collective agreement for a period of no more than three years.

When reorganizing or changing the form of ownership of an organization, either party has the right to send proposals to the other party to conclude a new collective agreement or extend the validity of the previous one for up to three years.

The collective agreement applies to all employees of the organization, individual entrepreneur, and the collective agreement concluded in a branch, representative office or other separate structural unit of the organization applies to all employees of the corresponding unit.

The collective agreement remains valid in cases of changing the name of the organization, changing the type of state or municipal institution, reorganizing the organization in the form of transformation, as well as terminating the employment contract with the head of the organization.

When changing the form of ownership of an organization, the collective agreement remains in force for three months from the date of transfer of ownership rights.

When an organization is reorganized in the form of a merger, annexation, division, or spin-off, the collective agreement remains in force throughout the entire period of the reorganization.

When an organization is liquidated, the collective agreement remains in force throughout the entire period of liquidation.

Deadlines

The beginning of the collective agreement is the day when both parties put their signatures. Collective agreements (the concept, content, conclusion of such documents we described in detail in this article) are signed for a period of one to three years.

Agreements of this type are not concluded for a longer period of time. Moreover, the decision of the collective bargaining commission is considered valid if over 50% of its participants voted for signing the document.

Article 45. Agreement. Types of agreements

Agreement is a legal act regulating social and labor relations and establishing general principles for regulating related economic relations, concluded between authorized representatives of workers and employers at the federal, interregional, regional, sectoral (intersectoral) and territorial levels of social partnership within their competence.

By agreement of the parties participating in collective bargaining, agreements can be bilateral or trilateral.

Agreements containing obligations, the financial support for the implementation of which is carried out at the expense of the relevant budgets, are concluded with the mandatory participation of the relevant state authorities or local governments that are parties to the agreement.

Depending on the scope of regulated social and labor relations, agreements may be concluded: general, interregional, regional, sectoral (intersectoral), territorial and other agreements.

The General Agreement establishes general principles for regulating social and labor relations and related economic relations at the federal level.

The interregional agreement establishes general principles for regulating social and labor relations and related economic relations at the level of two or more constituent entities of the Russian Federation.

The regional agreement establishes general principles for regulating social and labor relations and related economic relations at the level of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation.

An industry (inter-industry) agreement establishes general terms of remuneration, guarantees, compensation and benefits for employees of the industry (industries). A sectoral (intersectoral) agreement can be concluded at the federal, interregional, regional, or territorial levels of social partnership.

The territorial agreement establishes general working conditions, guarantees, compensation and benefits for employees in the territory of the relevant municipality.

Other agreements are agreements that can be concluded by the parties at any level of social partnership in certain areas of regulation of social and labor relations and other relations directly related to them.

At the federal, interregional, regional, territorial levels of social partnership, one tripartite general, interregional, regional, territorial agreement can be concluded.

Article 46. Content and structure of the agreement

The content and structure of the agreement are determined by agreement between representatives of the parties, who are free to choose the range of issues for discussion and inclusion in the agreement. The agreement must include provisions on the duration of the agreement and the procedure for monitoring its implementation.

The agreement may include mutual obligations of the parties on the following issues:

remuneration (including establishing the size of minimum tariff rates, salaries (official salaries), establishing the ratio of the amount of wages and the size of its conditionally constant part, as well as determining the components of wages included in its conditionally constant part, establishing the procedure for ensuring increasing the level of real wages);

guarantees, compensation and benefits for employees;

work and rest schedules;

employment, conditions for releasing workers;

training and additional professional education of workers, including for the purpose of modernizing production;

labor conditions and safety;

development of social partnership, including the participation of employees in the management of the organization;

additional pension insurance;

other issues determined by the parties.

Article 48. Validity of the agreement

The agreement comes into force on the day it is signed by the parties or on the date established by the agreement.

The duration of the agreement is determined by the parties, but cannot exceed three years. The parties have the right to extend the agreement once for a period of no more than three years.

The agreement applies to:

all employers who are members of the association of employers that entered into the agreement, as well as members of associations of employers and other non-profit organizations included in the association of employers that entered into the agreement. Termination of membership in an employers' association does not relieve the employer from fulfilling the agreement concluded during the period of his membership. An employer who joined an association of employers during the period of validity of the agreement is obliged to fulfill the obligations stipulated by this agreement;

employers who are not members of the association of employers that concluded the agreement, who authorized the said association on their behalf to participate in collective negotiations and conclude an agreement or acceded to the agreement after its conclusion;

bodies of state power and local self-government bodies within the limits of their obligations.

In relation to employers - state bodies, local government bodies, state or municipal institutions, state or municipal unitary enterprises, the agreement is also valid if it is concluded on their behalf by an authorized state body or local government body (Article 34 of this Code).

The agreement applies to all employees who have an employment relationship with the employers specified in parts three and four of this article.

In cases where several agreements apply to employees at the same time, the terms of the agreements that are most favorable to the employees are applied.

The agreement may provide that if it is impossible to implement certain provisions of the agreement for reasons of economic, technological, organizational nature, the employer and the elected body of the primary trade union organization or another representative (representative body) elected by employees in the cases provided for by this Code, have the right to apply in writing to the parties to the agreement with a reasoned proposal to temporarily suspend certain provisions of the agreement in relation to this employer. The parties are considering this proposal and may make an appropriate decision to temporarily suspend certain provisions of the agreement in relation to this employer.

At the proposal of the parties to an industry agreement concluded at the federal level, the head of the federal executive body exercising the functions of developing state policy and legal regulation in the field of labor has the right, after publication of the agreement, to invite employers who did not participate in the conclusion of this agreement to join this agreement. The said proposal is subject to official publication and must contain information about the registration of the agreement and the source of its publication.

If employers operating in the relevant industry, within 30 calendar days from the date of official publication of the proposal to join the agreement, have not submitted a reasoned written refusal to join to the federal executive body responsible for developing state policy and legal regulation in the field of labor to it, the agreement is considered to apply to these employers from the date of official publication of this proposal. The said refusal must be accompanied by a protocol of consultations between the employer and the elected body of the primary trade union organization uniting the employees of this employer.

If the employer refuses to join the agreement, the head of the federal executive body exercising the functions of developing state policy and legal regulation in the field of labor has the right to invite representatives of this employer and representatives of the elected body of the primary trade union organization uniting employees of this employer for consultations with the participation of representatives of the parties to the agreement. Representatives of the employer, representatives of employees and representatives of the parties to the agreement are required to take part in these consultations.

The procedure for publishing industry agreements concluded at the federal level and the procedure for publishing a proposal to join the agreement are established by the federal executive body exercising the functions of developing state policy and legal regulation in the field of labor, taking into account the opinion of the Russian Tripartite Commission for the Regulation of Social and Labor Relations. The procedure for publishing other agreements is determined by their parties.

Where can I find out the storage periods for documents not included in the standard list?

The section of the nomenclature for cases formed or used in the production and technical department (PTO) included headings of cases that were not at all familiar to Maria. And in the standard list approved by Order No. 236, she did not find documents with similar names. Since the shelf life in column 4 of the nomenclature must be entered in any case, Maria turned to her immediate supervisor for help, who entrusted her with this task.

From him, Maria learned that the storage periods for company documents are determined on the basis of a standard list approved by Order No. 236, as well as departmental lists. For example, periods of storage of VET documents must be determined according to the List of standard archival documents generated in the scientific, technical and production activities of organizations, indicating storage periods (as amended by Order of the Ministry of Culture dated April 28, 2011 No. 412).

According to the specified list, Maria indicated in the nomenclature the corresponding storage periods for VET documentation:

Having studied the above list, Maria asked another question to her supervisor: how to determine the periods during which VET documents are subject to storage if they are not indicated in this list? You will find out the answer to this question in the next section.

Article 50. Registration of a collective agreement, agreement

The collective agreement, agreement within seven days from the date of signing is sent by the employer, the representative of the employer (employers) for notification registration with the relevant labor authority. Industry (intersectoral) agreements concluded at the federal level of social partnership, interregional agreements are registered by the federal executive body authorized to conduct federal state supervision over compliance with labor legislation and other regulatory legal acts containing labor law norms, collective agreements, regional and territorial agreements - relevant executive authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. The laws of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation may provide for the possibility of vesting local government bodies with the authority to register collective agreements and territorial agreements.

The entry into force of a collective agreement or agreement does not depend on the fact of their notification registration.

When registering a collective agreement, the relevant labor authority identifies conditions that worsen the situation of workers in comparison with labor legislation and other regulatory legal acts containing labor law norms, and informs about this the representatives of the parties who signed the collective agreement, agreement, as well as the relevant state labor inspectorate. The terms of the collective agreement and agreements that worsen the situation of workers are invalid and cannot be applied.