Employers and employees in Russia now have more options to work remotely under labor code revisions effective 1 Jan 2021. Previously, the code allowed for remote working only if employees worked on a permanent basis anywhere other than the employer’s office by using the internet.  

Highlights

• Employees can alternate remote working with work at a fixed location on a permanent or temporary basis, subject to the agreement of the employer and the employee. Temporary periods of remote working are capped at six months. Employees may alternate remote working with periods of working in a fixed location. 
• Collective agreements and company policies govern the applicable working conditions, such as working hours, circumstances that require temporary office attendance, and the procedures used by permanent employers to request leave.
• Employers cannot reduce the salary of a worker on the basis of remote working and should provide remote employees with the equipment necessary to perform their work.
• Contracts and other employment-related documentation must be signed using electronic signatures.
• Additional grounds for dismissing remote workers are included in the revised code, and employers are no longer able to introduce new reasons for dismissing remote workers.
• Employers can require employees to work remotely if there is an emergency situation — such as a pandemic — by issuing an internal company policy listing the employees who are temporarily required to do so. Employers do not have to seek an employees’ consent to make the change, but employees who are unable to work remotely due to reasons beyond the control of the employer and employee would be given time off and paid two-thirds or more of their normal salary.  

Related resource

• Revised labor code (Russian) (Russian official journal, 8 Dec 2020)