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Upon the request of the Peruvian Embassy in Moscow, Russia, TV&P provided general information on Russian labour legislation and employees’ pay under labour contracts. Acts, mentioned below, have binding legal force in the Russian Federation. All national and foreign employers are required to comply with these rules while signing labour contracts under Russian law and / or on the territory of the Russian Federation.

  1. INTERNATIONAL TREATIES OF RUSSIA

1.1. Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (adopted and proclaimed by General Assembly of the United Nations resolution 217 A (III) of 10 December 1948) provides that everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

1.2. Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by General Assembly resolution 2200A (XXI) of 16 December 1966, entered into force for Russia on 3 January 1976) provides that “The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions. The States Parties will take appropriate steps to ensure the realization of this right, recognizing to this effect the essential importance of international co-operation based on free consent”.

  1. THE CONSTITUTION OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

2.1. The Constitution of the Russian Federation was adopted at National Voting on December 12, 1993. The Constitution came into force on the day of its official publication. The text of the Constitution was officially published in Rossiiskaya Gazeta newspaper as of December 25, 1993.

2.2. Article 2 of the Russian Constitution provides that “man, his rights and freedoms are the supreme value. The recognition, observance and protection of the rights and freedoms of man and citizen are duties of the State”

2.3. Part 2 of the article 7 of the Russian Constitution provides that “the Russian Federation is a social State whose policy is aimed at creating conditions for a worthy life and the unhindered development of man”. Part 2 of the mentioned article stipulates that “In the Russian Federation the labour and health of people shall be protected, guaranteed minimum wages and salaries shall be established, state support ensured for the family, maternity, paternity and childhood, for disabled persons and the elderly, a system of social services developed, state pensions, allowances and other social security guarantees shall be established”.

2.4. Part 3 of the article 37 of the Russian Constitution provides that “everyone shall have the right to labour conditions meeting the safely and hygiene requirements, to labour remuneration without any discrimination whatsoever and to wages and salaries not lower than the minimum established by federal law, as well as the right to protection against unemployment”.

  1. THE LABOUR CODE OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

3.1. The Labour Code of the Russian Federation was introduced by Federal Law No. 197-FZ of December 30, 2001. The Code came into force as of February 1, 2002. The text of the Code was officially published in the newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta No. 250 of December 31, 2001; in Sobraniye Zakonodatelstva Rossiyskoy Federatsii, 1997, No. 1 of January 7, item 3; in Sobraniye Zakonodatelstva Rossiyskoy Federatsii, 1997, No. 1 of January 7, (Part I), item 3.

3.2. Article 11 of the Labour Code establishes the scope of the applicability of the labour legislation and other acts comprising norms of labour law. The article provides that the labour legislation and other acts comprising norms of labour law regulate labour relations and other relations which are directly relating thereto.

The labour legislation and other acts comprising norms of labour law are also applicable to other relations which are related to the use of personal labour, if there is a provision to this effect in the Labour Code or another federal law.

In labour relations and in other relations with an employee which are directly related thereto all employers (natural persons and legal entities, no matter the organisational legal form and the form of ownership thereof) shall be governed by the provisions of the labour legislation and other acts comprising norms of labour law.

Where a court has established that a civil-law contract actually regulates labour relations between an employee and an employer such relations shall be subject to provisions of the labour legislation and other acts comprising norms of labour law.

On the territory of the Russian Federation the rules established by the labour legislation and other acts comprising norms of labour law shall extend to labour relations involving foreign citizens and stateless persons, organisations formed or founded by foreign citizens and stateless persons, except as otherwise envisaged by an international treaty of the Russian Federation. The details of legal regulation of the labour of certain categories of employees (heads of organisations, persons having more than one job, women, persons having family obligations, youth etc.) shall be established in compliance with the Labour Code. State civil servants and municipal employees are subject to the labour legislation and other acts comprising norms of labour law with account being taken of the details envisaged by federal laws and other normative legal acts of the Russian Federation, laws and other normative legal acts of subjects of the Russian Federation on the state civil service and municipal service.

3.3. Article 72 of the Labour Code provides that the modifying of terms of a labour contract defined by the parties, including transfer to another job, is admissible only by agreement of the parties to thereto, except for the cases specified by the Labour Code. An agreement on amending the labour contract terms defined by parties shall be made in writing.

3.4. Article 131 of the Labour Code deals with forms of labour compensation and envisages that the payment of a wage shall be effected in a monetary form in the Russian Federation’s currency (i.e. in rubles). In accordance with a collective contract or a labour contract, labour compensation may, at an employee’s written request, also be effected in other forms not contrary to the Russian Federation’s legislation and the Russian Federation’s international agreements. The portion of a wage paid in a non-monetary form may not exceed 20 per cent of the accrued monthly wage. The payment of a wage in bonds, coupons, in the form of debt instruments, lOUs, and also in the form of alcoholic beverages, narcotic, toxic, poisonous, harmful and other toxic substances, weapons, munitions, and other items in relation to which prohibitions or restrictions have been established on their free turnover shall not be permitted.

3.5. Article 134 of the Labour Code envisages the assurance of the elevation of the level of the real content of a wage. This article provides that the assurance of the elevation of the level of the real content of a wage shall include wage indexation in connection with an increase of consumer prices for goods and services. The organisations financed from relevant budgets shall index wages in the procedure established by the labour legislation and other normative legal acts comprising norms of labour law, and the other employers (e.g. Embassies of foreign States) in the procedure established by a collective agreement, agreements and local normative acts.

3.6. Article 135 of the Labour Code defines the procedure of setting wages (salaries). This article provides that the wages of an employee shall be set by a labour contract in accordance with the systems practiced by the given employer for paying remuneration for labour. Systems of remuneration for labour, including basic rates of wages and salaries (official salaries), extra payments and mark-ups of a compensation nature, in particular, for working in conditions other than normal, systems of extra payments and mark-ups of a stimulating nature, and bonus systems shall be established by collective agreements, agreements, local normative acts in accordance with the labour legislation and other normative legal acts comprising norms of labour law. Every year, prior to the laying of a draft federal law on federal budget for the next year before the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation the Russian Trilateral Commission for Regulating Social-Labour Relations shall elaborate uniform recommendations for establishing systems of remuneration for labour on the federal, regional and local levels concerning the employees of the organisations financed from relevant budgets. The said recommendations shall be taken into account by the Government of the Russian Federation, executive governmental bodies of subjects of the Russian Federation and local self-government bodies when they assess the amounts of financing for public health, education, science, culture and other budget-funded institutions. The local normative acts establishing systems of remuneration for labour shall be adopted by an employer with account taken of the opinion of the representative body of employees. The terms for paying for labour defined by a labour contract shall not be deteriorated in comparison with those established by the labour legislation and other normative legal acts comprising norms of labour law, a collective agreement, agreements or local normative acts. The terms for paying for labour defined by a collective agreement, agreements or local normative acts shall not be deteriorated in comparison with those established by the labour legislation and other normative legal acts comprising norms of labour law.

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