• General Provisions
• Labour Remuneration
• Foreign Labour in Russia

Legal Regulations

The Labour Code of the Russian Federation No.197-FZ dated December 30, 2001 (hereinafter referred to as the "Labour Code of the RF") forms the basis of the legal regulation of labour relationship in Russia. The Labour Code of the RF comprises the obligatory rules for businesses, which relate, in particular, to the following:

• content of, entering into, alterations and termination of labour agreements;

• labour and rest hours;

• payment and regulation of labour;

• guarantees and compensations to employees;

• safety arrangements;

• labour discipline, etc.

In addition to, this field is subject to statutory regulations under a number of federal laws, such as:

• the Federal Law No.82-FZ dated June 19, 2000 "On Minimum Wage";

• the Federal Law No.115-FZ dated July 25, 2002 "On Legal Status of Foreign Citizens in the Russian Federation" (hereinafter referred to as the "Law on Legal Status of Foreign Citizens in the RF");

• the Law of the Russian Federation No.1032-1 dated April 19, 1991 "On Employment of Population of the Russian Federation" etc.

It has to be mentioned that the regulatory acts of the Government of the Russian Federation, the Presidential decrees, the regulatory acts of the federal executive bodies, the regulatory acts of the executive bodies of constituent entities of the Russian Federation and the same of the local executive bodies, also form part of the legal and regulatory scope of the labour law. The collective contracts and agreements are made at the different levels within the social partnership framework, and the local instruments such as staff duty instructions, health and safety regulations or ethical codes are being adopted by certain organizations.

The labour remuneration, according to the legislation of the Russian Federation, means a payment for labour, which includes the following:

• payment for labour as such;

• compensation payments, such as additional payments and premiums of compensatory nature, including those paid for labour taking into account the conditions other than normal conditions as well as those paid for work in special climatic conditions and within the territories affected by radioactive contamination, and other payments of compensatory nature;

• incentive payments (additional payments and premiums of incentive nature, bonuses and other rewarding payments).

The remuneration for labour shall be paid not less than once half a month. According to the Russian legislation, it is guaranteed to any employee that a salary of that employee will be not less than the minimum amount of salary.

In conformity with the Clause 4 of the Article 13 of the Law on Legal Status of Foreign Citizens in the RF, an employer may hire and employ the foreign labour only in case where a relevant permission of employment of foreign labour has been obtained, and a foreign citizen may carry out his or her labour activity only provided that the relevant work permit has been received.

According to the general rule, an employer shall obtain the two following types of permissions from the territorial body of the Federal Migration Service of the Russian Federation (hereinafter referred to as "FMS") with a view to comply with the legal requirements relating to employment of foreign citizens:

• permission for employment of foreign citizens (i.e. the document that allows that specific employer to employ such persons);

• work permit for the foreign employees (i.e. the permission document that allows these persons to be employed).

Permission to Hire and Employ Foreign Employees

With a view to obtain a permission to hire and employ the foreign persons, the employers or customers of works (services), or their authorized representatives shall submit to FMS or its territorial body an application, further to the approval of which the permission to hire and employ the foreign persons and the relevant set of documents will be provided to those employers or customers of works (services).

No later than on the day following the day of receipt of documents, an inquiry shall be submitted to the Service of Population Employment of the relevant constituent entity of the Russian Federation concerning the issue of determination relating to the employment of foreign citizens, and such determination shall be issued not later than within a period of 10 days.

With reference to that determination, a decision will be made whether to issue the permission to hire and employ the foreign employees or to decide against such permission.

Foreign Employees' Work Permits

For the purpose of obtaining the work permits for the citizens arriving in the Russian Federation, to whom a visa is required, the employers, the customers of works (services) or their authorized representatives shall submit to FMS or its territorial body an application concerning the intended work permits and they also shall provide the relevant set of documents.

In order to obtain the work permit, a foreign citizen who has arrived in the Russian Federation, as long as the visa had not been required for that person, or the representatives authorized by that citizen and acting under the letter of attorney, shall submit to FMS or its territorial body an application concerning the issue of that work permit along with the relevant set of documents.

Exceptions from Obligation to Obtain Permissions

There are a number of exceptions that enable not to obtain the above permissions. For instance, since July 01, 2010 the above rules do not apply to the foreign citizens who are the employees of the representative offices of foreign legal entities, which have been accredited and registered in the Russian Federation in accordance with the procedures as provided for by the legislation, taking into account the number of employees, which have been agreed upon the accreditation of the said representative offices by the authorized accrediting body on the basis of the principle of reciprocity as provided for by the international conventions of the Russian Federation.

Since July 01, 2010,  employers and customers of works (services) are entitled to to hire and employ foreign employees without respective permissions of employment of foreign labour provided that such foreign employees:

• arrived in the Russian Federation having been not required to obtain visas;

• are the highly qualified specialists and have been employed in the Russian Federation under special regulations.