Russia Employment Law

An employee is entitled to paid annual leave for a duration of 28 calendar days. The main paid leave of 28 calendar days is granted to both full-time and part-time employees. The right for the use of the leave for the first year of work shall arise for the employee upon the expiry of six months of uninterrupted work with the given employer.

If there is an agreement between the parties, the employee may take paid leave before the expiry of the six months. The leave for the second and subsequent years of work may be provided at any time of the working year according to the order for taking annual paid leave adopted by the given employer.

Unused vacation may be carried over to the following year in exceptional circumstances.

Exceptional cases: Annual additional paid holidays are granted to employees employed in work with harmful and (or) hazardous working conditions, employees with a special nature of work, employees with irregular working hours, employees working in the Far North, and equivalent areas. The minimum duration of annual additional paid leave to employees is 7 calendar days.

Additional annual leave for employees with irregular working hours – Employees with irregular working hours are granted annual additional paid leave, the duration of which is determined by the collective agreement or internal labor regulations and which cannot be less than three calendar days.

Calculation of Duration of Annual Leave

The duration of the annual basic and additional paid leave of employees is calculated in calendar days. Non-working holidays falling during the period of the annual main or annual additional paid leave are not included in the number of calendar days of leave. When calculating the total duration of the annual paid leave, additional paid leaves are added to the annual basic paid leave.

Postponement of Annual Leave

If the employee was not paid in a timely manner for the period of the paid annual leave or the employee was informed of the start time of this vacation later than two weeks before its start, then the employer, upon the employee’s written application, is obliged to postpone the annual paid vacation for another period agreed with the employee.

In exceptional cases, when the granting leave to an employee in the current working year may adversely affect the normal course of work, transfer of leave to the next working year is allowed with the consent of the employee. In this case, leave must be used no later than 12 months after the end of the working year for which it is granted.

Employees with three or more children under the age of eighteen are granted annual paid leave at their request at a time convenient for them until the youngest of the children reaches the age of fourteen.

Division of annual paid leave into parts

The annual paid leave may be divided into parts by agreement between the employee and the employer. And, at least one of the parts of this leave must be at least 14 calendar days.

Vacation Recall

The recall of an employee from vacation is allowed only with the employee’s consent. The unused part of the annual leave must be provided at the choice of the employee at a time convenient for the employee during the current working year or added to the vacation for the next working year.

Replacement of annual paid leave with monetary compensation

The part of the annual paid leave exceeding 28 calendar days, upon written application of the employee, can be replaced with monetary compensation. When summing up annual paid leave or transferring the annual paid leave to the next working year, monetary compensation may replace a part of each annual paid leave exceeding 28 calendar days.

Granting annual paid leave to persons raising children with disabilities

One of the parents (guardian, trustee, foster parent) raising a disabled child under the age of 18 is granted annual paid leave at his request at a convenient time for the employee.

Annual Leave Pay

The employee going on vacation is paid the average earnings. To calculate the average wage, all the types of payments provided by the system of remuneration applied by the respective employer, regardless of the sources of these payments, are taken into account.

The average wage of an employee is calculated based on the wage actually accrued by the employee and the time actually worked during the 12 calendar months preceding the period.

Annual Leave Upon Termination

The employee is paid monetary compensation for all unused vacations upon termination. At the written request of the employee, unused vacations may be granted to the employee with subsequent termination (except in cases of dismissal for guilty actions). In this case, the last day of vacation is considered the day of termination. Labor Code, 2001, No. 197-FZ (as amended), arts. 115-122, 139, 262.1, 262.2.

Female employees are entitled to 70 days of paid pre-natal leave, extended to 84 days if more than one child is expected, and 70 days of postnatal leave, extended to 86 days in cases of complications in childbirth or 110 days in the event of the birth of two or more children.

Maternity leave shall be calculated in total & granted to a female employee regardless of the number of days she actually used before giving birth.

Pay – Allowances during pregnancy and maternity leave are paid by the Social Insurance Fund. Labor Code, 2001, No. 197-FZ (as amended), arts. 255 (Russian).

Breastfeeding Break

Working women with children under the age of one and a half years, in addition to a break for rest and meals, are provided with additional breaks for feeding the child (children) at least every 3 hours, each lasting at least 30 minutes. If a working woman has two or more children under the age of one and a half years, the duration of the break for feeding is set at least 1 hour.

At the request of the woman, the breaks for feeding the child (children) are added to the break for rest and meals or are summed up both at the beginning and at the end of the working day (work shift) with a corresponding reduction.

Pay – Breaks for feeding the child (s) are included in working hours and are payable in the number of average earnings. Labor Code, 2001, No. 197-FZ (as amended), arts. 258 (Russian).

Female employees at their request are entitled to leave to care for a child under 3 years of age. Parental leave may be used in full or in parts by the child’s father, grandmother, grandfather, other relatives, or guardian actually caring for the child.

At the request of a woman or any other person referred above, while on parental leave, they can work part-time or at home while retaining the right to receive benefits from state social insurance. Employees who have three or more children under the age of 12 are entitled to take parental leave at a time that is convenient for them. New fathers qualify for parental leave.

Pay – Allowances during parental leave are paid by the Social Insurance Fund. Labor Code, 2001, No. 197-FZ (as amended), art. 256 (Russian).

Employees can take sick leave in the event of illness or injury. Sick leave can also be granted to an employee taking care of a sick child or sick relative.

Medical care is free to employees through the social security system and is partially funded by employers. Employees unable to work due to non-work-related illness or other injury are entitled to sick leave compensation until they can return to work. The employer pays a temporary disability allowance for the first three days and the Social Insurance Fund pays for the remainder of the time.

The employer can offset its expenses against its Social Insurance Fund liability. The amount of the sick leave benefit depends on how long an employee has been covered under the social security system:

• • • Less than six months: minimum wage;
    • More than six months and up to five years: 60% of average earnings;
    • More than five years and up to eight years: 80% of average earnings; and
    • More than eight years: 100% of average earnings.

These amounts are paid for the first 10 days of leave. Thereafter, payments are reduced by 50 percent. Law on Compulsory Social Insurance for Temporary Disability, arts. 7 (Russian).

The employer is obliged, on the basis of a written application from the employee, to provide leave without pay:

• • • • participants of the Great Patriotic War – up to 35 calendar days a year;
      • working old-age pensioners (by age) – up to 14 calendar days a year;
      • parents and wives (husbands) of military personnel, employees of the internal affairs bodies, the federal fire service, customs authorities, employees of institutions and bodies of the penal system who died or died as a result of injury, contusion, or injury received in the performance of military service (service) duties, or due to a disease associated with military service (service), up to 14 calendar days a year;
      • working disabled people – up to 60 calendar days a year;
      • employees in cases of childbirth, marriage registration, death of close relatives – up to 5 calendar days;
      • in other cases provided for by this Code, other federal laws, or a collective agreement.

Labor Code, 2001, No. 197-FZ (as amended), art. 128 (Russian).

An employee with 2 or more children under the age of 14, an employee with a disabled child under the age of 18, a single mother raising a child under the age of 14, a father raising a child under the age of 14 without a mother, shall be entitled to additional annual leaves without pay at a convenient time for them, lasting up to 14 calendar days through a collective agreement. The said leave shall upon the written application of the employee, be added to the annual paid leave or used separately in full or in parts. The transfer of this leave to the next working year is not allowed. Labor Code, 2001, No. 197-FZ (as amended), art. 263 (Russian).