the Ministry of labor rewrote the draft regulation of labor relations during a pandemic, without a special order of dismissal and the introduction of the idle mode. In the Department changing concepts explained by the fact that part of quarantine measures lifted.
the Ministry of labour and social protection radically altered the draft government decree establishing a special regulation of labor relations during the struggle with coronavirus infection. In the updated version of the document left almost none of the previous proposals of the Ministry, including vanished, the initiative to ban to send their workers to easy to dismiss or at the initiative of the employer during the period of forced suspension of activities of the company due quarantine restrictions, as well as the new order the withdrawal of workers in the shifts and changes of their duties without consent.
RBC got acquainted with the Ministry of labor revised the draft resolution “On peculiarities of legal regulation of labour relations and other directly related relations in 2020”. Its authenticity was confirmed by a source close to the government, and the official representative of the Ministry.
the Ministry sent a document for re-consideration of the Russian tripartite Commission (RTK) to regulate social labor relations (in its work participate representatives of government, employers and trade unions). Less than two weeks ago, on 29 may, the initial version of the draft resolution was considered at the RTC meeting.
“Since the last edition significant portion of the restrictive measures were lifted and certain provisions of the draft decree has lost its relevance. In the modified version includes the rules that require expedited action given the current situation in the labour market and supported by all parties of social partnership”, — explained in the Ministry of labor.
“But these additions, in the case that will be made will be discussed with the parties of social partnership in the prescribed manner”, — said the Agency.
That remained in the new version:
What else was in the original draft:
— the prohibition on the imposition of inactivity and dismissal of workers by the employer during the period of forced suspension of activities of the company due quarantine restrictions;.
— in case of reduction of number or staff, if the notice period of the employees expires during the period of quarantine, dismissal occurs only after the restrictive measures, on the next business day thereafter;.
— maintaining the employee’s salary during the period of validity of restrictive measures to the same extent as it was before the start of the quarantine.
— the reduction of the period of notice the employee about the change in the iniciative employer of the employment contract and mode of operation (including transfer to part-time or part-time) from two months to two weeks if the need is caused by the quarantine restrictions;.
— the right of the employer to transfer the worker without his consent is not conditioned by employment contract working for the same employer for up to three months (instead of one month);.
in the period of restrictive measures, employees may be granted leave by agreement with the employer, while temporary disability in connection with the quarantine is not a basis for extension or transfer leave;.
— employees are notified of the new schedules of shift work no later than seven calendar days prior to their enactment.
the Parties of social partnership were developed by the Ministry of labour against the draft resolution, and from employers and trade unions, he caused a great rejection, said the head of the legal Department of the “Confederation of labour of Russia” Oleg Babich.
However, unions RTK considered possible to maintain the first version of the draft decree of the Ministry of labour, put forward a number of comments and suggestions, to the letter of the Deputy Chairman of the Federation of independent trade unions of Russia (FNPR) Nina Kuzmina.
Unions, in particular, opposed the initiative on the reduction of the notice period the employee to change the terms of the employment agreement (including the introduction of the incomplete working day) and on transfer of employees to not due to the labor contract the work for a period of three months. These standards, in their opinion, may entail reducing the level of guarantees of employees and limitation of their rights. “You must understand that in some cases, depending on the specific mode of incomplete working day (shift) or incomplete working week introduces the employer, the employee may suffer even more than the introduction of downtime,” says Kuzmina.
the Side of the employers in the RTC did not support the draft resolution of the Ministry of labour in the original version, told RBC managing Director of the Department of labour market and social partnership RSPP Marina Moskvin. The document is intended to ban the introduction of idle by the employer during the period of quarantine restrictions, however, the introduction of idle time is not necessarily directly related to coronavirus epidemic, the employer might be faced with circumstances that do not depend on how it organizes the production, she explained.
the Wording of the draft resolution on the mandatory payment of wages in full during the validity of restrictive measures (days) assumed retention of all compensation payments. But if the worker whoth was occupied in harmful working conditions, and for that received a fee, is at home, there is no reason to pay him compensation payments, explained the employers ‘ position Moskvina.
the Side of employers willing to support an updated version of the draft resolution, but retaining some of the previous provisions, for example, to reduce from two months to two weeks the period of notice the employee about the change by the employer of the employment contract and mode of operation (including the introduction of a mode of incomplete working day or incomplete working week). “It would be possible during the period of temporary rules, that is, in 2020, to see how it would work in practice, because we have always believed that the need to reduce the notification period to change the terms of the employment contract and the upcoming release,” — said Moskvina.
the Epidemic of the coronavirus, which caused the temporary closure of businesses and the decline in production was a shock for the Russian labor market. Half of the workers in Russia (49,7%) is subject to the risks of dismissal, reduction or delay of wages, and a forced leave of absence, praised the specialists of the Institute of social analysis and forecasting Ranhigs.
According to official statistics, the unemployment rate of the labour force rose from 4.7% in March to 5.8% in April 2020, it is the maximum in 2016. On the one hand, this may reflect the peculiarity of the Russian labor market, where the adjustment to shocks traditionally comes at the expense of flexibility of wages and working time and, to a lesser degree due to employment, says the Department of studies and forecasting of the Central Bank. On the other hand, the estimate of unemployment is an estimate: due forced survey in the form of telephone interview data are not comparable with the previously obtained face-to face interviews, underlines the controller.
