REMOTE WORK RULES CAN BE UPDATED: RELEVANT AMENDMENTS TO THE LABOUR CODE HAVE BEEN SUBMITTED TO THE STATE DUMA

26/06/2020

 

The draft provides for new types of remote (home) work, simplifies communication between the employers and the employees and determines working hours of the employee spent online.

It is proposed to introduce new types of remote work:

• temporary: the employee works for a certain period of time outside the office;
• combined: the employee combines remote and office work.

This could be fixed in two ways:

• regular procedure: the parties enter into an employment agreement or sign an additional agreement to it;
• simplified procedure: temporary remote work may be established by a local regulatory act which would determine the list of workers who agreed to switch to a remote mode and provide for the organizational issues;

The simplified option is provided for exceptional cases (e.g. pandemic restrictions etc.)

It is also anticipated to allow the exchange of electronic documents, provided it is possible to determine the sender. This should be fixed in an employment agreement or in local regulations.

In addition, the draft clarifies the employee’s right to use personal equipment for work. Relevant costs can be compensated. Similarly, such rules shall be reflected in an employment agreement or in local regulations.

Besides, it would be required from the employer to determine specific hours for work performance and ways of getting in touch with the employee.

employment agreement or in local regulations employment agreement or in local regulations When it will be possible to fire a remote worker

Termination of the employment agreement with ‘remote’ employees will be possible only on the grounds provided for by the Labour Code.

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