The Authors：
Matvey Levant
Alexander Ksenofontov
The Translator：
Yuheng Xu
As a pivotal partner in China’s Belt and Road Initiative, Russia continues to attract Chinese investors with its abundant natural resources and transcontinental advantages straddling Europe and Asia. Yet beneath these opportunities lies a labyrinth of labor law complexities and compliance risks—an invisible threshold for enterprises venturing abroad. From foreign company employment rules to labor dispute resolution, from employee data protection to collective bargaining negotiations, every step carries hidden intricacies.
In Russian Labor Law Overview, attorneys Matvey Levant and Alexander Ksenofontov leverage 25 years of practical experience to systematically deconstruct Russia’s labor legal framework. These compliance insights, distilled from real-world cases, serve as a tailored "legal GPS" for Chinese enterprises, guiding them through regulatory ambiguities and illuminating the underlying logic of Russian labor management.
(The following content (Part B) is excerpted from Russian Labor Law Overview. For the full version, refer to the Russia Chapter in Invitation to Contribute to The Labor Law Environment Report of the " Belt and Road" Countries.)
The Constitution of Russia provides for the right of everyone to unite in trade unions to protect their interests. Freedom of activity of trade unions is guaranteed. A trade union is a voluntary public association of citizens linked by common production and professional interests in the nature of their activities, created for the purpose of representing and protecting their social and labor rights and interests.
The relevant trade unions operate at all levels of social partnership. Trade unions represent the interests of employees during collective bargaining, conclude collective agreements and social partnership agreements on their behalf.
Trade unions have the right to monitor compliance with labor legislation by employers and their representatives. In this regard, trade union inspectors have the right, in accordance with the established procedure, to freely visit any employers who employ members of the relevant trade union, to participate in the investigation of industrial accidents and occupational diseases, to present employers with demands to suspend work in cases of immediate threat to the life and health of workers, etc.
The opinion of the trade union in certain cases must be taken into account by the employer when adopting local regulations and personnel decisions, and in some cases the employer makes a decision with the consent of the trade union.
A collective agreement may include the obligations of employees and the employer on the following issues: forms, systems and amounts of remuneration; payment of benefits, compensation; a mechanism for regulating remuneration taking into account price increases, the level of inflation, and the fulfillment of indicators determined by the collective agreement; employment, retraining, and conditions for laying off employees; working hours and rest time, including issues of providing and duration of vacations; improving the working conditions and safety of employees, including women and young people; respecting the interests of employees during the privatization of state and municipal property; environmental safety and health protection of employees at work; guarantees and benefits for employees combining work with study; health improvement and rest for employees and their family members; partial or full payment for employees' meals; control over the fulfillment of the collective agreement, the procedure for amending and supplementing it, the responsibility of the parties, ensuring normal conditions for the activities of employee representatives, the procedure for informing employees about the fulfillment of the collective agreement; refusal to strike when the relevant terms of the collective agreement are fulfilled; other issues determined by the parties.
Termination of Employment
Protected categories of employees
The most protected from dismissal at the initiative of the employer are pregnant women - termination of an employment contract with them at the initiative of the employer is completely prohibited, except in the case of liquidation of the company.
Termination of an employment contract with a woman with a child under 3 years of age, with a single mother raising a disabled child under 18 years of age or a child under 16 years of age, with another person raising the said children without a mother, with a parent (other legal representative of the child) who is the sole breadwinner of a disabled child under 18 years of age or the sole breadwinner of a child under 3 years of age in a family raising three or more children under 14 years of age, if the other parent (other legal representative of the child) is not in an employment relationship, at the initiative of the employer is not allowed, with the exception of dismissal for culpable actions.
In 2024, similar protection against dismissal at the initiative of the employer was provided to spouses of deceased combat veterans who have not remarried. Their dismissal is not allowed for one year from the date of death of the combat veteran.
Dismissal of foreign citizens
For foreign citizens (employees), the law establishes additional grounds for termination of the employment contract, mainly related to the suspension, expiration, cancellation of permits for stay (residence) and work in the Russian Federation.
In accordance with Article 37 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the right of workers to strike as a way of resolving a collective labor dispute is recognized.
If conciliation procedures have not led to the resolution of a collective labor dispute, or the employer's side (employers) do not fulfill the agreements reached by the parties to the collective labor dispute during the resolution of this dispute, or does not implement the decision of the labor arbitration, then the workers or their representatives have the right to begin organizing a strike.
Strikes are illegal during periods of martial law or a state of emergency or special measures in accordance with the legislation on a state of emergency, as well as in certain bodies and organizations (armed forces, law enforcement agencies, ambulance stations, energy supply organizations, heating and heat supply, water supply, gas supply, air, rail and water transport, communications, hospitals).
The decision to recognize a strike as illegal is made by the supreme courts of the republics, regional, provincial courts, courts of cities of federal significance, courts of the autonomous region and autonomous districts upon the application of the employer or the prosecutor.
In the process of settling a collective labor dispute, including holding a strike, a lockout is prohibited - the dismissal of workers at the initiative of the employer in connection with their participation in a collective labor dispute or a strike.
