What are the main laws regulating employment relationships?

Employment is primarily regulated in the Labour Code. Its provisions are detailed in different federal laws, including:

The Law on trade unions, their rights and guarantees of activity.

The Law on obligatory pension insurance in the Russian Federation.

The Law on basis of obligatory social insurance.

The law applies to both Russian employees working abroad and to foreign employees working in Russia. Russian Federation law is the only law applicable to a labour contract and the parties cannot contract out of it.

Contract requirements

Is a written contract of employment required, and if so, must it contain any particular language? Are any agreements and/or implied terms likely to govern the employment relationship?

An employment contract must be in writing and should either be drafted in Russian or contain a Russian language version if it is multilingual. The contract cannot contain provisions contradicting the Labour Code. Mandatory provisions that are not included in the contract can be enforced using the Labour Code. If no contract is concluded, but the employee has started working, the labour relationship is regarded as formed, and the contract must be executed with the employee in writing in the next three days. Otherwise the default rules of the Labour Code will apply.

Do foreign employees require work permits and/or residency permits?

In order to work in the Russian Federation a foreign employee needs both a residency and work permit.

Work permits are effective for one year. Obtaining a work permit is a complex procedure which requires the employer to file applications to the migration service and can take several months. However, the time can be shortened to between three and four weeks for highly-qualified foreign specialists (employees with annual salaries over RUB2 million).

Residency permits can be temporary (three years) or permanent. Obtaining one depends on fulfilling a special quota.

Termination and redundancy

Are employees entitled to management representation and/or to be consulted in relation to corporate transactions (such as redundancies and disposals)?

Employees do not have a say in the management of the company unless they are appointed members of a management committee or a director general (see Question 5, Management structure). In some cases, pertaining to labour issues the management must take the trade union's opinion into account (for example in cases of employees' dismissal on the decision of the employer or if prescribed by local law).

Agreements/implied terms