Russia

Russian labour law is governed by its Labour Code and several other pieces of specialist legislation covering in particular collective agreements and disputes. The Code provides employees with a minimum guaranteed base for employment contracts.  Contract terms which offer less than the Code are invalid in law. In addition there are large numbers of detailed regulations appearing from various sources such as Presidential degrees, Government resolutions or other legislation. These can cover matters such as internal procedures, record keeping and accounting requirements.

The Code replaced the old Soviet labour code and still contains some provisions more relevant to a centralised way of thinking. Russian labour law is rather formalistic and procedural. Employers who disregard the rules are likely to have problems if issues come to the courts or to the attention of the Labour Inspectorate. However, despite the best efforts of the courts to clamp down on it, there remains quite widespread breaching of the Code.