Employment Contracts with Lead Management and Key Personnel
Legal support of labor relations with lead management and key employees
Foreign companies have become an integral part of the Russian business community, conduct their business in Russia and employ workers in Russia. Despite the existing personnel policy in a foreign company, when conducting business in the Russian legal field, such companies must comply with the current Russian labor legislation, which may differ from the personnel policy of the main company.
The Labor Code of the Russian Federation provides that on the territory of Russia, the rules established by labor legislation and other acts containing labor law norms apply to labor relations involving foreign citizens, stateless persons, organizations created or founded by foreign citizens, stateless persons or with their participation, international organizations and foreign legal entities.
As a rule, representative offices and branches of foreign companies carry out activities in Russia, but despite the fact that branches and representative offices are not independent legal entities, compliance with the norms of Russian labor legislation must also be performed in such branches and representative offices, this is directly provided for by Russian labor law.
Among other things, it is also important to note that the development of information technology has contributed to the development of labor relations with employers from other countries, including in a remote format, for interaction in this vein, the legislator has provided for separate provisions in the Labor Code of the Russian Federation regulating the work of remote employees.
Personnel documents for foreign companies
Personnel documents in foreign companies, as a rule, reflect the requirements of the labor legislation of the country in which the parent company is located. Often, branches and representative offices of the main companies are located in other jurisdictions, the documentation of which must be adapted to the legislation of the country where the branch or representative office of the company is located. In particular, taking into account the requirements of the labor legislation of the Russian Federation, for the operation of a branch or representative office of a foreign company, it will be necessary to develop, implement and apply local regulatory documents in the labor sphere, comply with the requirements established by the labor law of Russia. This is due to the fact that labor legislation establishes that all employers (individuals and legal entities, regardless of their organizational and legal forms and forms of ownership) in labor relations and other directly related relations with employees are obliged to be guided by the provisions of labor legislation and other acts containing labor law standards. In most cases, employees of foreign companies do not have special expertise in the field of labor law of the Russian Federation. However, given that liability for failure to comply with labor legislation occurs regardless of the jurisdiction of the parent organization. It is important that all personnel documentation issued for employees of a foreign company operating in Russia complies with the requirements of Russian labor law. In this regard, in order to minimize possible violations of labor law, the management of such organizations attracts qualified specialists to prepare personnel documents taking into account all the requirements of Russian labor law.
Adaptation of global policies of a group of companies with Russian legislation
Often, branches and representative offices of foreign companies are opened in Russia in connection with the expansion of the company's activities. At the same time, there are not only companies with branches and representative offices on the market, but also groups of companies, essentially corporations, that have their own personnel policies. However, despite the presence of a personnel policy for such groups of companies, a mandatory element of conducting business in Russia with the employment of employees is the adaptation of global policies of groups of companies to Russian labor legislation.
Adaptation is carried out, as a rule, with the preservation of the main directions of the HR policy of the foreign company, except for cases when the terms of such a policy directly contradict Russian labor legislation. In this case, such provisions must be excluded from the HR policy and such norms must be brought into line with the rules established by Russian labor law.
Independent adaptation of HR policy to Russian labor legislation is possible only if such foreign companies have specialists with special knowledge of Russian labor legislation on their staff. As a rule, foreign companies do not have such specialists, and therefore, the most favorable option for adapting the HR policy of a foreign company to the requirements of Russian labor law is to engage a qualified lawyer who has not only knowledge in the field of labor law, but also experience in interacting with foreign companies and the ability to adapt the HR policies they apply to Russian labor law.
The impossibility of fulfilling labor law in connection with the HR policy applied in a foreign company does not exclude measures of liability for foreign companies for violations of Russian labor legislation. In order to exclude possible adverse consequences for a foreign company, the most reasonable solution when planning activities in Russia may be timely adaptation of the global policy of a group of companies to Russian legislation or development of a HR policy of a foreign company for a branch or representative office located in Russia.
Considering that the norms of Russian labor law contain a large number of regulations, including by-laws governing various branches of labor legislation, it is important that all these regulations are taken into account when developing HR documents or adapting HR policies. This will avoid holding the employer liable for non-compliance with Russian labor legislation.
Legal services
- Consulting on HR records management in companies with a foreign element
- Development and formation of the necessary HR documents in companies with a foreign element, taking into account the requirements of the current labor legislation of Russia
- Adaptation of the HR policy of a group of companies with Russian labor law
- Implementation of the developed HR documents in companies with foreign participation in Russia
- Conducting an audit of HR records management in companies with foreign participation in Russia
