Maria Nevezhina

The World Service Group (WSG) has recently released a review that focuses on the topic of whistleblowing in the context of labour relations. The review covers 21 European countries, including Russia. The regulation of the labour field in Russia was addressed by Senior Associates of ALRUD Labor Practice, Margarita Egiazarova, PhD in Law and Maria Nevezhina, PhD in Law, who provided their expert guidance on the topic. The professionals disclosed the details pertaining to the regulation of labour relations in the context of whistleblowing. They explained on the safeguarding of the labour rights of whistleblowers, as well as the actions taken against employees who have engaged in misconduct. The review is accessible in the English language.

On 30 March PravoTech held a webinar on 'Crisis Trends in Labour Disputes: from Prevention to the Supreme Court'. Experts from ALRUD Labour Practice - Margarita Egiazarova, Senior Associate, PhD., and Maria Nevezhina, Senior Associate, PhD - spoke at the webinar. The experts covered the following topics: Pre-employment due diligence as a tool for preventing labour disputes; Court practice on employees due diligence during the employment relationship; Development of court practice in disputes on redundancy and redundancy payments; Development of court practice in dismissal disputes for breach of discipline: absenteeism as a reflection of consequences of relocation. The event was attended by 250 participants from various industries.

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, When terminating employees and senior executives, including in case of a conflict, the main focus should be on negotiating separation terms and concluding a mutual termination agreement (“MTA”). However, protecting the company’s interests and ensuring that any related processes are legally compliant and unhindered, entails a much wider range of issues and actions that need to be considered prior to and once the agreement with an employee has been reached. We have created a checklist that will guide you through such issues making your separation process smooth and safe for the company. --table-- --table-border-- --table-header-- Issue What to consider Choosing a termination date (i) Termination on a day-off or holiday is permitted but entails numerous complexities (final settlement when banks are not working, payment for the work of an HR team outside of normal working hours, etc.)(ii) Check if it is required to notify the employment center on termination upon mutual consent (subject to regional regulations and simultaneous staff redundancy of other employees)(iii) Check employment-related documents for special conditions on the date of employment termination Isolation of potentially “malicious” employee before separation (i) No concept of “garden leave” in Russian law (ii) Downtime (paid partially or in full), paid/unpaid leave and remote work (subject to an employee’s consent) may be used as alternatives Processing employee’s personal data (PD) in a due way (i) Separate consent on former employee’s PD processing is required for saving data in corporate resources and assuring continuity of its processing (ii) Deal with cross-border transfer of employee’s PD if it is transferred to any company within the group abroad, including a head company Protecting company’s IP rights and confidential data (i) Ensure that the proper secrecy policy is in place, check employees’ due familiarization with its most recent version(ii) Obtain separate NDA(iii) Establish non-disclosure obligations in the MTA(iv) Consider possibility to include non-compete and non-solicit clauses (v) Consider limiting access to corporate resources and databases to mitigate data stealing risks before separation. However, note that a complete restriction of an employee’s access to corporate systems and company premises may be considered as labour law violation Transfer of properties (i) Prepare inventory list along with transfer & acceptance act for retrieving properties from the employee (ii) Prepare documents formalizing sale (in some cases cash register equipment is required) or free transfer of company’s properties to the employee (iii) Estimate terms and processes necessary for transferring properties to/from and exchanging documents with remote employee Payment issues (i) Incentives due to the employee and deferred bonuses: decide how much to pay and when(ii) Shareholders’ approval of compensation upon one or few MTAs (in aggregate) as major transaction: check whether the amount exceeds the criteria(iii) Loans provided to or by the employee: the parties may agree on their return before the separation or discuss how the respective relations will be continued or ended after it(iv) Parachutes and termination conditions in the contract, side letters and other agreements: assess applicability and influence on the process Specifics of top executives’ termination (i) Termination of the CEO and other members of the executive body require adopting shareholders’ resolution and registration within Russian tax authorities (ii) Separation with the CEO and other managers (including the Chief Accountant) may be subject to further precautions as finding the substitute in advance, PoA withdrawal, notification of the bank and proper transfer to the substitute of documents, logins, etc. The last day of work (i) Complete the transfer of properties (ii) Carry out HR formalities (iii) Remember to notify the Social Fund We hope you find this checklist useful! ALRUD specialists have extensive expertise and will be glad to provide any legal support on issues related to mutual separation processes. For more information on this and other frequently faced issues listen to our podcasts “Be Aware and Share”. Note: Please be aware that all information provided in this letter was taken from open sources. Neither ALRUD Law Firm, nor the author of this letter, bear any liability for consequences of any decisions made in reliance upon this information. If you have any questions, please, do not hesitate to contact ALRUD team.

On July 22 ALRUD Labour law practice team conducted in-house training for the top management of an international telecommunication group on “Particular aspects of termination by mutual consent”. Margarita Egiazarova, Senior Associate, PhD in Law and Maria Nevezhina, Senior Associate, PhD in Law, were the speakers of the training, Ekaterina Bronitsyna, Attorney, and Yulia Brusova, Trainee, contributed to the preparation of the session. The in-person event was held in English. The attendees together with the speakers followed the whole procedure from the decision to terminate the employment until the actual termination of the relationship with the employee. Participants showed great interest in the topics devoted to the preparation and conduct of conflict negotiations, determining the persuasive strategy and management of refusal. The most challenging issues were worked through practical exercises based on real situations in a case study format, which allowed the audience to consolidate the theoretical knowledge gained. If you are interested in a similar training session for your company, please feel free to reach out to Irina Anyukhina (ianyukhina@alrud.com) and Margarita Egiazarova (megiazarova@alrud.com).