The decision of the President of the Russian Federation to declare the week from 28 March to 5 April 2020 non-working was prompted by the coronavirus pandemic. Since this decision is forced and temporary in nature, the specifics of remuneration in this situation are not defined by the Labour Code of the Russian Federation.
At the same time, the Labour Code of the Russian Federation regulates the procedure for paying for downtime caused by the employer. Under Article 157 of the Labour Code, a period of downtime caused by the employer is paid at no less than 2/3 of the employee's average salary.
However, since the non-working week during the epidemic was established by decision of the head of state, the downtime cannot be attributed to the fault of the employer. The employer is unable to influence the epidemiological situation in the city, so in the current situation Part 2 of Article 157 of the Labour Code may apply – downtime for reasons beyond the control of both the employer and the employee.
Such forced downtime is paid at no less than 2/3 of the tariff rate, salary or official salary. This amount is calculated in proportion to the downtime.
Accordingly, citizens of the Russian Federation sent on a week's leave may receive only 2/3 of their tariff rate or official salary for the week. In certain situations, however, the employer may itself set the level of pay for its employees within limits no lower than those established by labour legislation.
It should be noted that if the employer does not issue an official order on downtime, it will be obliged to pay its employees for the non-working week in full. The provision on downtime does not apply to employees working remotely if they continue to perform their duties under the employment contract concluded with the employer.
At present it is unclear exactly how the decision to declare the working days from 30 March to 3 April days off will be formalised. The Labour Code permits days off established by law to be moved to other days by a Government resolution or a federal law. However, under the same Labour Code, a Government resolution on such a transfer must be officially published no later than one month before the start of the relevant calendar year or, at the very least, no later than two months before the calendar date of the day off being established.