Important changes are planned to be made to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation regarding the payment of inter-watch rest. The Russian Ministry of Labor has prepared a bill that will oblige employers to pay monetary compensation for all accumulated but unused rest days when an employee is dismissed.
The essence of innovation: What will change for employees?
Currently, most bona fide companies already pay such compensation, but the absence of a direct rule in the Labor Code of the Russian Federation has often led to legal disputes. The new amendments are designed to eliminate the double reading of the law.
The main points of the bill:
• upon termination of the employment contract, all unused days of inter-watch rest must be compensated with money.;
• the amount will be calculated based on the actual accumulated processing hours;
• one day of such rest is paid in the amount not lower than the daily rate (salary).
Why are there “extra” rest days?
The specifics of shift work imply an intensive schedule. According to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, a standard workweek cannot exceed 40 hours. To comply with this standard, the shift uses a cumulative accounting of working hours (for a month, quarter, or year).
During the shift, the employee works beyond the standard schedule. Processing is summed up and converted into days of inter-watch rest. These days include the time that the employee “missed” as a weekend while at the facility.
Dmitry Platygin, Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Protection of the Russian Federation: “In order to avoid controversial interpretations on the part of companies and taking into account the decision of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, we fix the norm on compensation in the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. If an employee does not receive payouts upon termination, he has every right to defend his interests in court.”
How will the rest period be calculated?
To determine the number of paid days, all underutilized time is summed up.:
• daily rest (between shifts).
• Weekly rest (weekends).
If, at the time of dismissal, the shift worker has “closed” processing hours that he did not have time to take off, the employer will be obliged to transfer funds for them along with the final calculation.
The innovation will help to equalize the rights of office workers who receive compensation for unused vacation, and shift workers, whose schedule is much more complicated than the standard one.