Petrov Alexey - Professor, Labour Law Department, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Doctor of Juridical Sciences. E-mail: alexey.petrov@yandex.ru
Address: National Research University — Higher School of Economics, 20, Myasnitskaya str., Moscow, 101000, Russian Federation.

The paper highlights the most important materials of the conference Topical Issues of Court Decisions on Labour Disputes held in October 2010 by the Department of Labour law of the HSE Law Faculty. The conference was attended by the members of еру Judicial Division for Civil Case of the RF Supreme Court, the Law Faculty professors as well as candidates and students. The topic of the conference was the theory and practice in applying the RF Labour Code norms in Russian courts. The major attention was drawn by the report of the Presiding Judge on labour and social cases of the Judicial Division for Civil Case of the RF Supreme Court. The speaker developed the idea that the role of case practice to contribute to the legal development of society can hardly be overestimated. In his opinion judicial interpretations of labour law norms primarily the RF Labour Code are a means to make labour law more practical and orientate in the controversial legal concepts and categories. The speaker mentioned that the courts are the best tool to correct the drawbacks of the Labour Code and the legislative acts of the Federation and regions, elimination of contradictions in the texts, clarifying the type of the articles in the code – lateral or restrictive. The coordination between the RF labour law and civil law was positively evaluated. Among the soft spots of judicial practice the following was mentioned. In the 21^st century courts considering the question of dismissal as part of employers’ competence have been reluctant to check the validity of the decisions made by employers  and do not require any proof. The legislation lacks the definition for job cuts in an organization, downsizing, which inevitably leads to conflicts when drafting the document on contract termination.