New Russian Legislation on Employment of Teleworkers: Comparative Assessment and Implications for Future Development

Abstract

The article presents in-depth study of the legislative logic and trends that have recently developed inRussian law in regard to foreign workers and teleworkers, both as separate categories and when thesetwo characteristics meet in one person. The study gives a short introduction into the history of thephenomenon and formation of the terminology in this field and outlines recent amendments to the LaborCode of the Russian Federation in regard to these categories of employees, pointing out the deficienciesof new provisions and approaches and describing the legal consequences they entail. It is demonstratedthat several important issues were omitted (or forgotten) in the process of drafting and that the previousrigid approach still persists in the Code. The study then addresses the omitted aspects of current teleworkregulation in Russia and suggests amending the Code with particular provisions introducing the principlesof localization of the place of work and procedures for remote employment of foreign citizens and statelesspersons, as well as provisions that would help teleworkers actively participate in collective labor relationsand fully enjoy those trade union rights that they have been formally given. In the authors’ opinion, the mainproblem with the current telework legislation is discrepancies and lacunae in the legal definitions of the coreconcepts in this field. These deficiencies may be attributed to the relatively recent appearance of teleworkin the Russian labor market. Consequently, the legislature has not yet acquired the experience to see allthe significant aspects of this mode of work and regulate it adequately. At the same time, article regardsthe current situation positively enough to hope that the suggestions, ideas and approaches that they haveconsidered in this paper will be used in the development of the Russian legislation in the field.