New legislation legalizes electronic document management between employee and employer
The Russian legislation regulating electronic document management (EDM) is being changed and improved to better serve labor relations. To this end, the Labor Code[1] has been amended to allow concluding employment contracts and signing documents between employee and employer remotely (in electronic form), without requiring paper duplicates.
The following amendments have also been introduced:
- Employers are entitled to decide whether to introduce EDM and how to implement EDM in their company by adopting internal regulations and familiarizing their employees with it. In such case, employers will need to obtain their employees’ written consent to use EDM. It will be possible for document management to remain in paper form (without introducing EDM) as previously.
- Employees are entitled to give their written consent to interact with their employer through EDM. If such consent is not available, then this will be recognized as the employee’s refusal to use EDM. In such case, the employer will still be required to provide paper documents to the employee. Employees are entitled to withdraw their refusal and/or consent at a later date. And if an employee is hired for the first time on December 31, 2021 and starts working after that date, his/her consent will be assumed to have been granted.
- Employers must inform anyone they hire that they use EDM.
- Employers must ensure the safety of electronic documents for the same periods as for paper documents as prescribed by Russian laws on archiving.
- With EDM, it is possible for the parties to an employment relationship to sign documents with an electronic signature, in particular: (1) employment contract (2) material liability agreement (3) amendments to employment contract and material liability agreement (4) order for disciplinary action. The type of electronic signature required depends on the information system chosen by the employer and the documents themselves. For example, all documents may be signed with an encrypted digital signature.
- Employers bear the costs of obtaining and using electronic signatures. Employees or anyone applying for work is entitled to use their own encrypted digital signature that they previously obtained.
It should also be noted that the Russian Ministry of Labor and Social Protection should approve in 2022 the requirements for contents and formats of documents created in EDM systems. These requirements will take effect on March 1, 2023, and until then, employers will be able to create documents in their EDM system as per their own requirements.
If you have any questions or require further information, please feel free to write to Julia Talagaeva or Artem Eretenko
Best regards,
[1] Federal Law No. 377-FZ Amending the Russian Labor Code took effect on November 22, 2021 save for certain provisions (http://publication.pravo.gov.ru/Document/View/0001202111220001)