New Remote Work Regulations: Have Old Problems Been Solved?

Abstract

At the beginning of 2021, new norms came into force, completely revising the content of Ch. 49.1 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation concerning remote workers. Since 2020, the interest in this form of labor relations has acquired a feverish character due to the need to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic. The original text of the amendments was prepared for the State Duma by the Department of Labor Law and Social Security Law of Kutafin Moscow State Law University. However, it was deeply revised during the discussion by social partners. The paper evaluates how the new rules on remote work solve the key problems identified by experts in connection with this form of work. The author makes conclusions that, as a whole, the new norms, to a greater extent, reflect the interests of employers rather than employees. For the convenience of employers, rules have been adopted that provide for the unilateral temporary transfer of employees to remote work mode in emergency situations, for the recall of employees from remote to stationary ork mode, etc.Unfortunately, the law failed to solve the urgent problem of securing the right of workers not to be in constant communication with the employer (“the right to disconnect”). The most important asset for workers is the exclusion from the Labor Code of the Russian Federation of the discriminatory right of employers in relation to remote workers to secure additional grounds for dismissal in an employment contract.A number of significant problems in the legal regulation of remote work remained unsolved. We are talking about transnational and trans-regional remote work, when remote workers and their employers are located in different states or in different constituent entities of the Russian Federation.