The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation has decided to refuse an employee a complaint aimed at violating their constitutional rights, including the procedure for transferring cases in the company.
According to part 4 of article 29 of the Federal Law "On Accounting", when changing the head of an organization, the transfer of accounting documents to the organization has to be ensured. The procedure of transfer of accounting documents is determined by the organization independently.
The court Ruling No. 2450-O dated September 29, 2022 states that the former CEO of the company appealed to the Constitutional Court with an attempt to challenge the requirement of the Law. The director considered that he might be required to provide documents that he does not have and that has been never created in the company.
The court concluded that it is not required to transfer documents if the former head of the organization proves that:
arrangements have been made for the transfer of documents to the new head;
or the fulfillment of the obligation to transfer documents was not possible.
In other cases, for non-compliance with the requirement of the legislation, the court may oblige the employer to pay a fine in the amount of 1,000 – 2,500 rubles. For repeated violation, an officer faces criminal liability in accordance with part 1 of article 135 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, namely:
a fine of up to 50,000 rubles or;
compulsory community service for up to 200 hours or;
correctional labour for up to 1 year or;
arrest for up to 3 months or imprisonment for up to 1 year.