Acsour
Many questions arise in practice in terms of determining the proper deadline for paying vacation allowances to employees.
The Russian Labour Code establishes that vacation allowances should be paid not later than three days before the vacation starts. This is an imperative rule of law.
The following liability is envisaged for a failure to pay vacation allowances on time:
– for a company’s officers – a warning or a fine from RUB 1,000 to RUB 5,000;
– for companies – a fine from RUB 30,000 to RUB 50,000.
The Labour Code does not specify, whether vacation allowances should be paid either three business days or three calendar days before the vacation.
According to the explanations issued by governmental authorities and well-established court practice, three days can be calendar days because vacation is calculated in calendar days.
In the opinion of the Federal Labour and Employment Service (abbreviated in Russian to Rostrud), it follows from the systemic interpretation of the provisions of the Labour Code that time limits for the payment of vacation allowances should be calculated in calendar days.
This opinion is also supported by a fairly significant number of court judgments.
Should you need advice on how provisions of employment legislation should be applied, please contact Acsour’s legal department.
