Amendments to the Labor Code for freelancers will be considered at the autumn session of the State Duma

In the autumn session, the State Duma will consider amendments to the draft federal law “On Amendments to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation”. This was reported to "Marker" by the first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Labor and Social Policy Ildar Gabrakhmanov.

The draft law was submitted to the State Duma in April 2011 (the text under the cut). For the first time in the TK, the definition of a freelancer is given (in the law, he appears as “an employee who performs work remotely” - previously only “home workers” were in the labor code), and also guaranteed him a free work schedule and annual leave in accordance with applicable labor laws. On taxes, while the draft does not say anything, the State Duma may make appropriate amendments at the autumn session.

Experts believe that after the legalization of remote workers, many more customers may appear on the market: up to 20% of Russian employers want to work with freelancers.

The text of the draft federal law “On Amendments to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation (in terms of labor regulation of workers performing work outside the employer's production premises)”. ( Doc )
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"Chapter 49. FEATURES OF THE REGULATION OF WORK OF EMPLOYEES PERFORMING THE WORK REMOTELY

Section 310. Remote Workers

Workers who perform work remotely (homework and other work with the possibility of remote access) are persons who have entered into an employment contract without defining a place of work in it and performing work outside the production premises of the employer. Unless otherwise provided by the employment contract, the employee distributes working time at his own discretion and may perform work with the involvement of members of his family or other persons (at the same time, there is no labor relationship between the employer and the persons involved in the work).

The procedure and conditions for the provision of workers who perform work remotely, with equipment, tools, documentation and other means necessary for them to perform their job duties, are determined by the employment contract.

Workers performing work remotely are subject to the labor legislation and other acts containing labor law regulations, with features established by this Code.

A fixed-term employment contract is concluded with an employee who performs work remotely.

Section 311. Conditions under which work may be performed remotely

Work performed by an employee remotely cannot be contraindicated for his health reasons and must be performed by an employee in conditions that meet the requirements of labor protection.

Responsibility for meeting these requirements rests with the employee.

Article 312. Termination of an employment contract with employees performing work remotely

Termination of an employment contract with employees who perform work remotely is made on the grounds stipulated in the employment contract. ”

Obviously, the final version of Chapter 49 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation will be quite different. For example, some people propose to separate in the draft law the concept of a remote worker and a homeworker so that the former will not have the right to involve members of his or her family to do the work. There are other proposals for regulating the work of freelancers: for example, see the list of proposals of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (PDF).