According to Article 68 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation (hereafter, the "Labor Code"), before employment (i.e. before execution of a labor contract), the employer must get an employee acquainted with the internal labor policy and other internal company regulations directly related to the employee's labor duties and collective agreement with his signature confirmation.

Company regulations are the regulations passed by the employer within the framework of his competence in accordance with the labor laws and comprising various employment, labor and neighboring provisions.

Types of Company Regulations

There are company regulations which are mandatory for each employer and some other regulations are desirable but non-compulsory from the legal point of view.

The following regulations are deemed as mandatory: a document establishing the order of processing and protection of personal data (paragraph 8 Article 86 of the Labor Code) – Regulations on Personal Data; a document establishing the remuneration system (part 4 Article 135 of the Labor Code) – Regulations on Compensation; Internal Labor Policy (part 4 Article 189 of the Labor Code); labor safety regulatory legal acts (part 2 Article 212 of the Labor Code); a document establishing the attestation procedure (part 2 Article 81 of the Labor Code).

Non-compulsory regulations may be acts governing certain areas of labor activity of employees, for example, Regulations on Business Trips, Regulations on Corporate Mobile Communication, Regulations on Probation Period, etc. These regulations are not compulsory legally, but they are necessary for an employer to organize proper relations with employees on different aspects related to their daily work.

Company regulations are usually passed by the employer at his sole discretion, but some of them may be passed only with consideration of the opinion of an employee representative body according to Article 372 of the Labor Code (if any). The Articles of Association of the company may envision passing some of the most important company regulations by a general meeting of the members of the company, by the Board of Directors or a collective executive body.

Order of Execution and Adoption of Company Regulations

The order of execution and adoption of company regulations may be established by a certain regulation on the order of execution and approval of company regulations.

Usually, one person or a group of employees from the company's HR department is in charge of drafting the company's internal regulations. In some complex cases, the employer may wish to outsource drafting of such regulations to a third party service provider, like a law firm.

Then, a company regulation is to be approved and introduced by order of the Chief Executive Officer.

Upon approval and introduction of a company regulation, all employees of the company are to be acquainted with this regulation with signature confirmation (if it directly relates to their labor activities). All newly employed workers must also be acquainted with adopted regulations against signature.

Company regulations may not contradict the existing labor laws, collective agreement, and other regulations comprising employment and labor provisions. Otherwise, a company regulation may not be applied.

Non-compliance with the order of adoption and approval of company regulations may be a reason for the employees to ignore its provisions.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.