The lawyer of the firm, Rustam Gubaidullin, commented on the news about the recommendations to employers and employees explaining the concept of "additional non-working days" introduced by the decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin from May 4 to 7

Rustam Gubaidullin, the lawyer in the firm Yalilov and Partners, reminded the newspaper Business Online reporter that in April,2020, the presidential decree established mandatory non-working days for all jobholders due to unfavorable coronavirus situation. Allowance was made only to the pharmacies, retail and wholesale food trade, strategic enterprises and continuous production enterprises. The state and municipal authorities precisely defined technical staff members and number of employees to maintain the operation.

"The new decree states that all organizations have the opportunity to independently determine the composition of employees who will work, without exceptions," Gubaidullin explained. “Upon agreement with the employer, even all employees can work if it is impossible to ensure functioning without them." But the employer shall be obliged to precisely specify in the local regulatory act which employees should work and which ones should rest. In case an employee is not specified in such a directive, he/she has the right to stay at home but receive the same salary as for the workdays in May, 4-7.

"Otherwise, the employer's behavior shall be considered illegal and the employee can file a lawsuit," the lawyer added. "The previous year such situations have already happened: the courts satisfied the claims of employees who were not paid their salaries on non-working days. Some employees were even dismissed in violation of the decree but they were reinstated in a job by court decision."