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Ksenia Yartseva Expert |
New requirements for establishing bonus system in the company come into force on September 1, 2025 due to the amendments to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.
New version of the Article 135 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation obliges the employer to determine the following provisions when establishing bonus system in local regulations:
- types and amounts of bonuses;
- timing, grounds, and conditions for bonus payments;
- criteria for awarding bonuses, such as quality, efficiency, length of service, and presence of disciplinary sanctions.
Employers are also permitted to include provisions in local regulations allowing for the reduction of an employee’s bonus due to a disciplinary sanction. However, such a reduction may only apply to bonuses accrued during the period in which the disciplinary action was in effect and must not result in the employee’s monthly salary decreasing by more than 20%. New conditions for bonus reduction in local regulations shall be established taking into account the opinion of the trade union, if one exists.
These amendments are made pursuant to the Ruling No. 56-P of the Constitutional Court, which states that Part 2 of Article 135 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation in its current version contradicts the Constitution of the Russian Federation, since "it allows, without taking into account the amount and quality of work performed, as well as other objective criteria, to reduce the amount of salary of an employee having outstanding disciplinary sanction."
Please be reminded that failure to align local regulations with the new requirements of labor legislation may result in administrative liability under Part 1 of Article 5.27 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.
Reference: Federal Law No. 144-FZ of June 7, 2025.
