Increased Obligations for Employers in Moscow
The Moscow Tripartite Agreement for 2025-2027 applies to all employers unless they opt out.
The Moscow Tripartite Agreement for 2025-2027 (hereinafter referred to as the "Agreement") was adopted on December 28, 2024, and published on the official portal of the Mayor and Government of Moscow on December 31.
The Agreement imposes increased obligations on employers compared to those established by the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. It automatically applies to all employers in the city of Moscow (organizations, individual entrepreneurs, as well as separate divisions of organizations located in Moscow).
Additional obligations established by the Agreement:
- Pay wages not lower than the Moscow minimum wage – 32,916 rubles (clause 3.8).
- Provide employees dismissed due to the liquidation of the organization or reduction in staff with the opportunity to undergo training and receive additional education (clause 2.30).
- Prohibit the dismissal of family members (spouses, parents, adoptive parents, guardians of minor children) within six months (clause 2.31).
- Annually fund measures to improve working conditions in an amount not less than the Moscow minimum wage per employee (clause 4.11).
- In the event of an employee's death, pay additional compensation to one family member (children, spouses, parents) in an amount not less than 50 times the Moscow minimum wage (clause 4.12).
Clauses recommended for inclusion in collective agreements and agreements (see the appendix to the Agreement):
- Introduce provisions and obligations regulating the work of remote employees, including additional wage guarantees.
- Develop and implement local regulations on mentoring.
- Provide professional training for women who have had breaks in work due to childcare.
- Allow retirees to use the organization's social infrastructure.
- Provide additional support to employees on parental leave for children up to 1.5 years.
- Organize voluntary health insurance for employees working in hazardous and/or dangerous conditions.
- Establish a one-time monetary compensation in case of work-related injury, based on 50 times the Moscow minimum wage, reduced depending on the degree of the victim's fault, but not more than 25%.
- Consider the opinion of trade unions when hiring foreign workers.
- Fund employees' additional professional education and independent qualification assessments.
If the employer agrees to take on the increased obligations, no action is required: the Agreement will apply automatically.
How to Opt Out of the Obligations Established by the Agreement
To opt out of the Agreement, active steps must be taken. Within 30 calendar days from its publication, i.e., by January 30, 2025, a reasoned statement of disagreement with the Agreement as a whole or its specific obligations must be submitted to the Moscow Tripartite Commission (Part 9, Article 12 of the Moscow Law No. 4 "On Social Partnership in Moscow" dated November 11, 2009).
The technical difficulty of opting out lies in the fact that the Moscow Tripartite Commission, as a permanent body to which the opt-out can be addressed, does not exist. We made an inquiry to the Moscow Government to clarify where to send the opt-out from the 2025-2027 Agreement and found out: the authorized body for receiving applications is the Committee for Public Relations and Youth Policy of Moscow. Please note: conflicting information about the Committee's location is available in the public domain. The correct address is: Moscow, Novy Arbat Street, 21.
Sample reasons for disagreement (other reasons may apply):
- Lack of funding to ensure the fulfillment of the guarantees provided by the Agreement.
- Insufficient organizational and/or managerial resources to fulfill the obligations established by the Agreement.
- The employer has established a number of additional guarantees for employees at the local level. The guarantees established by the employer are more favorable to employees than those established by the Agreement.
- The employer independently determines and provides guarantees and benefits based on the specific nature of its production. Therefore, the establishment of additional general guarantees proposed by the Agreement would be excessive and not in line with the employer's production needs.