A new law published on 7 June 2025 makes amendments to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation which are aimed at establishing transparent criteria for awarding and reducing bonuses.
According to the new version of Article 135 of the Labor Code, when approving bonus payment systems employers will be required to indicate the following information in internal regulations: the types and amounts of bonuses and the timeframes, grounds and conditions for the payment of bonuses to employees, taking into account such factors as the quality, efficiency and duration of work, the employee’s disciplinary record and other indicators.
The legislator places the following restrictions on the reduction of bonus payments to employees in connection with disciplinary sanctions:
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A bonus reduction may be applied only in relation to payments due for the period in which a disciplinary sanction was applied.
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The amount of the reduction may not exceed 20% of the employee's total monthly salary.
The changes will come into force on 1 September 2025.
We are ready to help companies update their internal regulations to bring them into line with the new legal requirements.
Authors
Ekaterina Ukhova
B1 Partner
People Advisory services Leader
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Lyudmila Sapronova
B1 Director
People Advisory services
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