Employment, Pensions & Benefits Practice — Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (Russia) LLP

WHAT WE DO/ SPECIFIC AREAS OF FOCUS

The Employment Practice is one of the largest and strongest both in Russia and globally. For many years now, the Practice has been one of the “highly recommended” by leading international and national legal directories and rating agencies (The Legal 500, Chambers Europe, Pravo.ru, etc.).

Advising major foreign investors, multinational corporations and big Russian employers on all labour matters for many years allowed every individual member of the group specialise in particular aspects of labour law, which are in the high demand in the market: pension legislation, relations with trade unions, outstaffing and immigration legislation. Due to such specialisation we are well-equipped to deliver services of unsurpassed quality and provide the most effective support for our clients.

The Legal 500 2020
Best known for its excellent credentials in resolving complex labour disputes between employers and employees, the state labour inspectorate and other regulatory authorities. The team is highly qualified and result oriented... it is the best team specialising in employment matters on the market.

We advise clients on any labour law issues that might arise in their day-to-day business, perform due diligence of the company’s employment paperwork in order to identify and mitigate potential risks, make recommendations for optimal application of the labour legislation rules taking into account specifics of the client’s business, and provide support for large-scale comprehensive projects.

HR management is a very subtle sphere of activity: labour law issues often intersect with such areas as protection of intellectual property, confidential information, liability of company executives/employers, etc. By representing the interests of employers in their striving for maximum efficiency, including in resolving HR issues, we help our clients achieve this in a competent and effective manner from the legal point of view.

Chambers Europe 2019
Well-regarded team offering comprehensive employment law services to a wide variety of multinational companies. Clients particularly value the team for its business-oriented approach, with one remarking: "They always take an innovative and creative approach to solve the most difficult problems. They can see the wider picture, which is a very important element."

For more details about our international experience, please click here.

Experience

Employment, pensions & benefits

Comprehensive support for and assistance with performance of the procedure for Dr.Reddy’s Laboratories staff reduction of employees working “remotely” (from home) in one of the Russian regions, which included preparing the plan and set of documents for the staff reduction, provision of advice on the employees’ notification on the forthcoming reduction taking into account the “remote” character of the work, as well as communications with the employees. The project also included successful representation and protection of the company’s interests in court against employees challenging their dismissal.

Employment, pensions & benefits

Provided Guardian Industries with legal advice and consultations in relation to audits performed by the immigration authorities as well as the company’s actions in case of the audit, provision of clarifications regarding the applicable immigration legislation and recent court practice related to engagement of foreign citizens.

Employment, pensions & benefits

Assisted Intel in carrying out a labour law due diligence process in connection with purchase by the client of an IT company with an office in Russia.

Employment, pensions & benefits

Comprehensive legal support for a project aimed at departmental and staff restructuring at Mars, including advice on aspects of organising transfer of staff to a new structure, legal formalisation of the procedure for appraisal of employees on the basis of the formal assessment procedure, legal support during dismissal of certain employees given the need to comply with all the legal provisions on the priority right to job retention and assistance with and settlement of conflicts with employees.

Employment, pensions & benefits

Successful representation of the interests in several labour litigations relating to the employees’ unfair dismissal and reinstatement.

Employment, pensions & benefits

Advised Mars, Covidien on processing employee personal data in the international communications between different offices.

Employment, pensions & benefits

Legal support Ruscam with respect to internal restructuring of staff within the framework of reorganisation and liquidation of several Russian legal entities (transfer and dismissal of employees, change of employment conditions, transfer of foreign employees and obtaining the relevant work authorisation documents).

Employment, pensions & benefits

Successfully represented TEVA in labour disputes over accrual and payment of regional coefficients and percentage allowance over and above employee salaries in 3 regions (northern hardship bonus payment).

Employment, pensions & benefits

Successfully acted for Bunge CIS, protecting its interests in court with respect to a claim for reinstatement and recovery of compensation. The case was a complex one, involving a distance worker, extensive use of electronic document turnover by the company and significant sums claimed.