Alert – New Law on Prohibition of Discrimination in Recruitment

Alert – New Law on Prohibition of Discrimination in Recruitment

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On 2 July 2013, some important changes to Russian employment law concerning discrimination in connection with hiring came into effect (Law № 162-ФЗ of 02.07.2013). The law introduced administrative liability for discriminatory practices and job announcements with discriminatory content.

Before the changes, “discrimination” referred to violation of the rights, freedoms and legal interests of individuals with regard to their sex, race, nationality, language, ancestry, economic and official status, , religious beliefs, convictions, and membership (or non-membership) in public organizations or any other social groups. In the new law, a number of more specific characteristics have been added to the official scope of the definition of “discrimination”, those are: age, place of residence, skin color, and family and social status.

In addition to administrative liability for discrimination, the new law stipulates liability for spreading information on open vacancies that contains “restrictions of a discriminatory nature.” By this, it is meant that none of the above listed discriminatory criteria can appear as requirements in a job advertisement.

For the offence of discrimination the below specified sanctions may follow:

• for individuals, a fine from 1000 to 3000 rubles;

• for legal entities, a fine from 50,000 to 100,000 thousand [sic] rubles;

The offence of publishing job announcements containing discriminatory criteria may entail the below specified sanctions:

• for individuals, from 500 to 1000 rubles;

• for officials, from 3000 to 5000 rubles;

• for legal entities, from 10,000 to 15,000 rubles.

Federal Labor and Employment Service officials are now endowed with the right to investigate such administrative offences.

One should note that the new stress on administrative liability for discriminatory hiring practices may also increase the risk for civil law suits initiated by job candidates who have failed to be chosen.

Please get in touch with us if you would like to get more information about the new employment law. We are here to help you and would be glad to provide you with detailed advice on the personnel selection procedures for your company, as well as how to formulate job announcements.

Awara Direct Search specializes in matching the best people with the best firms and finding the best jobs for the best people in Russia, Ukraine and the CIS.

Our method is always direct search. We employ and contract with experienced professionals whose expertise covers all the business segments (industries) and types of candidates (functionality) that we search for. For more information, please contact Awara Direct Search specialists:

Jon Hellevig
Managing Partner
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www.awara-search.com

Ekaterina Lazareva
Vice-President
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www.awara-search.com

Recruitment in Russia