Employment contract with a remote worker (+ sample 2016)

Labor legislation on remote work

Remote work assumes that the work performed by the employee is carried out by him in a location other than that created and controlled by the employer. The current edition of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation describes 2 options for such work:

home-based (Chapter 49), in which the place of work for the employee is defined as his place of residence;
remote (Chapter 49.1), when the place of work is not established and the employee has the right to choose it himself.

Both options have a lot in common:

the relationship between a remote employee and an employer is based on the same provisions of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation that apply to ordinary employees, taking into account the peculiarities that arise due to the special nature of remote work;
the employee may not appear at the employer’s location or visit there occasionally as needed, but is still considered to be at work;
the time spent on work is not controlled by the employer, and the employee can regulate the periods of work and rest;
the volume of work assigned to the employee must provide him with the opportunity to comply with the working hours established by law and alternate periods of work and rest;
the means of labor involved in performing work may belong to both the employee and the employer;
the employee is entitled to compensation for expenses incurred in the process of performing work, including for the use of property belonging to him;
the procedure for interaction regarding the transfer of work assignments to the employee and the receipt of work results from him is specifically stipulated;
for the employer, the list of his responsibilities towards the employee in terms of labor safety issues is limited to providing instructions, providing medical care and the need to investigate an accident with the employee, if one occurs, while he must provide homeworkers with special protective equipment and monitor their working conditions;
The employment contract may include special grounds for dismissal.

Do you need to keep a time sheet for employees working remotely? Read the article “Do I need to keep a time sheet for a home-based employee?”

Attention! Since 2021, changes to the rules for registration and organization of remote work have come into force. ConsultantPlus experts have prepared a detailed review of the law that amended the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. Get free demo access to K+ and go to the review material to find out all the details of this procedure.

What's the result?

Remote office work within the framework of one employment contract is currently not directly permitted and not expressly prohibited. There is no widespread practice of regulatory authorities and courts declaring such combined work illegal. Therefore, if an organization is interested in employees combining remote and office work, then this can be done with some risks. They can be reduced by competently drafting agreements to employment contracts with employees, including in them conditions that make it possible to prevent violations in the field of labor protection, recording working hours, their payment, etc.

More likely no than yes". About the risks of “under-remote” work

Differences in relationships with a teleworker and a homeworker

In addition to the generalities, there are a number of significant differences between home and remote work:

a homeworker is tied to a specific place where work is performed, while a remote worker can perform work in any place convenient for him;
a homeworker is allowed to involve his family members in the work, while a remote worker does the work himself;
a home worker creates things of a material nature that require the investment of initial material costs in them, and work of a remote nature leads to the creation of intellectual products;
working as a homeworker requires direct interaction with the employer when receiving source materials from him (if they are provided by the employer) and transferring finished products to him, and with a remote worker all such interaction is carried out via electronic means of communication;
For a remote worker, the following may be established: a work schedule agreed with the employer;
the right to use an enhanced qualified electronic signature of created documents;
special conditions in terms of labor protection, ensuring the labor process, and providing vacations.

Part-time work with the possibility of remote work

The Labor Code of the Russian Federation does not contain a ban on remote work for part-time workers. When concluding an agreement on such work with a part-time worker, you should remember the rules established by Chapter. 44 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, by virtue of which for a part-time worker:

working time is defined as half the normal working day, and, accordingly, the amount of work performed by him will be half that of an ordinary employee;
vacation is granted simultaneously with vacation at the main place of work;
The guarantees provided to persons: working in the Far North regions do not apply;
combining work and study;
termination of the contract is possible with a 2-week notice in case of hiring another employee to perform the same functions, registered at his main place of work.

Read more about the specifics of registering for a part-time job in the material “How to properly register a part-time job according to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation?”

Peculiarities of registration of personnel documents during remote work

Hiring an employee for remote work does not relieve the employer from the obligation to exchange documents with him in order to:

obtaining from the employee all necessary information about him;
provision by the employee of originals and copies of documents relevant for employment and further payment of wages;
drawing up an employment contract signed by both parties and possible additions to it;
familiarizing the employee with internal regulations against signature;
receipt by the employee of certificates from the employer.

But if such an exchange with a homeworker can be made through direct contact at the time of receiving materials for work or transferring finished products, then for a remote worker this method is not always available. Therefore, interaction with him and in relation to personnel documents is allowed to be carried out using electronic means of communication. In this case, the documents that the employee must submit to the employer in the original must be sent by regular mail by registered mail with notification.

For other documents, the following electronic exchange options are possible:

through regular electronic correspondence followed by sending by mail those papers that the employee and (or) employer need to have in the original;
using electronic documents signed with an enhanced qualified electronic signature, and the recipient must send a response confirmation.

Using electronic documents it is allowed to:

familiarization with internal regulations;
filing applications;
providing explanations.

You can transfer not only a new employee, but also an existing employee, to remote work. In particular, this need for many employers arose due to the COVID-19 epidemic. In order to do this, an additional agreement to the employment contract must be concluded with the employee. ConsultantPlus experts explained in detail what and how to include in such an additional agreement. To do everything correctly, get trial access to the system and go to the Ready solution.

Differences between a contract with a remote employee and a regular employment agreement

An employment contract with a remote worker is mandatory (Article 312.1 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). However, the special conditions for remote work and the opportunities provided by current legislation determine the existence of a number of differences between such an agreement and an agreement with an ordinary employee. In a contract with a remote worker:

an indication of the remote nature of the work is required, and the location of the employer is indicated as the place of conclusion of the contract;
there is a condition about not registering a work book, if such an agreement is reached;
a certain work schedule is established, if this is important for the employer, and a procedure for granting vacations;
stipulates the need to issue an enhanced qualified electronic signature if such a signature is needed by the employee for work;
contains a list of technical means and software that the employee must use in his work, if such a clause is necessary, and also provides a list of the means of labor transferred to the employee, if such transfer is carried out by the employer;
reflects the amount of compensation for the use of property owned by the employee and used to perform remote work, as well as other expenses arising in connection with this work;
the procedure for exchanging work assignments and the results of their implementation is established;
additional responsibilities of the employer regarding labor protection issues are determined, if necessary;
the conditions of dismissal are reflected, supplementing the list of reasons contained in the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, if a decision is made to include them in the text of the document.

How to draw up a contract for remote work

The terms of the employment contract stipulate:

The procedure and timing for the performance of official duties, features of submitting reports on the completion of tasks.
Providing conditions for implementation, the necessary equipment, technical and software resources, information security tools.
The procedure for compensating an employee for the use of his own software and hardware, and other expenses associated with the performance of duties.
Terms of remuneration.
Grounds for dismissal and procedure for terminating legal relations.
Rights and obligations of both parties.
The place of conclusion of the contract is the legal address of the employer.

The agreement can be concluded electronically using an electronic signature. The paper version is sent to the employee by registered mail within three days. It is allowed to send scanned copies of documents for employment, but at the request of the employer, the employee is obliged to send paper copies by mail.

The period of performing professional activities remotely does not need to be recorded in the work book. In this case, a copy of the agreement serves as proof of the fulfillment of work duties. If the record of experience is important for a person, then the book is sent by mail or provided to the personnel department in person.

IMPORTANT! If a person gets his first job, and documents are exchanged in electronic format, he issues an insurance certificate of compulsory pension insurance himself. In this case, you do not have to fill out the work book.

Rules for terminating a contract with a remote worker:

termination of the agreement by the employer is carried out on agreed grounds;
if the employee was informed of the termination of the contract electronically, the director sends a paper copy of the order to the employee by mail on the day of dismissal.

Issues that arise during the work are resolved using means of communication.

Employment contract for a remote worker - sample

An employment agreement concluded with a remote worker, like a contract with a regular employee, has a free form, but must contain the mandatory information provided for in Art. 57 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, taking into account the features that distinguish remote work from regular work.

For information about what constitutes the content of an employment agreement, read the article “Procedure for concluding an employment contract (nuances).”

A sample employment contract for remote work in 2021 can be viewed on our website.

Place of work of a remote worker: what principle should be indicated in the employment contract?

Letter of the State Labor Inspectorate for Moscow dated 03/04/2021 No. 77/10-6600-OB/18-1299

is devoted to the issue of compliance with labor legislation when working remotely.

The world has entered the digital era, and legislation simply cannot keep up with this process. During the development of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the ideal worker was taken as a model, who comes to the plant every morning at his place of registration and works at the machine assigned to him. Alas, this principle does not work now.

Letter No. 77/10-6600-OB/18-1299 discusses a situation quite typical for our time. A company employee works remotely. He is not expected to come to the office every day. The labor responsibilities of this employee include servicing several client organizations on their territory. This implies that today these will be some companies, and tomorrow – others.

In such a situation, HR officers have a question: how to indicate the workplace of such an employee in the employment contract?

Norms of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation on remote (remote) work

In accordance with Article 312.1 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, remote (remote) work is the performance of a function specified in an employment contract, subject to the use of the Internet and telephone for its implementation and for interaction between the employer and employee:

outside the location of the employer, its branch, representative office;
other separate structural unit (including those located in another area);
outside a stationary workplace, territory or facility directly or indirectly under the control of the employer.

Remote work can be permanent, temporary or periodic. The features of this type of work are prescribed in Chapter 49.1 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

Remote work, as a rule, presupposes the employee’s ability to independently determine his location, place of work, and his independence in this part from the will of the employer. At the same time, an employment contract with an employee performing remote work on a permanent basis may be terminated if the employee changes the location of work, if this makes it impossible for the employee to fulfill the duties under the employment contract on the same terms (Article 312.8 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

An employment contract for a remote worker may determine a specific place for performing job duties

(workplace) outside the location of the employing company.

As for the specifics, there are no exceptions regarding the presentation of documents when concluding an employment contract for remote work. The remote worker must submit the documents provided for in Article 65 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

An agreement on remote work must include mandatory conditions in accordance with Article 57 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, as well as conditions established in accordance with Chapter 49.1 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, including the place of work (letter of Rostrud dated October 7, 2013 No. PG/8960-6- 1)

It should be noted that the Labor Code of the Russian Federation does not disclose the content of the concept “place of work”

. This refers to a specific company, its representative office, branch, or other separate structural unit located in a certain area (settlement). If the organization and its separate structural unit are located in different areas (Part 2 of Article 57 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation), the employee’s place of work is specified in relation to this structural unit (Review of the practice of courts considering cases related to the implementation of labor activities by citizens in the regions of the Far North and equivalent to their localities, approved by the Presidium of the RF Armed Forces on February 26, 2014).

Explanations, advice and wishes

The labor inspectorate decided that the employment contract should list the client companies and indicate their locations. If necessary, you can indicate the place where the work was performed or your place of residence. The advice, frankly speaking, is so-so: client companies change and the employment contract will have to be redone.

There are other explanations from experts. As a place of work, it is enough to indicate the name of the locality in which the remote worker will work. But what if these are different cities?

In our opinion, the easiest option is to indicate the employee’s home address. And it is not at all necessary to advertise where the employee will actually perform his duties. In practice, many companies do this.

Finally, let’s add to the wish list: it would be nice for the legislator to introduce an amendment to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation establishing that for remote work, the place of work does not need to be indicated in the employment contract. After all, the officials themselves agreed that in this case only one principle is important: the location of the employee should not interfere with his performance of work duties.

Results

The labor legislation of the Russian Federation allows for the possibility of working outside the location of the employer.
Such work has two varieties (home-based and remote), which have both common features that distinguish this work from ordinary work and their own characteristics. Remote work is distinguished by the predominance of electronic forms of interaction and the possibility of not filling out a work book. An employment contract with a remote worker is drawn up in the usual manner, but with the inclusion of provisions in its text that require agreement between the employee and the employer due to the special nature of the work. You can find more complete information on the topic in ConsultantPlus. Free trial access to the system for 2 days.

Let's designate the distance

The HR department employee and the head of the enterprise need to understand that such an employment contract can only be concluded with those employees who can perform their work remotely, via the Internet. Therefore, in the “Subject of the contract” section, be sure to write down the main characteristics of a remote worker:

the employee performs his labor functions outside a stationary workplace controlled by the employer;
For work and interaction between employer and employee, public information and telecommunication networks, including the Internet, are used.

The date of hire and the duration of the probationary period are formalized as standard. But in the “Place of work” column you should indicate the employee’s address. This is not necessary, but it is important if the place of residence of the “remote worker” is one of the regions of the Far North or an equivalent area. You will have to pay all the required allowances to such an employee. In addition, the location of the remote worker, different from the location of the employer, will allow trips to the parent organization to be registered as business trips with all payments due.

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