Is it possible so far to resolve the issue of an untimely payment of salaries in compliance with the norms of labor legislation?

One should acknowledge that today it is quite often, especially in commercial structures, that the rights of the employed are violated in respect of payment of remuneration. However, unfortunately, there is no universal remedy for securing this obligation of the employer in the Russian labor legislation. It is established in Russia's constitution that "Every citizen of Russia has the right to remuneration for his labor and at least equal to the minimum salary established by the federal law ...". The constitutional rights of the citizens are secured through administration of justice. This means that everyone may protect his rights in court by all remedies not prohibited under law. In accordance with the principle "everything is allowed that is not prohibited" the remedies may be quite diverse. For instance, there is such a precedent known to Russian jurisprudence when the employee suspended unilaterally the employment agreement, claiming payment of salary for a period of seven months. Upon consideration of the case, the court decided that the employee did not violate the law by his actions and satisfied the claim to recover the amounts awarded to the employee from the employer.

Up until quite recently, a countrywide delay of salary payments generated some changes in the Russian legislation. And namely, the article concerning the liability for an untimely payment of salaries was introduced into the Criminal Code of the RF. It was also envisaged to enact a law where a liability of a company is provided for upon the untimely payment of salaries. In accordance with the draft law it was envisaged that penal sanctions would be recovered from the violators as penalties at the rate of 0.3% for each day of delay in payment based on the amounts of salaries. This is fair. If the norms of the Civil Law provide for recovery of interest for unlawful retention and use of another party's funds, then measures of property accountability should be applied to labor relations, and namely, penal sanction should be applied as a penalty. However, at the moment this is only draft law. Should the employer violate the obligation to pay salaries, the most efficient remedy is to go to court. The court may obligate the employer to honor the obligation related to the repayment of a liability, pay salaries for the entire period of forced absenteeism, and also under certain conditions satisfy the claim to compensate for moral damages.