Remote operation: new approaches to regulation

The presented article examines the history of the consolidation of remote operation in Russian labor law, the prerequisites for changing the legislation on the legal regulation of the labor of distant workers, and an overview of the proposals made on this issue. The author analyzes the essence and content of the amendments made to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation in 2020, taking into account the discussion at different stages of the legislative process. The purpose of the article is to conduct a comparative analysis of the norms of Russian labor law in different periods of its development, international labor standards and foreign legislation in terms of regulation of teleworking. The author comes to conclusions about the timeliness, necessity and expediency of introducing new norms into Russian labor legislation in order to balance the interests of the rights of workers and employers in connection with the introduction of new rules. The author believes that most of the issues that have arisen in connection with the shortcomings of the legal regulation of teleworking, aggravated in the difficult conditions of the restrictive measures introduced in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, have been resolved. However, it believes that the practice of applying the updated standards will not be easy. The new version, according to the author, contains rules that can destroy the balance of interests of social partners and shake the already fragile balance achieved through lengthy negotiations between government officials, representatives of the labor community, trade unions, and legal experts. The paper concludes that new proposals for updating labor legislation will soon appear, since the legal mediation of digitalization of labor relations is only beginning to acquire clear features and clear directions of development.

remote operation, stationary workplace, employee, employer, distant work