On 21 November 2019, concluding its third reading, the State Duma of the Russian Federation adopted a Draft Law that grants state labour inspectors the out-of-court authority to collect accrued but unpaid salaries from employers.

The Draft Law establishes the following procedure for recovery of unpaid salaries:

• Based on results of an audit, the inspector issues an order to eliminate violations related to salaries (that is, non-payment)
• In the event of a failure to comply with the instructions set out in the order, the inspector makes a decision on compulsory enforcement of the order and provides the employer with this decision, within three working days from the day of its adoption.
• The employer is entitled to challenge the inspector’s enforcement decision in court, within ten days from the date of its receipt.
• If the decision is not executed and the term for appealing it has expired, an electronic copy of that decision is submitted to bailiffs.
• Bailiffs initiate enforcement proceedings and recover the outstanding amounts from the company’s accounts.

Once the process of validating the Draft Law is completed (sign off by the President, and publication), we can expect that the Draft Law will come into force at the beginning of 2020, presumably in January.