The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation reaffirmed that, in the event of staff redundancy, employers are obliged to offer all vacant job roles available in the area, including those in branches.

Background

An employee was dismissed, due to staff redundancy, in the branch of a company. The employee considered the dismissal illegal and filed a claim in court. The employee insisted that the employer did not offer him vacant job roles in all branches of the company. The first and second court levels supported the employer, who claimed that there were no vacant positions in the branch from which the employee was dismissed.

Supreme Court ruling

The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation did not agree with this approach and ordered a retrial, stating that in the event of staff redundancy, the employer should offer all vacant job roles to the employee being made redudant in the area where the redundancy takes place, including in all branches. The court emphasised that a branch is a subdivision of the company; therefore, the obligation to offer vacancies applies to the whole company.

Source: Decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, dated January 20th, 2020 No. 5-KG19-217

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