The President of the Russian Federation signed a decree on the extension of non-working days until April 30, 2020

Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 239 dated April 02, 2020 "On measures to ensure the sanitary and epidemiological well-being of the population in the Territory of the Russian Federation in connection with the spread of a new coronavirus infection (COVID-19)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Decree") established non–working days with the retention of wages for employees for the period; from April 4 to April 30, 2020 inclusive.

This Decree does not apply to employees of:

continuously operating organizations;
medical and pharmacy organizations;
organizations that provide the population with food and essential goods;
organizations that perform urgent work in an emergency situation, in other cases that endanger the life or normal living conditions of the population;
organizations that carry out urgent repair and loading and unloading operations;
organizations that provide financial services in terms of urgent functions (primarily settlement and payment services).

For a more detailed list of organizations that are not covered by the non-working days, you can find at the link.

At the same time, the heads of the constituent entities of the Federation, in accordance with the Decree, may decide to suspend (restrict) the activities of individual organizations located in the relevant territory, as well as introduce restrictive measures based on the situation in the region.

Rosmintrud, in turn, published answers to questions on the organization of work and observance of workers' rights during the non-working week.

In particular, Rosmintrud once again stressed that employees of organizations that are not covered by the Decree are paid in the usual, not increased amount, since a non-working day does not apply to weekends or non-working holidays. And employees working remotely, in agreement with the employer, can continue to work during the period of the Decree.

Employees who are paid piecework for these non-working days are paid the appropriate remuneration, determined by the local regulatory act of the employer. The amounts of expenses for these purposes relate to the full amount of labor costs.

As for keeping a timesheet, the employer has the right to independently set a code to reflect the specified period, given that it is paid.

At the same time, Rosmintrud explains that if employees do not work in organizations that are subject to the non-working days from March 30 to April 3, 2020, the termination of employment relations is also not carried out during this period.