THE SUPREME COURT OF RUSSIA CONSIDERED A CASE ON THE CONTESTATION OF THE LAWYER'S WAGE INCREASE

THE SUPREME COURT OF RUSSIA CONSIDERED A CASE ON THE CONTESTATION OF THE LAWYER'S WAGE INCREASE

THE SUPREME COURT OF RUSSIA CONSIDERED A CASE ON THE CONTESTATION OF THE LAWYER'S WAGE INCREASE

The case on invalidation of two additional agreements to the employment contract has been submitted to the Judicial Board for Economic Disputes of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. The parties to the contested transactions were the debtor company, which was subsequently declared bankrupt, and its legal adviser.



The recognition of the agreements as invalid was demanded by the manager of the debtor, who saw in them a violation of the rights of creditors. This happened because the parties increased the salary of the legal adviser twice after the insolvency proceedings were initiated, thereby reducing the bankruptcy estate.

The lawyer himself explained that the increase was related to the layoff of the staff and, as a result, an increase in the volume of his work.

Despite this, the court of the first instance and the court of appeal, as well as the district court sided with the manager and declared the concluded additional agreements to be invalid. However, the legal adviser decided to contest the judicial acts at the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. Judge Razumov I.V., having examined the materials of the case, doubted the correctness of the conclusions of the lower instances and sent the case for reconsideration to the economic board.

In particular, the judge was interested in the lawyer's argument that the salary of an ordinary employee of the company cannot be made dependent on the financial result of the employer's activities. In addition, according to a general rule, the employee cannot be affected by the risk of the employer's insolvency, and the specifics of labor relations assume the presumption of the employee's good faith.

The consideration of the case in the Supreme Court is scheduled for December 14 (determination No. 305-ES17-9623 (7) of November 16, 2020).


26.11.2020