Russia proposes to change the calculation of vacation pay during holidays

In Russia, it has been proposed to change the mechanism for calculating vacation payments if vacation falls on holidays in order to prevent their size from being reduced. As "Izvestia" found out, with such a request to the head of the Ministry of Labor Anton Kotyakov appealed to the deputy speaker of the State Duma Boris Chernyshov.

"In my address as a deputy of the State Duma in the run-up to the January vacations are more frequent appeals from citizens expressing concern about the existing procedure for calculating vacation payments. This problem is especially acute just in the so-called unprofitable months for vacation - January and May," reads the document, which is available at Izvestia.

It informs that vacation payments are calculated on the basis of average earnings per working day for the last 12 months. However, if the vacation falls on months with a large number of non-working vacations, the amount of vacation pay is significantly lower than in other periods. Thus, in January 2025, which has only 17 working days, employees who decide to extend New Year's vacations at the expense of vacation may lose up to 10% of their salary, the document notes.

"This state of affairs causes fair discontent. According to the legislation, the presence of holidays and days off should not lead to a decrease in the income of workers, but in reality this rule is actually not valid for those who go on vacation in months with a large number of vacations," Chernyshov informs the Minister, who proposes to revise the mechanism for calculating vacation payments in order to eliminate this injustice.

According to him, one possible approach is to calculate vacation pay based on the average monthly salary, which would eliminate the difference between "favorable" and "unprofitable" months. An alternative solution would be to use a fixed base for calculating, for example, the number of working days in a year, taking into account all holidays, the deputy said. In addition, he suggested that a mechanism of equalization coefficients could be considered, which would compensate for the reduction in the number of working days in certain months.

"The problem of "unprofitable" months for vacation, such as January or May, is related to the existing procedure for calculating vacation pay, which takes into account the number of working days in a particular month. This leads to a situation where employees lose part of their income if they take vacation in a period with a large number of weekends or holidays", - explained to "Izvestia" the deputy himself, who believes that if desired, this problem can be solved without a big loss for employers.

Earlier, on November 18, it was reported that in 70% of the companies participating in the survey in Russia in 2024 increased wages. This follows from the data of the recruiting company get experts. According to experts, most often - in 45% of cases - their increase was due to an increase in salary or salary and bonus at once (41%), 13% of employers limited themselves to an increase in bonuses. In 51% of cases, income growth amounted to 5-10%, in 37% - 10-20% and in 9% - 21% or more. At the same time, 58% of employers plan to increase salaries in 2025.