Paid leave: a new procedure for calculating average earnings has been approved
On Monday, June 16, the decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 540 dated April 24, 2025 "On the specifics of the procedure for calculating the average salary" was published. The rules will enter into force on September 1, 2025 and will be valid until September 1, 2031. They are changing the way they calculate average earnings, which will affect the amounts of vacation pay and benefits. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.
New procedure for calculating average earnings: what is known
According to Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 540 dated April 24, 2025 "On the specifics of the procedure for calculating average wages", a new procedure for calculating average wages will begin to operate in Russia on September 1 of this year.
Olga Shinkareva, Associate Professor of the Department of Economics and Management at the Institute of Economics, Management and Law of the Moscow City Pedagogical University (IEUiP MSPU), noted that the new rules do not affect the basic principles of calculating average earnings currently in force.
— As before, the billing period for determining such earnings is 12 calendar months preceding the month of the occurrence of the event for which the calculation is made, and the income itself is determined based on the salary actually accrued to the employee, — the expert notes.
As Elena Pitko, a senior lecturer at the IEUiP MSPU Law Department, added, according to the new rules, not only the days of absence will be excluded from the billing period, but also the amounts accrued during this time. When determining average earnings, only the periods actually worked out with accruals will be taken into account.
This applies to the following situations: receiving temporary disability benefits, maternity leave, downtime due to the fault of the employer or for reasons beyond the control of the parties, participating in a strike, paid days off to care for disabled children, and other cases where an employee is released from work with or without full or partial pay payments.
Individual changes
As Anna Vedeneeva, founder of Vedeneeva Consulting Group and a member of the Federal Chamber of Tax Consultants, told Izvestia, the new rules assume a single algorithm for calculating average earnings for different payments. In her opinion, one of the changes will be a reduction in the amount of vacation pay for those who had high but unstable incomes, and an increase in pension rights for employees with an official "white" salary.
Olga Shinkareva also adds that with the new calculation, there will be individual changes that may affect the amount of employer payments in certain cases. One of them will affect the amount of severance pay upon dismissal of an employee, paid, for example, during the reduction or liquidation of an organization.
The expert explains that previously its amount was defined as the product of the average daily (average hourly) earnings and the number of working days (hours) for the period according to the organization's schedule/production calendar. Now, the average earnings will need to be multiplied by the average number of working days or hours per month per year.
— Thus, the decree makes the amount of severance pay practically independent of the time of dismissal — the average number of working days per month practically does not change from year to year, which cannot be said about the number of these days or hours in a particular month, which in 2025, for example, ranges from 17 (136 hours at 40-hour working week) until 23 (184 hours). Thus, the new resolution makes the calculation of severance pay more equitable, because currently it depends not only on the amount of earnings, but also on the "success" of the month of dismissal, that is, on an indicator unrelated to the duration and quality of work, explains Olga Shinkareva.
The expert also gave an example: if a person had an average daily salary of 2.5 thousand rubles, if they left in January 2025 (when there were 17 working days with a five-day week), they would receive 42.5 thousand rubles. In July (23 days) — 57.5 thousand rubles. Under the new conditions, the amount of the allowance will not differ from month to month and will amount to about 51.5 thousand rubles (according to the formula, 25 thousand rubles of daily earnings multiplied by 20.58 is the average number of working days per month in 2025).
Investment advisor, member of the registry of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and founder of the online University of Finance Yulia Kuznetsova added that previously, in some cases, not only income was taken into account, but also the so-called average earnings.
— This could lead to distorted calculations, especially for those whose salaries are unstable. Now this will not happen: everything will be tied to the real money credited to the account," says the expert.
The vast majority of employees will not notice the new rules for calculating vacation and severance payments: the amount of payments will practically not change, adds Elena Pitko.
— Major changes will affect only the accounting of premiums. Starting from September 1, the calculation will take into account only the monthly bonuses accrued for the time actually worked. If an employee has a large bonus once a year, then it may no longer be taken into account in vacation pay, the expert believes.
There was no official confirmation of this point of view at the time of publication.
Improving the accuracy of calculations
All the experts interviewed by Izvestia noted that the purpose of the innovation is a more equitable accrual system.
According to Anna Vedeneeva, the task of the novel is to combat "gray" payments.
— Now many employees receive part of their salary in envelopes, which reduces their future pension and vacation pay. The unification of the rules encourages employers to pay contributions in full. In addition, it will simplify administration for the FIU and the Federal Tax Service," she explains.
The changes will help eliminate abuse and improve the accuracy of calculations, Yulia Kuznetsova agrees.
— For the pension fund, this is a way to reduce the workload, for employees it is a guarantee that the calculation will be correct. This is especially important for those who work part—time, piecework, or with income fluctuations," the expert adds.
Yulia Kuznetsova also believes that the innovation will stimulate "white" payments (the higher the official income, the higher the vacation pay and pension) and reduce administrative disputes over settlements.
Different effects
According to Anna Vedeneeva, the new calculation rules may have different effects. Employees who receive official salaries are likely to benefit from the changes: their pensions and vacation pay will become more stable, and there will be no more or less profitable month when it is worth taking a vacation. Those with salaries "in the shadows" may lose out on payments. Businesses may have an increased tax burden if they have to transfer employees to a full "white" salary. At the same time, an increase in insurance contributions will strengthen the pension system. However, the expert believes, the opposite effect is also possible in the form of an increase in unofficial payments.
— The reform is aimed at the transparency of fees, but its success depends on how flexibly the interests of all parties will be taken into account: both employees and business, — the expert believes.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
