The Russians were told the condition of a salary reduction by the employer

The employer can reduce the salary of an employee only by agreement with him. Evgenia Gankina, director of the Roskachestvo Organizational Development Department, told about this on Friday, April 3.

"An employer does not have the right to unilaterally simply take and reduce an employee's salary without legitimate grounds and compliance with the established procedure. Wages are one of the conditions of an employment contract, which means that any changes are possible only either by agreement of the parties or if there are objective reasons provided for by law," she explained in an interview with Lenta.Ru .

The specialist noted that the salary may be reduced if the organizational or technological working conditions change. We are talking about restructuring, introducing new technologies or reducing production volumes. At the same time, the employer is obliged to notify the employee at least two months before the expected changes, as well as to invite him to continue working on new terms. The employee, in turn, has the right to refuse, after which the employment contract can be terminated with the payment of the required compensation.

The employer cannot reduce the salary as a disciplinary punishment. Other penalties prescribed in the Labor Code of the Russian Federation are provided for violations: remark, reprimand or dismissal.

"It is important to distinguish between the salary and the bonus part: if the remuneration system provides for a variable part, the employer may reduce or not pay the bonus if there are no grounds for its accrual," concluded Gankina.

To add income: the real average salary in the Russian Federation turned out to be a third lower than the official one

How much does the majority of Russians earn and why do these figures fall short of the published values?

At the beginning of 2026 in Russia, the average salary officially exceeded 200 thousand rubles in four areas of activity at once.

The leader of the salary rating was the sphere of air and space transport. Pilots, engineers and other specialists receive an average of 230.8 thousand rubles here, RT reports. The second place belongs to bankers and insurers. They earn an average of 220.7 thousand rubles each. The third place was taken by employees of tobacco companies and factories with an income of 216.4 thousand rubles, NSN reports. Oil workers complete the list of highly paid industries — they receive an average of 209.1 thousand rubles each.

In the first quarter of 2026, 10% of Russians saw their salaries increase, which is one third less than in the same period of 2025 (14%). Such data is contained in the study of the services "Work.<url>" and the "Side Job" that Izvestia has. In general, Russians' earnings were increased by 10% (in 67% of cases).

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