Annual paid leave

According to the Russian Labour Code and the internal regulations of the University, research fellows must be provided with the annual paid leave of 28 calendar days per year; faculty who have a teaching load are provided with an extended annual paid leave of 56 calendar days. Please consult your contract for the duration of your annual leave.

The period of your annual leave can be divided into several parts with one unbroken part of no less than 14 calendar days. In general, faculty members take most of this leave in July and August, as there are no classes during these months.

Employees are supposed to use annual paid leave during the working year. Transfer and deferral of the annual paid leave is only possible in exceptional cases. To change the dates of the leave, an HSE Annual Leave Changing Application Form must be completed. Please note that when changing your leave you should specify the new dates for the entire leave period: either as one lump or in smaller pieces. 

How to apply?

Annual paid leave is provided according to the Employee Leaves Schedule, which is composed and approved at the department and submitted to the HR office in December at least two weeks before the start of a calendar year. According to the schedule, the leave and allowance are processed automatically during the year without any additional formal procedures.

Unplanned leave out of schedule is provided based on an application filled out by the employee and submitted to the head of their department at least two weeks prior to the beginning of the leave.

How is it paid?

While it may seem advantageous to combine leave with holidays to prolong it, this may lead to certain monetary losses.

The reason is that compensation for leave days is calculated differently than a salary, and depends on 1) the amount of average wage* and 2) the number of working days in a month. While salary is paid for workdays, leave is paid for calendar days (including weekends). Furthermore, public holidays that occur during the period of leave are not paid, though they prolong the period of leave to the corresponding number of days. It is important to remember that the fewer working days there are in the calendar month, the smaller your compensation will be.

If you want to know the details of how the payment for your leave days was or will be calculated, you may consult the Accounting Department (Vanentina Kiseleva v.kiseleva@hse.ru); consultations are offered only in Russian.

In January and May, for instance, you can take a longer leave, saving leave days, but receive less payment. Accordingly, if you want to go on leave with minimal monetary losses, the recommended months for leave on the work calendar are April, July, and August.