Photo: RIA Novosti / Denis Abramov
The state Duma plenary session on Tuesday adopted in the first reading a bill not to conduct a special assessment of working conditions in religious organizations, RIA Novosti reported.
Previously, the project introduced in the lower house of Parliament, the state Duma Yaroslav Nilov (LDPR) and Olga Timofeeva (“United Russia”).
The special assessment of working conditions is the presence of harmful or dangerous factors of production environment and labor process and assess their impact on the employee. The sponsors note that according to Russian law, the state does not interfere in the activities of religious associations if it is not against the law. As reported, at the same time, the Federal law “On special assessment of working conditions” apply to religious organizations, not taking into account features of their work that may entail requirements of the competent authorities to conduct a special assessment of working conditions of employees of religious organizations.
However, according to the developers, this assessment in relation to clergy and other employees whose duties are of a liturgical character, is the government intervention in the activities of a religious organization, and therefore unacceptable. In addition, the authors note, to standardize conditions of labor in religious organizations is not possible due to religious differences and the closeness of the cult of the territories.
In this regard, the authors of the bill propose to take the employers religious organizations from the scope of the law “On special assessment of working conditions” in the regulation of working conditions of Ministers of worship.