Anastasia Samusenko assessed for Forbes Russia the chances of recovering about $100,000 in salary arrears from a foreign startup

The American educational platform StudyFree, which helps students to enrol in foreign universities with a scholarship, has found itself at the centre of a scandal: the service’s team accused its founder, Russian Daria Kroshkina, of failing to pay salaries, the amount of which had reached $100,000 by January 2023.

All employees worked on a freelance basis, under a consultancy agreement, receiving a salary once a month. In the situation of falling revenues, some of the staff was cut, and those who were “optimised” instead of a salary payment on the last day of work received a termination letter containing the amount owed and the deadline for payment – until the end of 2022. The remaining StudyFree employees received their salaries from a Russian sole proprietorship registered to Umida Khamraeva, head of the client service department.

Anastasia Samusenko, Attorney at Maxima Legal, explained to Forbes Russia that the chances of collecting debts from an American company that is not physically present in Russia are low: “If a company has no branches, bank accounts or property in Russia, then even if a court decision is obtained in favour of the employee, there is a high probability that it will not be enforced. According to Anastasia, sole proprietorships registered in the name of a company’s employees cannot be considered a company’s “physical presence” in Russia or branches. “Such sole proprietorships cannot be considered branches, since formally they are not structural units of the company,” the expert explained.

It can also be difficult to get a refund because of the nature of the contracts with employees – consulting services. However, Anastasia noted that the type of contract will not matter if the employees can confirm the nature of their employment relationship with the company: “To prove that the relationship was an employment relationship, a set of circumstances is usually examined – whether local acts were binding on the employee, whether the employee had corporate accounts, whether the employee went on holiday, whether the employee was provided with a workplace and equipment, whether there was a work schedule, and so on,” Anastasia Samusenko listed.

To read the full article (in Russian) please visit Forbes Russia website >>>