Employment Disputes and Disputes with Top Managers

Not Every Employment Dispute Is a Dispute over a Single Salary

For executives and key employees, the remuneration system is often more complex than an ordinary salary.

The employment contract and supplementary agreements may provide for:

• annual bonuses;
• KPI-based payments;
• payments depending on the company’s profit or revenue;
• compensation upon termination of the employment relationship;
• additional payments to the executive;
• special terms of the final settlement.

After dismissal, it is precisely these amounts that often become the subject of a dispute.

The amount at stake can run into millions of rubles, and the outcome depends not only on the wording of the employment contract but also on financial documents, local regulations, correspondence, actual payments and the conduct of the parties.

In Disputes with Top Managers, Documents Are Especially Important

When it comes to a large executive remuneration, one payslip is usually not enough.

We review the entire system of the parties’ relationship:

• the employment contract;
• supplementary agreements;
• bonus policies;
• KPI and documents on their achievement;
• orders;
• accounting documents;
• payslips and bank payments;
• correspondence;
• the company’s financial statements;
• dismissal documents;
• claims and the parties’ responses.

The main task is to understand which obligation actually arose, whether its performance deadline has arrived and what amount of claims can be proved.

Disputes over a Bonus Based on Business Profit

A separate category is the remuneration of an executive whose amount depends on the company’s financial result.

For example:

5%, 10% or another percentage of net profit, revenue or another indicator.

Such matters require analyzing the employment terms and the employer’s financial documents at the same time.

It may be necessary to establish:

• which profit exactly is used for the calculation;
• for which period it is determined;
• which documents confirm the financial result;
• whether an incomplete year of work is taken into account;
• which amounts were paid earlier;
• whether the employer can refuse the payment after the relevant condition has already been fixed by the parties’ agreement.

From Our Practice

A 10% Bonus on Net Profit Turned into a Dispute of More than RUB 5.7 Million

The commercial director’s employment contract established the right to an annual bonus of 10% of the employer’s net profit.

After dismissal, no full settlement was made.

The employer challenged the claims, the procedure for calculating the bonus, the right to a payment for an incomplete financial year and alleged that the deadline for going to court had been missed.

The court established the bonus debt:

RUB 3,418,737.14.

Additionally, for the delay of payment as of the date of the decision, the following was recovered:

RUB 2,329,185.63.

The court also ordered compensation to accrue for each subsequent day of delay until the actual settlement.

As of the date of the decision, the following had already been awarded in the client’s favor:

RUB 5,747,922.77

plus further accruals.

In July 2026 the employer settled in full. The client actually received the awarded money.

Sometimes the Cost of the Delay Becomes Comparable to the Debt Itself

In employment disputes, it is important to calculate not only the principal unpaid amount.

If the employer delays wages or other payments due to the employee, monetary compensation may accrue for each day of the delay.

With a significant debt and a long delay, the amount of such compensation can become a substantial part of the total claims.

In our case of the 10% bonus on net profit, the debt amounted to RUB 3.42 million, and the compensation for the delay calculated by the court already exceeded RUB 2.32 million as of the date of the decision.

That is why the date on which the debt arose and the correct calculation are of fundamental importance.

Which Amounts Can Be Claimed

The composition of the claims depends on the particular situation.

• arrears of wages;
• an unpaid bonus;
• KPI payments and other payments provided for by the remuneration system;
• compensation for the delay of payments;
• payments provided for by the contract upon dismissal;
• compensation for moral harm where grounds exist;
• court costs;
• other claims provided for by law or the employment contract.

The amount of the claims is always calculated individually.

Konsultant Law Firm — Court Work as a Team

Complex employment disputes are handled by the team of Konsultant Law Firm.

Depending on the circumstances of the case, the lawyers needed to analyze the contractual, procedural and financial part of the dispute are involved.

In the case of recovering the 10% bonus on net profit, the client’s interests directly in the court hearing were represented by V.A. Yerofeyev, a lawyer of Konsultant Law Firm.

We do not replace team work with the personal brand of a single lawyer: for the client, the result of the entire legal work on the case matters.