The workload and remuneration of judges will be regulated under the new bill

The Council of Judges of the Russian Federation has prepared a bill establishing standards for the workload of judges, as well as remuneration for representatives of the judiciary in conditions of “constantly increasing workload.” As Kommersant has learned, the relevant document has been submitted to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, which has the right of legislative initiative. The need to legislatively develop service standards for Russian judges has been discussed for more than 20 years, while, according to official data, only from 2013 to 2022 the number of cases considered by courts of general jurisdiction almost doubled. In this regard, human rights activists fear that “judges are either under conditions of enormous overload, which inevitably negatively affect the quality of consideration of cases, or are simply rubber-stamping cases.” The authors of the bill assure that “a set of measures aimed at establishing the optimal staffing level of judges and court staff will strengthen guarantees of access to justice, improve the quality of court decisions, and ensure compliance with the deadlines for consideration of cases established by law.”

On December 7, 2023, the Council of Judges of the Russian Federation, an elected body of the judicial community, which is formed by the All-Russian Congress of Judges, approved the draft Federal Law “On the standards of workload of judges and employees of the courts of the Russian Federation and on amendments to certain legislative acts of the Russian Federation” and transferred it to the Supreme Court RF. It is expected that after approval by the plenum of the Supreme Court, the bill will be submitted to the State Duma for consideration.

The problem of work overload of judges, we note, remains one of the most discussed topics in the professional community. In 2022, for example, the average Russian magistrate reviewed 4,760 cases – 22.5 cases per day, according to a December study by the Civic Assistance Committee (included by the Ministry of Justice in the register of foreign agents; deals with helping migrants and refugees). The Committee, based on statistics from the Judicial Department of the RF Armed Forces, came to the conclusion that the magistrate had about 14 minutes to consider one case. From 2013 to 2022, the study notes, the total number of cases considered by courts of general jurisdiction increased from 21.3 million to 41.5 million—almost doubling. At the same time, “the staff of general jurisdiction judges (not counting magistrates and judges of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation) increased by only 2%, and the staff of magistrates – by 3.5%.”

“Civic Assistance” is confident that such workload leads to a decrease in the quality of judicial proceedings – “judges are either under conditions of enormous overload, which inevitably negatively affect the quality of consideration of cases, or they simply rubber-stamp cases without even trying to study them in detail.”

In 1996, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Labor issued a resolution “On approval of workload standards for judges, bailiffs and employees of district (city) courts.” The document contains, in particular, time standards for work performed by a judge when considering various cases. Thus, 2.5 hours were allotted for the case of collecting alimony, and 17.3 hours for the case of fraud. However, already in the early 2000s, the judicial community recognized that the standards of the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Labor were outdated and should be revised.

The issue of the need to introduce “scientifically based” standards is regularly raised at the All-Russian Congress of Judges. In particular, the resolution of the VII All-Russian Congress of Judges (2008) states that “the efficiency and quality of justice are most directly related to the increase in the number of cases considered by the courts.” At the same time, the judicial community turned to the Judicial Department of the Supreme Court with a request to prepare a bill on workload standards for judges, but it did not reach the State Duma. In 2017, the Higher School of Economics began studying the load level and developing recommendations on standards for aircraft. The customer was not satisfied with the work performed, and the contract was terminated, but in the summer of 2021 the university returned to research. In 2022, at the X All-Russian Congress of Judges, it became known that the development of workload standards for judges and court staff had been “implemented.” “Further successful reform of the judicial system is impossible without increasing the number of judges and court staff. It is necessary to expand the staff with a simultaneous redistribution of the load, the introduction of new positions and division of functions,” says the text of the congress resolution. Even the head of state took part in solving the problem. In February 2023, during a final meeting on the activities of courts in 2022, Vladimir Putin once again drew attention to the growing workload and called for optimizing the work of judges.

And so, as Kommersant found out, work on the corresponding legislative initiative seems to be close to its logical conclusion. The Council of Judges said that the document consolidates the very concept of standards for the workload of judges and the procedure for their approval, and also “provides for organizational and financial measures aimed at reducing and redistributing the workload if it is excessive.” “The bill stipulates that workload standards are approved by the Council of Judges of the Russian Federation on the proposal of the Judicial Department under the Supreme Court,” the judicial community clarified. The authors especially emphasize that the document contains the necessary provisions aimed at “improving the remuneration of judges and court staff working under conditions of constantly increasing workload.” This will require, we note, also amendments to the Federal Law “On the Judicial Department under the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation” and the Federal Law “On the Bodies of the Judicial Community in the Russian Federation”. The Council of Judges did not provide Kommersant with more detailed parameters of the document, but assured that “the adoption of a bill providing for the implementation of comprehensive measures aimed at establishing the optimal staffing level of judges and court staff will strengthen guarantees of access to justice, improve the quality of court decisions, and ensure compliance with the deadlines established by law for consideration of cases.”

“Kommersant” asked the RF Armed Forces for information on further promotion of the bill, but has not yet received a response.

Retired federal judge Sergei Pashin believes that two points must be reflected in the draft Federal Law: the dependence of judges’ salaries on their workload and the issue of liability for “delays.” “The need to make a judge’s salary dependent on his workload may result in him starting to collect more cases – justice will be carried out in an assembly line mode,” Mr. Pashin admits. “A judge overwhelmed with work should not be held responsible for violating the deadlines for consideration of cases “

Emilia Gabdullina