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Claims for recovery of wages may cover three years instead of one

Labor disputesin forcePublished

Who is affected

All employers, HR and legal departments, payroll services. Specifically — companies with overtime work, shift schedules, summarized working hours, and high staff turnover.

What changes

The Constitutional Court provided an official interpretation of Article 160 of the Labor Code. The one-year limitation period for applying to court in labor disputes does not in itself prevent the recovery of wages due to an employee and other mandatory payments related to remuneration, within the general three-year limitation period under the Civil Code. The practical effect is direct: the depth of potential financial claims of a former employee increases threefold.

List of changes

  • The one-year period of Article 160 of the Labor Code does not mean the impossibility of applying the general three-year limitation period under Article 178 of the Civil Code
  • The interpretation extends to claims for the recovery of wages and other mandatory payments related to remuneration
  • Payment for overtime work is explicitly named
  • The basis for consideration was an application by a citizen whose claims for overtime work were satisfied by the courts only for the last year
  • The Constitutional Court simultaneously reviewed subparagraph 2) of part one and paragraph three of part five of Article 160 of the Labor Code
  • The Government is recommended no later than one year from the date of publication of the resolution to initiate a draft law on bringing the Labor Code into compliance with the legal positions of the Constitutional Court

Effective date

The normative resolution was adopted on June 8, 2026. Normative resolutions of the Constitutional Court are universally binding throughout the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan and apply from the moment determined by the resolution itself.

Details and status

For further details and to check the status, please contact us. This material is for information only and does not constitute legal advice.

Source

https://adilet.zan.kz/rus/docs/S2600000081

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