The head of an organization and the body of a legal entity: the unity of essence and contradictions

Introduction: the paper examines the corporate and labor law status of the head of an organization in the Russian Federation at the present stage. The criteria for distinguishing between the head, participating in social relations as an employee, and a body of a legal entity are determined, as well as the applicable norms of labor and corporate law. The article analyzes the provisions of Russian legislation and local acts that define the legal status and competence of the director; studies internal acts of a corporate organization that regulate the director’s status, the procedure for its implementation, and the scope of powers; looks at the features of organization management from two perspectives: organization of the director’s labor and intracompany (intra-production, corporate) management of the legal entity. The issues of the director’s legal responsibility in the exercise of his powers are discussed. Purpose: to establish the role of the applied norms and fundamental approaches of different branches of Russian law in defining the status and powers of the head of an organization. Methods: empirical methods of observation, comparison, and description; theoretical methods of analysis, synthesis, and classification; formal-logical method as a special scientific method. Results: we have studied the legal status of the head of an organization. The paper provides an overview of the interrelations of rules governing the issues of the status, powers and responsibilities of the head under different branches of law. The cases of application of local acts, an employment contract, other agreements that define the status of the head are delimited. Conclusions: the paper reveals the determining role of the norms of corporate legislation and the subsidiary role of labor legislation in terms of defining the status of the head, including the scope of his powers under corporate and labor law. The study can contribute to the improvement of legislation and law enforcement practice in terms of elimination of the competition between the relevant legal norms and inconsistencies in their interpretation.