As the results of a study by the National Union of Personnel Officers (NSK) show, fines and other negative motivators are very popular among Russian employers. 15 percent of surveyed managers believe that it is impossible to manage people without punishment, especially in Russia, and 6 percent even believe that this The best way motivation. 79 percent were more restrained: they answered that punishment is useful, but in small doses, in exceptional cases and in relation to individual employees. Nevertheless, the data show: Russian employers, at least to some extent, apply various penalties to their employees.

According to the NSC, the vast majority of companies (88 percent) punish employees systematically or from time to time, 74 percent use fines sometimes, and 30 percent resort to public reprimand and moral pressure. 19 percent of companies prefer reprimands and educational conversations, and 17 percent practice immediate dismissal of the offender. Total control over employees' working time is also aimed at creating negative motivation. Many companies have strict rules internal regulations. Thus, 63 percent of surveyed firms constantly or sometimes record the time of arrival and departure of employees, 29 percent monitor visits to Internet sites. Illustration Email 25 percent of firms do. Finally, 24 percent listen telephone conversations. It is clear that this NSC study consisted of a number of anonymous surveys, so it is useless to look for employers who will sincerely talk about how they monitor staff, fine them for every offense and fire them without paying wages. Let’s try, with the help of lawyers, to understand what negative motivation is and how it operates in Russian companies today.

Legal side of penalties

When we talk about negative motivation, we primarily mean material fines and deductions. However, this particular measure has no right to exist by law.

As for the practice of using disciplinary sanctions in companies, there are several controversial issues. According to Alexander Grebelsky, any disciplinary sanction has a special procedure for implementation (Article 193 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). First, the offending employee is required to provide a written explanation of the offense (being late, for example), which he may not give. Then, no later than one month from the moment of the offense, a direct disciplinary sanction is taken: a reprimand, a reprimand. After this, management issues an order and gives it to the employee for review. In addition to the lengthy and very “paper” procedure for disciplinary sanctions, there is another factor that makes this punishment not very attractive to employers. Any penalty can be challenged in court, and the court first of all takes into account the severity of the offense. Therefore, for example, a reprimand for improper dress code or being late will most likely simply be dismissed by the court.

However, practice shows that Russian leaders use reprimands quite often. Moreover, after two reprimands within a year, an employee can be fired by law. Workers in our country know little about their rights, which is why they rarely go to court. So it is very convenient for an employer to use reprimands as a threat of dismissal for being late, for taking a long lunch, or for having the “wrong” hairstyle.

Negative motivation in action

How is the practice of fines implemented? There are loopholes in any law. And, acting in accordance with the Labor Code, employers still have the opportunity to punish employees financially.

As illustrative example You can cite the system of fines in one well-known IT company. Depending on the offense (lateness, absenteeism, errors in work), an employee of this company is given from 0.1 point to ten points, and one point corresponds to 3 percent of the salary. In the worst case, the employee could be deprived of 30 percent of his income, which is equal to the full amount of bonus payments. The company is confident in the correctness of this approach. The HR director says: “Fear of punishment disciplines and motivates many employees. The only question is the size, adequacy and mechanism of application. If a specialist does not fulfill his functions, in particular, does not comply with the work schedule, he must be punished financially. I think, normal people they understand it.” Now let's listen to the other side. “The constant threat of fines put a lot of pressure on the psyche. I understood that I needed to concentrate and work, otherwise I would be punished, but the very thought of this deprived me of the strength to concentrate. “I quit,” admits a former employee of this company.

A similar system exists in many banks.

According to Nina Grishkova, the bonus deduction system is formalized: all the grounds for deductions are set out in a special application, as well as in employment contracts, which are signed by bank specialists when hiring.

In Russian companies for a long time there was a hidden form of “keeping employees under a tight rein” - a complex income structure, when the salary is divided into parts: if you behaved well, you will receive a bonus, if you behaved poorly, you will not receive it. The problem was that assessing the quality of an employee’s “behavior” has always been the prerogative of the immediate supervisor, which is essentially identical to motivation under the feudal system. With the advent of international practice Russian market the situation began to change - the salary (both the main part and the bonus) became “white”, the system for calculating deductions and allowances became transparent. Under such conditions, it is simply impossible to fine an employee directly, and all the grounds and amounts of deductions from bonuses must be clearly stated in the charter.

Directly about the amounts of fines

Representatives of personnel departments prefer to remain silent about the specific amounts of deductions. Ordinary workers turn out to be much more talkative.

A specialist from Russian Standard Bank said that they are mainly fined for being late and unregulated breaks, and the amount of deductions from wages sometimes reaches up to 50 percent. “And even if you are not late and do not leave the workplace at the wrong time, the bosses are still looking for something to complain about. And even if it’s 5 percent, he fines it every month.”

A strict system of fines is sometimes used in the media. Thus, according to employees of the Internet portal “Cyril and Methodius”, fines sometimes “eat up” up to 70 percent of earnings. The main number of deductions is made for various disciplinary violations: lateness, absence from work at the appointed time, etc. Employees of the Pravda.Ru portal are also punished according to a similar scheme. “But the majority of media representatives creative people, which are difficult to fit into any time frame,” says the editor of one metropolitan magazine. “It’s not surprising that many publications and portals are famous for their high staff turnover.”

A very successful example of “penalty” motivation was given by Elena Tyutyunikova, director of the personnel department of Iceberry Group of Companies. Only Elena believes that in this case we should not talk about fines, which only cause fear among employees, but about the so-called “underpayments” (akin to the bonus deduction system in banks).

Iceberry employees confirmed: “Active managers have no problems with money: bonuses sometimes increase salaries several times.”

A good example of depreciation works at KPMG: in some cases, employees of the organization are simply left without annual bonuses, which, as a rule, is not an unexpected decision for them. In accordance with the bonus regulations in force in the company, each employee may be paid an annual bonus. The so-called Target Bonus meets standard requirements: the majority of employees (up to 85-90 percent) easily reach the desired level. The remaining 10-15 percent are distributed among themselves annual premiums increased to the maximum and reduced to zero. The criteria by which activities are assessed are specified in the regulations and brought to the attention of each employee. A specialist who demonstrates low quality of work periodically receives appropriate signals from his performance manager and has the time and opportunity to “correct” by the end of the year.

Strength limits

So what should you consider when introducing a fine system?

It should be said that many Russian managers are too carried away by the struggle for discipline and cease to sense the limits of the psychological strength of their employees. Beyond this line, people break down and stop believing that they can avoid punishment.

It is hardly possible to develop standard instructions on the fine system: it all depends on the industry in which the company operates, on the number of employees, on organizational form and much more. However, general conclusions can be drawn based on the examples given. Firstly, deductions from salaries are better called deductions. Fines scare people, but not receiving bonus money stimulates and motivates them. Secondly, the deduction system should be as transparent and flexible as possible. Factory workers or service sector specialists can be fined for being late, and sales department managers can be fined for failure to produce volumes. Demotion of bonuses to managers is possible based on the results of the project or upon completion of a certain amount of work. Representatives of creative professions can only be fined for failure to comply with deadlines—the deadline for submitting assignments.

In practice, there are often cases in which enterprises comply with a system of fines for certain violations of labor regulations. Moreover, in many organizations this method of regulating the activities of subordinates is considered the most effective. The answer to the question of how to fine an employee is not considered in labor legislation, since it provides for slightly different methods of influencing the behavior of employees.

Types of liability provided for violation of labor regulations

By concluding an employment agreement with the head of a company, a citizen certifies with his signature his voluntary consent to working conditions in a particular organization. Also, immediately after concluding an agreement, a newly hired employee must be familiarized with all local regulatory documents that set out the nuances of working conditions. Thus, a person must become familiar with:

• (internal labor regulations). This standard outlines the work schedule and rules of behavior that must be observed during the work process;
• job description, which specifies the employee’s responsibilities;
• , as well as the personal safety of the subject.

All types of penalties must be regulated by one of regulatory documents. Thus, an employee can avoid liability by observing the following rules:

• start and finish the work day on time;
• appear at the organization sober, without signs of abuse of various intoxicating substances;
• if necessary, be sure to use the funds personal protection(PPE);
• strictly follow the labor safety instructions;
• fulfill the duties reflected in job description, within a specified period;
• notify the head of the department and enterprise about identified problems (for example, equipment malfunctions).

Deviation from these rules and violation labor order entails consequences in the form of disciplinary liability. Based on Art. 192 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, there is an established list of punishments that the employer has the right to apply to his subordinates if they violate the work process.

Also labor legislation it is understood that the head of the organization has the right to independently determine, based on his professional judgment, which measure, proportionate to the violation, to apply in individual cases.

In particular, legal options to punish an employee are:

1. Oral remark. It is considered the most loyal measure of punishment, since it is not formalized in a document and is advisory in nature. There are no consequences from the comment. It can be used when the employee’s actions, although they were unlawful, did not entail any consequences or losses.
2. A written reprimand, as well as a reprimand entered into a personal file. This measure of liability, more serious than a reprimand, is expressed in writing and imposes some restrictions on the violator. It is understood that for a year from the date of the reprimand, the employee should not repeat such a violation, since repetition of such an experience may lead to dismissal.
3. Dismissal. It is the most severe punishment. Can be used in the presence of a reprimand, as well as in the case of a primary violation, if it was extremely rude.

The procedure for bringing an employee to disciplinary liability

In order for an employee to be held accountable, the head of the organization must take the following actions:

• Identify the fact of the offense and determine the guilt of a specific subordinate.
• Receive a written explanatory note from the employee. This document should describe the reasons for the incident, as well as the reasons for the subject's corresponding behavior.

If the explanatory note was not provided to the manager within two days from the date of the request, a corresponding act is drawn up.

• Within a month from the date of determination of the violation, the manager chooses the punishment.
• Within six months after the punishment is determined, the manager applies it in practice.

One offense entails only one type of liability. That is, an employee cannot be fired for the same offense without knowingly issuing a reprimand.

Penalties for employees under labor laws

As mentioned earlier, labor legislation provides for a limited but comprehensive list of possible penalties for disciplinary offenses. However, the fine is not included in this list. It means, what to fine an employee for non-compliance job responsibilities no employer has the right. If such a fact occurs, the employee has the right to apply to government authorities with a request to protect his rights.

However, it is important to remember that there is such a category as . If an employed person causes material damage to the company or the property of the head of the company, the subordinate will be obliged to compensate for the damage. This category is regulated by the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, and is divided into limited liability, based on the provisions of the employment agreement.

Thus, fines imposed on employees for being late, absenteeism or failure to comply with deadlines for fulfilling official duties are illegal.

Legal deductions from an employee's wages

do not imply additional deductions in the form of fines. They are also presented not only in the form of taxes, but also amounts stipulated by writs of execution or other court orders (for example, alimony deductions), as well as personal statements of the employee (for example, deductions for utility bills or loans).

Based on Art. 137 Labor Code of the Russian Federation, from wages the following amounts may be deducted by a subordinate at the initiative of the employer:

1. The amount of the unearned advance.
2. Unused imprest amounts (for example, travel allowances).
3. Excessive amounts transferred due to an accountant error.
4. Compensation payments for days of unspent vacation, if it was received on account of unworked time.

The employer also has the right to withhold from the employee’s wages amounts related to the damage caused if such a provision is fixed in the collective agreement. Based on Art. 238 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the specified damage is understood as a reduction in the amount of the employer’s property or the need to incur repair costs due to a breakdown due to the fault of a subordinate.

Also relevant is the question of how to fine an employee for smoking in an unauthorized place. Thus, the employer does not have the right to make deductions from wages as a fine for such smoking. The manager has the right to bring the employee to disciplinary liability and, if this does not stop, to dismiss the subordinate on the basis of Art. 81 Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

Deprivation of a subordinate's bonus as a penalty

In most cases, the majority of your actual salary comes from bonuses. Such material incentives are fixed in the collective agreement. Often they are provided for the execution of certain plans by the team.

However, the presence of bonuses makes it possible to officially deduct the fine from the employee’s salary. Thus, labor legislation does not prohibit the payment of bonuses, but also does not fix such an operation as mandatory. Therefore, many employers practice cutting bonus payments to account for various fines, for example, for regular lateness or for performing low-quality work. In fact, reducing such a payment is a legally acceptable way to withhold sanctions from an employee.

As practice shows, some organizations use a “system of deductions from bonuses”. It is understood that the bonus will not be paid to the employee in the reporting month or will be paid in a smaller amount if he violates one of the rules enshrined in the regulation. For example, being late for work more than three times.

If the company does not record a profit for the reporting month, employees may not be paid a bonus on this basis, since all incentive funds are deducted from the net profit of the enterprise.

The question of how to fine an employee cannot be resolved by issuing the appropriate document. No official fine is imposed. However, the actual amount received by the employee is less than usual.

Employer's liability for fines at work

Fines at work are illegal under the labor code. The accrual and issuance of a fine to an employee may entail consequences in the form of financial losses organizing and bringing the employer to administrative liability on the basis of articles of the Administrative Code.

However, in some cases it is not easy to prove the existence of a fine. Many companies use a flexible system of bonuses and deductions, which allows managers to legally regulate the amount of payments to subordinates.

However, if the subject is sure that the employer acted dishonestly towards him, he has the right to submit an application to the manager with a request to eliminate the violation. If an employee is regularly deprived of a bonus, he also has the right to go to court and demand compensation not only for material, but also for moral damage. However, all possible documentary evidence will be required (certificates from accounting, collective agreement with the corresponding bonus regulations).

An employee's ability to protect his rights

Many employees wonder whether fines are legal at work. The authorities capable of ensuring the protection of the rights of the employed population include:

Thus, there is a clear answer to the question of whether monetary fines at work are legal - no, penalties against subordinates are not legal. Such deductions from wages are also not regulated by labor legislation. Enterprise managers are strongly advised to familiarize themselves with the possible list of penalties applicable to an employee, since a fine from a subordinate may be followed not only by a fine for the enterprise, but also by bringing the manager himself to administrative liability.

| 21.09.2015

The fine system is actively used by Russian employers. How legal is it to fine employees for being late and for mistakes in their work? Russian legislation sets out in detail all cases of legal deductions from wages. By withholding part of the salary in all other cases, the employer is breaking the law. So, when can an employee be “punished with a ruble”? Let's try to figure it out.

Within the law

Legal deductions from wages can be divided into three categories. The first includes the so-called mandatory deductions- that is, what the employer is obliged to “take away” from you. Of course, not to your advantage.

Mandatory deductions include: personal income tax (13% of the white salary), as well as deductions on enforcement documents: writs of execution, court orders, judicial acts, orders of the bailiff, agreements on the payment of alimony, etc. Thus, alimony, fines, damages, and so on are withheld from employees.

• unearned advance payment issued on account of wages;
• unspent and timely unreturned travel allowances, as well as advances issued in connection with a transfer to another job in another location;
• overpaid wages;
• money for unworked vacation days when an employee is dismissed before the end of the working year for which he has already received annual paid leave.

At the same time, the employer has the right to withhold these funds from you only if you do not mind returning them. If you challenge the legality of such deductions, the employer will have no choice but to go to court.

But in order to deduct material damage caused to the employer from your salary, you need your personal written statement of agreement to pay off the damage caused to the employer and pay off the debt to the company through deductions from your salary. If you refuse to write such a statement, then the employer will again have to go to court.

Outlaw

All other deductions from your salary are illegal. This is directly stated in Articles 22 and 137 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

Legal measures to punish employees are disciplinary sanctions (Article 192 of the Labor Code). The employer has the right to reprimand you, reprimand you, and even fire you - but not fine you.

Unfortunately, “grey” salaries and a very opaque bonus system give the employer room for “maneuver”. On paper everything is fine. The employee received everything that was due to him under the official employment contract. In fact, employees of many organizations do not receive the lion's share of payments for lateness, too frequent smoking breaks, coffee in the workplace, dress code violations, personal conversations on the phone, work not done on time, and so on.

What to do in this case? If the employer has cut off the “gray” part of the salary, there is nothing you can do. The maximum is to write a statement to the prosecutor’s office, labor or tax office, stating that the employer pays “in an envelope.” But how long will you work there after that? There is only one way out: insist that all wages be paid officially. If they refuse you - and this is most likely the case - look for a new job.

But if we're talking about about cutting the bonus - then you can fight here. In many organizations, especially small ones, bonuses are paid quite chaotically. Most often - at the request of the owner.

Meanwhile, Article 129 of the Labor Code states that bonuses as a type of incentive payments are included in wages. Therefore, deductions from bonuses are just as illegal as from salaries. And cases of its payment or non-payment must be clearly stated in the local document of your organization (Article 135 of the Labor Code).

For example, it may be stated that the bonus is paid upon fulfillment of a certain plan, or for special merits, etc.

Life is a struggle

So, your bonus has been cut. What to do?

1. Inquire about the reason for the underpayment in the accounting department. Most likely, the accountant will refer to the management’s order.

2. Go to the boss. It is best to submit a written statement in which you must indicate the justification for the illegality of withholding part of your salary, i.e. TC articles about which we wrote above. When submitting an application, draw up the document in two copies and ask the secretary to put an acceptance mark on your copy, which will indicate the registration number of the application, date, position, full name and signature of the accepting employee.

3. If management refuses to satisfy your demands, feel free to send a written complaint to the labor inspectorate at your place of work. In the complaint, indicate all the facts of deductions from wages, the inspectorate will check them. You can attach a copy of your statement to management with a note indicating its acceptance.

4. If the inspection does not reveal any violations - for example, the employer has agreed with the inspector, contact the prosecutor's office or the court.

(No ratings yet)

Every employer thinks about how to increase the efficiency of their employees. There are cases when various fines are applied to staff for any misconduct. For example, they may deduct a certain amount from your salary or force you to stay after work. Not all employees are able to withstand such a system of sanctions. They often complain about unscrupulous management, and sometimes even quit.

Does an employer have the right to fine an employee? Is he responsible for this? ? Read about this in this article. In addition, we will talk about alternative penalties for violations of labor discipline.

Fines at work are one of the most controversial and ambiguous situations. What does the law say about this? does not provide for a monetary penalty from the offending employee - that is, he cannot be fined. So, all attempts by management to deprive an employee of a bonus for being late or are illegal.

Methods of punishment

According to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the manager can apply disciplinary sanctions to a violator of labor regulations at his own discretion. So, the employer has the right:

• Make a remark;
• Announce ;
• Dismiss for serious misconduct or dereliction of duty.

A reprimand is the “mildest” of the legal methods of punishment, and dismissal, accordingly, is the most severe. If an employee has systematically received disciplinary sanctions during the year, then the employer has the right to dismiss him.

But the employer cannot apply these penalties immediately. Within 2 working days, the employee is obliged to write an explanatory note, in which it is necessary to indicate the reasons for the misconduct. He can provide it both in written and oral form. If the employee refuses to provide a note, the penalty will be applied 1 month after the violation.

Grounds for punishment

Usually, the employer fines employees who violate internal work schedule . Let us consider in more detail what can be classified as such offenses. So, an employee can be punished for:

• Failure to comply with the employment contract;
• Violation of job description;
• Systematic delays

Is it legal to reprimand probationary period employee? During the probationary period, he is subject to the same labor legislation requirements as permanent employees. This means that it is possible to impose a disciplinary sanction on such a violator legally.

Order actions employee

Many employees take the penalty system at work for granted. However, as we have already found out, such a punishment is illegal. To hold an employer accountable for abusing his official position, you must:

• Make sure that the employer did not have the right to disciplinary action;
• Contact the employer with a demand for compensation for damage;

An employee can file a complaint with any of the above authorities or all of them at the same time. First, try talking to your boss and colleagues - present your complaint verbally. If the employer refuses to meet, contact the labor dispute commission or labor inspectorate. If violations are detected, the inspector will issue a fine and issue an order to eliminate them.

A an application submitted to the prosecutor's office will already become the reason for initiating a criminal case. To do this, you need to provide the necessary evidence of a violation of your rights - a bank statement or salary slip. That is, if you receive a “black” salary or a salary “in an envelope,” it will be quite problematic to prove the fact of a fine.

Taking the employer to court is a last resort in resolving the dispute. You should resort to it only if you are absolutely sure that you are right and have already used all peaceful ways to resolve the conflict.

What threatens the employer?

After filing a complaint against an employer, he may be subject to administrative liability. For may issue a warning or impose a fine of 10-20 thousand rubles. In the event that your superiors - entity, he will have to pay from 30 to 50 thousand rubles.

If fines were applied to an employee within 3 months, this is grounds for bringing the employer to criminal liability. When filing a claim in court, the manager will have to reimburse the employee the entire amount that was collected as a fine, as well as pay moral compensation.

(What to do if payment was delayed or salary was reduced, forced to work overtime or fined)

If you work under an employment contract, you have almost certainly encountered a violation of your rights. If not, you may encounter it in the future. Any employer primarily considers the needs own business, so sooner or later your interests may be infringed.

For example, in order to reduce taxation and reduce other costs caused by labor legislation, some employers began to apply original way employment of workers. Instead of concluding an employment contract, they are offered to register as an individual entrepreneur and work under a contract agreement. It is understood that if the employee refuses to meet the employer halfway, the relationship will be damaged and he will ultimately either not be hired, or, if he is already employed, he will be fired “for reasons”. at will" On the one hand, if we look at the issue formally, the law is not violated here - any company can not only hire workers under an employment contract, but also cooperate with them as individual entrepreneurs. However, on the other hand, the rights of workers are clearly infringed, since the person will no longer have the right to payment sick leave, vacation rights and other benefits established by labor legislation. Pension and social payments, and the obligation to work all day in the office and observe labor discipline is, as a rule, required by the employer.

And this is just one of the ways to “optimize relations” invented by employers, with the goal of transferring labor disputes to the plane of contract law. In fact, there are many such methods, but we will focus on legal relations in the field of labor legislation.

An employer may include illegal conditions in employment contract, create a system of fines (which, in principle, are not permitted by the Labor Code), force an employee to work outside of working hours, etc. At the same time, the employer has much more opportunities for abuse than the employee - after all, it is the employer who pays the money, which means that the employee, who most likely has a family, loans or rental housing, is very dependent on him.

However, the law protects the employee and if your rights are violated, know that you can defend them, get your money, force the employer to fulfill all its obligations, and even ensure that the employer bears administrative or criminal liability. The employer feels his impunity only because employees, as a rule, do not know their rights at all, are not familiar with Russian legislation and are afraid to seek protection in court or other authorities. And the employer is supported by the “security service”, lawyers, personnel officers and many other specialists.

Here you can find out what you need to do if your employer has violated your rights and where to go if you need protection.

Delay of salary

The employer is responsible for late or non-payment of wages in accordance with the Criminal Code Russian Federation. For example, according to Article 145.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, if you were not partially paid your salary or other payments for more than three months and this was done by the employer without objective reasons, for example, out of greed or other personal interest, then the employer faces a fine (up to 120,000 rubles), and the director of the enterprise is deprived of his position or even imprisoned for up to a year. An objective reason for non-payment may be the commencement of bankruptcy proceedings for the enterprise. Partial non-payment is considered to be less than half of the payable salary. If you have not been paid a salary or other payments in principle for more than two months, then the criminal liability of the employer provides for a fine of up to 500 thousand rubles, a ban on holding certain positions, or imprisonment for up to three years.

This means that if you are not paid wages or other payments, including sick leave, vacation pay, bonuses, etc., then you can absolutely calmly file a complaint with the prosecutor’s office, and based on your complaint, the prosecutor’s office will conduct an investigation and initiate criminal proceedings case against the employer.

How to report an employer to the prosecutor's office

The application can be sent by mail, delivered in person or sent through the website using a special electronic form. The easiest way to submit an application is online. To do this, go to a search engine and type in the request “Moscow Prosecutor’s Office” or “St. Petersburg Prosecutor’s Office” or indicate any other city in which you work. This way you will find the prosecutor’s office website and find out all the contact information to which you can send an application. Let's say you work in Moscow. In this case, you need to go to the “Internet reception” of the Moscow prosecutor’s office using the link “www.mosproc.ru/ipriem”, carefully read everything that is written there, and then follow the link “www.mosproc.ru/ipriem/iemail. php" and fill out the available form - everything is explained very clearly in it.

Your application will definitely be accepted for consideration, they will respond to it, and after consideration they will send you a response about the results. You can sign the application personally or collectively; for example, you can obtain the consent of other employees and draw up an application on behalf of a common person. At the same time, in the application you can specifically note that information about the applicant cannot be disclosed. In this case, the employer will not know who exactly filed a complaint with the prosecutor’s office.

Don't be afraid to write to the prosecutor's office. The prosecutor’s job is precisely to consider citizens’ statements and respond to them. However, it is necessary to take a responsible approach to drawing up such an application and take into account that its acceptance may be refused if:

• You use obscene or offensive language in the text.
• The statement is written using the Latin alphabet or is typed entirely in capital letters or is not broken down into sentences.
• You did not write the full and correct postal address.
• You forgot to write specific complaints and suggestions.

When preparing an application to the prosecutor's office, you should know that by doing so you are initiating an audit of the employer's company, which in turn will certainly complicate his business. Therefore, in no case should you abuse your right and contact the prosecutor’s office with obviously unfounded demands and unprovable facts. Such actions may become the basis for bringing you to both administrative and criminal liability.

If you want to be sure that you wrote the application correctly, we recommend it, especially since today it is quite accessible. During the consultation, they will tell you what the employer faces if they send an application to the prosecutor’s office, and will also explain how to protect themselves from possible consequences, how to receive all wages, return withheld fines and underpaid bonuses for overtime work, and generally look after your interests.

However, the prosecutor's office is not the only body that can help an employee protect his rights. In the event of a labor dispute with the employer, the employee can contact the Labor Inspectorate under the Federal Service for Labor and Employment

How to write an application to the Labor Inspectorate for an employer

The labor inspectorate, within the framework of its powers, can carry out inspections of employers’ compliance with labor legislation, including issuing orders to eliminate identified violations and attract officials to administrative responsibility. The labor inspectorate is also authorized to verify the correctness of investigations into accidents and their recording, and to oversee the implementation of workers’ rights to payments due to disability and to social security.

Like the prosecutor's office, you can not only come to the labor inspectorate in person, but also submit an application through the website. For Moscow, the address of the website of the State Labor Inspectorate is “git77.rostrud.ru.” If you decide to go to the inspectorate in person, then it is better to have the application with you in advance. A sample application can be found on the labor inspectorate website. In any case, as when contacting the prosecutor’s office, we recommend that you first consult with a lawyer.

Responsibility for illegal fines

Any fines are prohibited by the labor code. TO disciplinary sanctions According to Article 192 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, only reprimand, reprimand and dismissal apply. That's all. No one has the right to deprive you of part of your salary.

Knowing this, experienced employers often formalize part of the salary as a “bonus” and deprive the employee of this “bonus” if any “violations” are discovered. However, many employers do not even issue bonuses, but simply collect a “fine”, depriving a person of part of the salary established by the employment contract without any reason. In this case, the negligent employer can be punished by contacting the labor inspectorate with a statement of violation of your rights.

If the fines will accrue to you for more than three months, then we can already talk about criminal liability for non-payment of part of the wages and filing a complaint against the employer with the prosecutor’s office. However, we must not forget that you will still have to prove the fact of collecting an illegal fine. It is possible to do this. For example, if you are paid money to a bank card, then you can easily track that your employer, without any reason, suddenly started paying less. To do this, you just need to get a statement from the card. If you are paid in person, make sure that you are given a receipt for payment or make a copy of it. Also, some employers post notices that workers have been fined; this notice can also be photographed and copied.

It should be remembered that any document, any paper confirming the fact of a fine and an unfounded illegal reduction in wages at a certain moment can become evidence that you attach to your application to the labor inspectorate or the prosecutor's office.

Perhaps you do not know your rights, and your employer confused you by letting you sign an agreement on “collective financial responsibility” or some paper stating that you agree with the accrual of fines. In fact, many such documents may be illegal, and their goal is to confuse you and make you resign yourself and think that the money was collected from you correctly. Don't take your employer's word for it - he is primarily protecting himself, not you.

And finally, what if you follow the law and fulfill your employment contract, but you feel that your employer is taking unfair advantage of you and periodically underpays you or even withholds part of your salary? There is only one answer, go to a lawyer for a consultation, and you will find out your actual rights and opportunities and will be able to defend them profitably. And by punishing an unscrupulous employer and teaching him a lesson, you will be doing a service to other people who will work for him in the future, and whose rights the employer will be afraid to violate.

(publication)