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How to draw up a document correctly
The regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation do not establish special requirements for the content and execution of collective complaints.
However, when filing a complaint, the following principles must be observed:
- persons filing a collective complaint must not have any differences. All persons must be familiar with and agree with the content of the complaint;
- In the complaint, it is advisable to indicate the full details of all applicants: full name, actual address of residence. It is also advisable to indicate: email address, year of birth, place of work and position held;
- The content of the complaint should be divided into 2 parts: descriptive-motivational and pleading. The descriptive and motivational part should briefly and accurately describe the situation in which the rights of the organization’s employees were violated. It is also advisable to describe the facts proving the violation of the labor rights of workers;
- In the petition part, the requirements should be clearly formulated. There may be several requirements at once;
- the complaint must be signed personally by all persons named in it. Everyone’s signature must be placed next to the transcript;
- It is advisable to attach evidence to the complaint, a list of which should be reflected in it;
- In the complaint, it is important to indicate the contacts of the person (phone number, email address) who is authorized to file a complaint and to whom the response will be sent.
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The claim should be made as follows:
- First of all, you need to indicate the full name of the body to which the claim is being submitted. The name of the body must be spelled out in full. It is indicated in the upper right corner of the sheet;
- Under the name of the body, the full name of the head of the organization or department is indicated, and the position and rank he holds should also be indicated;
- just below are the full details of the person authorized by everyone else to file a complaint;
- after that, in the center of the sheet you need to write the word “Complaint” in large font;
- at the beginning of the application, the name of the organization and its legal form, as well as the full details of the head of the organization who committed the violations are indicated;
- The following briefly describes the problem, by whom and how the rights of the employees of the institution were violated. It is advisable to accurately indicate the date of the offense;
- at the very end you need to indicate correctly formulated requirements;
- The application must contain a list of attachments: evidence, a copy of the power of attorney, copies of employment contracts, etc.;
- at the very bottom is the date of delivery of the claim;
- and then the signatures of all persons filing a complaint with a transcript are placed.
How to send a complaint to an employer?
Citizens who turn to us for legal services often make one mistake: simply leaving their appeal on the secretary’s desk. How to submit a complaint to an employer? To do this, you need to take care of a copy, and when transferring the original, ensure that the claim is registered in the journal of incoming correspondence and assigned a number.
Once everything is registered, feel free to ask for an acceptance stamp on your copy. Let the secretary not limit himself to just the stamp of the enterprise, but put on the copy:
- date,
- time,
- your last name,
- signature
- incoming letter number.
When to complain to the labor inspectorate
A complaint against the employer’s actions can be filed either by one employee or by a team.
A complaint can be made either by a person whose labor rights were violated or by a person who witnessed the violation.
Citizens mainly file complaints with the Federal Labor Inspectorate for the following violations:
- violation of the procedure for hiring and registration of an employee. Basically, employers commit the following violations: they do not immediately enter into an employment contract, do not indicate the amount of wages in the contract, and do not indicate the procedure for calculating and paying compensation for overtime hours;
- violation of the terms of the employment contract regarding the provision of vacations and sick leave;
- delay and non-payment of wages;
- discrimination against employees, abuse of power;
- illegal dismissal, untimely provision of documents after dismissal, unilateral termination of the contract.
Punishment of the employer for unofficial employment
Read here what to do if your employer cheated you out of money.
What to do if the employer did not pay contributions to the Pension Fund, read the link:
Further actions of the employee
The employee’s further actions will depend on the response of the enterprise administration to the claim. If the requirements are not met, employees may stop working until the debt is repaid or contact the regulatory authorities. If the employer partially cooperates, then what to do in each specific situation must be decided by the employees based on the economic situation at the enterprise and other circumstances.
Writing a claim is an important step towards defending your interests in case of delayed wages, which does not require significant time or financial costs.
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Deadlines for submitting a document to a government agency
You can turn to the judicial authorities for protection of violated labor rights only within a certain time.
The deadline for filing a claim is 3 months from the date of the violation or from the day when the violation should have been discovered. For disputes related to illegal dismissal, the deadline is 30 days from the date of receipt of documents.
If you miss the deadline for going to court, you can seek protection from the labor inspectorate. GIT employees can investigate a case even when the case is pending in court.
Is there any point in filing a complaint?
The claim can hardly be considered an effective way to solve problems arising in the relationship between the employee and the employer. The fact is that the employer’s actions are rarely spontaneous.
This means that the employer justifies and considers any of his actions in one way or another, thus a claim that does not oblige him not only to satisfy the requirements contained in it, but even to simply respond to it, is unlikely to bring at least some result.
However, writing a claim may be justified, for example, in cases where:
- the dispute is not fundamental for the employer, and he can satisfy the employee’s demands so as not to provoke the initiation of civil proceedings;
- the writing of the claim is caused by the need to suspend the statute of limitations. This can happen if for some reason the statute of limitations is coming to an end and the employee does not have time to file a claim in court;
- writing a claim is caused by the need to create an additional evidence base for the court, for example, in the case where the employee does not have confirmation of the existence of an employment relationship with the employer.
Methods of circulation
A complaint against an employer can be filed with government agencies in several ways:
- submit the appeal personally to the FIT office. To do this, you need to have two copies of the claim with you. Documents need to be attached to only one copy;
- send a claim by mail. The letter should be sent with notification, the receipt of mailing should be retained until the end of the investigation;
- contact the authority's staff on the website. To do this, you will need to fill out an electronic form.
One person must represent the interests of all persons who signed the application. If the claim does not include the representative's details, it will not be considered. Also, the application will not be considered if it does not contain the signatures of all applicants.
Service of claim
In the event of a potential dispute with an employer going to court, it is important to have information that a claim has been filed. Therefore, when filing a claim, it is important to obtain confirmation that it has been served. You can receive confirmation in two ways:
- submit the claim in person or through a representative. The claim is presented in two copies, on one of which the official affixes an acceptance stamp and registration number. The copy with the stamp remains with the employee;
- send the claim by registered mail with return receipt requested. It is advisable to prepare a list of attachments for the postal item, which will be certified by the postal worker.
GIT powers
What the GIT employees will check, and how the check will be carried out, depends on the nature of the intimation.
Mandatory verification is carried out on the following facts:
- non-payment of wages, vacation pay and compensation;
- failure to provide vacation pay, sick leave, and lunch breaks;
- violations of safety requirements;
- illegal dismissal or demotion;
- non-compliance with the terms of the employment contract.
Receipt of no claim against the employer
A receipt is needed when the employer is ready to satisfy the received claim from the employee and pay the due amount. However, the manager also needs a guarantee of protecting his own rights - he wants to be sure that by agreeing to a voluntary payment, he will save himself from litigation.
In this regard, in most cases, the main condition for voluntary payment of a claim is the preparation of a receipt confirming the absence of claims.
However, this document must also be written correctly. The employee should not refuse other payments, for example, compensation for travel expenses during business trips, vacation pay, and so on. Therefore, if the dispute is only about the payment, there should only be a receipt about this. You should not sign a receipt where the employee “forgives” everything to the employer.
Certification of such a receipt by a witness or notary is not required. To further identify the employee, competent managers ask that the document be completed in full by the employee in his own handwriting, not trusting the printed version. This will deprive the employee of the opportunity to challenge his signature in court.
What is a collective complaint?
A collective complaint against a manager is a statement drawn up by a group of company employees containing a description of the violation committed by the management and a demand to correct this injustice.
This document is compiled as a measure of influence on management. It can be sent both to the company’s senior management and to the competent authorities - labor inspectorate, prosecutor’s office, court, etc.
This document is drawn up on behalf of a group of people, so it must be signed by all employees of the company.
Attention! Consideration of this complaint takes place in a special manner. This document cannot be ignored, so great importance is attached to it.
Grounds for writing a complaint
The procedure for writing a collective complaint is considered by labor law.
They also define the grounds on which it can be compiled:
- Violation by the company administration of the obligations stipulated by employment agreements.
- Discrimination against company employees in the scope of labor relations.
- Coercion to perform labor functions, including under threats.
- Failure to provide information regarding compliance with the terms of the employment contract.
- Violation of the existing principles of social partnership.
- Establishment of labor functions by an employee that are not provided for by labor functions.
- Violation of the standard working day or week.
- Failure to comply with labor protection.
- Other violations of the collective agreement.
- Failure to comply with the amounts of remuneration for workers established by law and employment contracts.
- Refusal to compensate for damage caused to a company employee.
- Harassment by a manager against employees of the company.
Complaint about sabotage
The actions of the company's management may be deliberate in nature, aimed at causing harm to the entire team of the enterprise. This situation can occur when the management of a division of the company takes deliberate measures to disrupt the work of the department.
In this situation, employees of such a structural unit can collectively file a complaint addressed to a superior manager, attaching all orders, orders, memos issued by the head of the department and confirming the fact of sabotage at the enterprise by mid-level managers.
Complaints against managers by employees to a higher organization are less common than complaints against heads of structural divisions.
Violations of labor laws
The main grounds for filing a collective complaint are violations committed by the company’s management in the field of labor legislation.
The employer must comply with all conditions that he must provide within the scope of labor legislation.
Attention! Therefore, if employees see that such violations are being committed, they can file a complaint against the general director of the company as a whole.
Reasons for filing
A collective complaint is filed for completely different reasons, depending on the type of activity of those filing or another factor connecting the filers.
It is possible to identify the conditions under which an application is submitted by at least two citizens:
- Systematic violations by someone of legislation or moral principles that discredit representatives of the social group from which the collective appeal is submitted.
- The problem is widespread, that is, when a violation affects not one, but several people at once.
The object of a complaint can be anyone - a medical worker who has fulfilled his obligations in bad faith, a government official who has abused his official powers, or simply a neighbor who plays music loudly or litters the entrance.
Of course, the desire to file a complaint against someone appears after crossing the rubicon of patience, when it is not possible to reach a consensus in words and there are no more options (except for illegal ones) to deal with the troublemaker. Then the statement becomes a real way out of the situation for a whole group of interested people.
Deadlines for responding to collective applications
The same deadlines are established for responding to collective complaints as for individual complaints.
The maximum period for consideration of a received complaint is 30 days. But under normal conditions, applications are usually considered within 15 days.
After this period, a written response is issued and sent to the specified address. If time is needed to establish the circumstances of the violation, the inspector uses the entire period during which he interviews the necessary witnesses, requests documents, etc.
If the complaint was filed due to wrongful dismissal, it must be considered within 10 days.
Attention! If it takes more time than 30 days to receive information on requests, this period can be increased to 60 days. But this can only be done once, and the law requires written notification of applicants about this step.
Case practice
If the application is completed correctly, then after its receipt and consideration, an unscheduled inspection is carried out at the enterprise. Based on the results of the inspection, an order is issued , a fine is imposed on the organization, and in some cases, in case of gross violations, the company’s activities may even be suspended. Let's look at specific examples of the outcome of cases after inspections due to collective complaints from workers.
After the labor inspectorate receives an application from employees. Employees complained about unpaid overtime, lack of uniforms and lack of tools necessary for work. An unscheduled inspection was initiated, as a result of which several fines were imposed on the company in a total amount of 300,000 rubles.
If, during an inspection, a violation of several points of the law was recorded at the company, a fine is imposed on each point separately.
The employees wrote a complaint against the employer -. In their appeal, they complained about a poorly functioning air conditioner, which made the office very stuffy and difficult to work with. GIT employees conducted an inspection, as a result of which they issued an order to eliminate the air conditioner malfunctions. The employer repaired the equipment. Since the violation was minor, no fine was imposed on the company.
Collective appeal to a manager of a higher rank
You should first of all complain to your superior if he violates your rights. If you are employees of a department, workshop, site or any other unit, first of all you need to write an appeal to a senior manager. [flat_ab id=”4"] A collective complaint against a boss should be made with a specific sample of such appeals or an example of them. This is important in order to draw up a properly structured statement. You can write a complaint using the following sample:
General Director of Jupiter LLC
Vasiliev Ya. G.
from marketing staff
Collective complaint
We, employees of the marketing sector, are writing to you in connection with the inappropriate behavior of the head of the sector Smirnova A.S. in relation to sector employees.
Smirnova A.S. Regularly, while at the workplace, he allows himself to make rude attacks and use profanity towards his subordinates.
04/11/2020 Smirnova A.S. in the presence of the team, she insulted, using obscene language, the leading specialist Tikhonova Yu.P.; 04/13/2020 insulted the chief specialist Ivanova Yu.D. To confirm these accusations, we attach voice recordings of conversations. [f[flat_ab id=”9"]such behavior by the head of the sector negatively affects the morale of the team and, as a result, the work process.
In connection with the above, we ask you to take appropriate measures to the head of the sector Smirnova A.S. and remove her from office.
Appendix: CD with audio files.
04/14/2020 leading specialist in the marketing sector _________Yu.P. Tikhonova
(signature)
04/14/2020 leading specialist in the marketing sector _________S.A. Nikolaev
(signature)
04/14/2020 chief specialist of the marketing sector _________Yu.D. Ivanova
(signature)
After writing a complaint using a sample, it is necessary to collect all signatures and prepare supporting documents. It is better to submit a complaint to a superior manager through the secretary or office, making sure that the document is registered. Management will decide independently how to deal with a violator of labor discipline.
If the decision of your superiors does not satisfy you, you can contact regulatory government bodies, the labor inspectorate, the prosecutor's office, and the tax service. You can also write a statement of claim to the court.
Further inspection by the labor inspectorate
Once received by the State Tax Inspectorate, the complaint is considered within 30 days. During this period, an inspection must be carried out, and after a month the applicant will receive a written response to his claim. In some cases, the period for considering a complaint and conducting a corresponding inspection may be extended by another month.
During the inspection, the GIT inspector confirms or denies information about violations of labor legislation. The body has the right to consider only those issues that fall within its competence:
- control over compliance with the Labor Code of the Russian Federation;
- drawing up protocols based on the results of consideration of labor cases;
- registration of orders;
- preparation of documents for further bringing the perpetrators to justice;
- transfer of completed documents to the appropriate authorities - court, prosecutor's office.
Conducting an audit involves any actions aimed at obtaining the necessary information: employees are interviewed, personnel and accounting documentation is studied.
The results of the inspection are recorded in the act. It reflects all violations of the Labor Code by the employer.
Legal basis for filing a complaint
Any employee of any enterprise at the legislative level has the same rights guaranteed to him by law. Labor relations in the Russian Federation are determined by the Labor Code, approved on December 21, 2001.
The main violations of workers’ rights, according to the Labor Code, include:
- Late or incomplete payment of due funds, lack of established payment deadlines, lack of information from the employee about the components of the salary (the employer does not provide a payslip) (Chapter 21 of the Labor Code).
- Late payments upon dismissal of an employee (Article 140 of the Labor Code).
- Refusal to issue a work book on the day of dismissal (Article 84.1 of the Labor Code).
- Failure to comply with the law on vacations, refusal of the employer to provide annual leave (Chapter 19 of the Labor Code).
Bodies protecting labor rights of workers - The employee does not have a copy of the employment contract (Article 67 of the Labor Code).
- Refusal of the employer to pay for night or overtime work (Articles 96,99,101 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).
- Lack of legal grounds for the employer to dismiss an employee, forced dismissal (Chapter 13 of the Labor Code).
- Failure to provide or refusal to provide workers with personal protective equipment, as well as the lack of compensation and benefits for those employed in hazardous industries (Article 212, Chapter 36 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).
- Unreasonable refusal to hire (Article 444.1 No. Labor Code of the Russian Federation).
All of these cases are grounds for filing an application with the appropriate authority.
Lawyers' recommendations
Specialists in the field of labor law are faced with facts of violations every day, and therefore make some recommendations regarding the restoration of their rights.
Kurbanova D.A., lawyer: “The more factual material is presented in the complaint, and the less emotion there is in it, the easier it will be for the GIT inspector to understand the problem. Don't be afraid to stand up for your rights. Work is not slavery."
Ekaterina Kasenova, lawyer: “If the applicant is not satisfied with the results of the inspection, he can submit an application to the head of the territorial office where his complaint was considered. If the rights of the complainant are violated by the inspector, the applicant has the right to go to court in accordance with Art. 361 Labor Code of the Russian Federation."
Employer compliance with labor laws is mandatory for enterprises of all forms of ownership. Ignoring laws and violating them is a serious reason for an employee or group of employees to contact the State Labor Inspectorate and defend their rights.
