What should I do if my employer violates my labor rights?

To whom and where to complain about an employer: methods provided for by the Labor Code of the Russian Federation

The question of where to file a complaint against an employer arises among workers quite often, and the legislation provides for a significant number of supervisory authorities that have the right to conduct inspections of compliance with labor law requirements. The list of ways in which a citizen can protect his labor rights is listed in Art. 352 Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

They are:

• Self-defense of your rights. According to the requirements of Art. 379 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, an employee may refuse assigned work (after notifying the administration in writing) in cases where such work poses a threat to his life (health), is not provided for by the contract, or if wages are delayed for more than 15 days.
• Protection of rights with the assistance of a trade union or other association of workers. Do not forget that Art. 370 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation gives the trade union, its representatives and the bodies formed by it broad rights to monitor the organization’s administration’s compliance with the requirements of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, local acts and the collective agreement.
• Contacting government authorities (labor and tax inspectorates, prosecutors, etc.).
• Appeal to the courts in cases of disagreement with the decisions of labor dispute commissions, government bodies and officials, as well as directly on the issues listed in Art. 391 Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

Table of fines and other penalties

The published table of fines for violation of labor legislation 2021 under the Code of Administrative Offenses is given in abbreviation. In the appendix to the article you can download the full version of the table - with links to the violated articles of the Labor Code and articles of the Code of Administrative Offenses that set fines.

Table: employer's liability for violation of labor laws under the Civil Code

How to file a complaint with a union

In accordance with Art. 370 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, trade unions, as well as representatives (inspectors) authorized by them, have the right to inspect working conditions, labor protection, as well as facts of violation of labor legislation by the organization’s management.

It is important to remember that an employee can apply either to an organization operating directly within his company or to a territorial or sectoral association of trade union cells. Both trade unionists and inspectors sent by industry or territorial associations have the right to unhindered access to the company’s territory in order to monitor compliance with workers’ rights.

Based on the results of inspections of citizens’ appeals or control measures, the trade union sends demands to the organization’s administration to eliminate the identified violations. Accordingly, the administration is obliged to take the necessary measures, as well as report within a week on the results of the review and the work done to eliminate violations.

Moreover, in the event of inaction by the company’s management, trade unionists have the right to independently appeal to government bodies or courts, as well as to protect members of their organizations in other ways.

It should be remembered that Art. 370 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation does not determine the methods for filing a complaint with a trade union, therefore, if there is such a need, you can either contact the relevant trade union worker in person or send your complaint by mail. The period for consideration of a complaint is determined by the charter of each specific organization and cannot exceed one month.

The choice of the employee is the right of the employer.

Requirements for business qualities can be established:

a) by law. For example, to teaching staff (Article 331 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation), accountants (Article 7 of the Federal Law of December 6, 2011 No. 402-FZ “On Accounting”);

b) by the employer himself.

In any case, the employer must clearly understand what kind of employee he wants to see in a certain position, and it is advisable to document these ideas in a job description (JI). Very often, employers make the mistake of neglecting the development and adoption of operating instructions or considering that such instructions are just a document listing the employee’s responsibilities. Formally, the Labor Code of the Russian Federation does not classify DI as mandatory and does not pay attention to it; it does not even contain rules about it, but, as Rostrud correctly noted [7], DI is an integral tool for regulating labor relations.

Job descriptions for employees with the same job function may differ.

In essence, DI is like a local professional standard that takes into account the specifics of the employer. It can contain not only the content of the job function, but also the requirements for the level of education, experience, skills, etc., that is, it can also describe the desired business qualities of the employee. Of course, this does not give the employer the right to set “exorbitant” requirements; you still need to be guided by the Unified Tariff and Qualification Directory of Works and Professions or professional standards, but as if putting together your own model of requirements. Moreover, the DI of different employees, even with the same name of the job function, may differ; this is not prohibited - you can develop several DI for similar positions, setting different amounts of work and level of requirements [8].

The main condition is that the requirements in the DI for the employee must be determined by the specifics of the work function and the activities of the employer himself. For example, it is logical to require the ability of a secretary to quickly type text and work with office applications, but not to prescribe the preparation of concrete mortar in the job description, even if the employer is a construction organization.

The employer evaluates business qualities independently; no one has the right to indicate to him the methods and methods of this assessment, unless they directly contradict the law and otherwise is not established by law (for example, a competitive selection system or an elective one). These qualities can be assessed by personnel service employees, personally by the head of the organization, or by a specially created commission of workers of various profiles. In this case, it is allowed (unless expressly prohibited by law) to conduct a competitive selection, including an offer to undergo special tests. If an employee refuses to undergo such tests or their results are unsatisfactory, this may serve as grounds for refusal to hire (Appeal ruling of the Khabarovsk Regional Court dated 08/06/2014 in case No. 33-4968/2014).

Such actions are not regarded as discrimination at work and the employer (both during competitive selection and during regular selection) has the right to give preference to a candidate whose business qualities better meet the requirements for applicants for a vacant position (Appeal ruling of the St. Petersburg City Court dated 04/20/2017 No. 33-6989/2017 in case No. 2-1541/2017). In confirmation of the declared business qualities, the applicant can present any documents of his choice (certificates of advanced training, certificates, awards, commendations, letters of recommendation, etc.). The employer himself has the right to draw up a list of such documents. But it is prohibited to demand documents other than those specified in Art. 65 Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

If a candidate does not appear for an interview or does not provide documents for employment, then the refusal to hire will be justified (Determination of the Moscow Regional Court dated December 7, 2010 in case No. 33-23713). By the way, an already hired employee also bears the risk of failure to provide documents and other evidence of his business qualities. For example, the court did not see discrimination in the refusal to transfer to another position, since the employee herself did not provide the employer with a certificate of advanced training (Appeal ruling of the Moscow City Court dated May 26, 2017 in case No. 33-20399/2017).

This is due to the fact that the employer is independent in making personnel decisions, including hiring or refusing to hire an applicant. Concluding an employment contract with a specific person is a right, not an obligation of the employer[9]. In this regard, even budgetary organizations, unless the procedure for hiring employees of certain categories is directly prescribed by law, have very wide limits of freedom.

An employer may well look for candidates through various sources of information - newspapers, social networks, specialized websites, etc. - and at the same time not wait for responses from all candidates for an open vacancy if he liked the first applicant (provided that the law itself or local regulations the employer has not established otherwise - for example, a competitive selection procedure [10]).

Refusal to employ or transfer to a vacant position must be motivated only by reference to the applicant’s business qualities.

Thus, a refusal to hire or transfer to a vacant position should be motivated only by reference to the applicant’s business qualities - insufficient work experience in the field of the position, slower typing speed, insufficient qualifications or level of education, etc. Moreover, if the employee requires a written reasoned response about the reason for the refusal, then the specific reason for the refusal must be indicated, otherwise the court may order compensation for moral damages to be paid to the applicant (see, for example, the Appeal ruling of the Moscow City Court dated February 14, 2017 in case No. 33-5687/2017).

It turns out that discrimination is a situation when an employer ignores the business qualities of employees and creates unequal conditions for the implementation of labor rights. For discrimination, the employer may be held administratively liable, for example, under Art. 5.62 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation – fine up to 100,000 rubles. to a legal entity.

How to contact the Labor Dispute Resolution Commission

Contacting the Labor Dispute Commission (LCC) is another way for a company employee to protect his rights. According to the requirements of Art. 384 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, such a commission can be formed on the initiative of both the administration and the workers. At the same time, the administration has no right to avoid delegating its representatives to the commission.

The CCC is formed on the basis of equal participation of representatives of the administration and workers, who are delegated by the general meeting of workers. During the work of the commission, its chairman, deputy and secretary are elected. The decisions of the commission are documented in writing in the form of a protocol.

According to Art. 385 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the commission is authorized to consider disputes between the administration and employees that were not resolved through independent negotiations of the parties. In this case, the employee can apply to the CCC within 3 months from the date of violation of his rights.

The submitted application must be considered by the commission within 10 days. At the same time, according to Art. 387 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the complaint is considered in the presence of the employee. The commission also has the right to invite a representative of the administration, witnesses, experts, and request the necessary documents and materials from the administration.

Based on the results of consideration of the complaint, the commission makes a decision by secret ballot. After the decision is made, the parties to the dispute have 10 days to appeal it in court. If it is not appealed, it must be executed by the administration within 3 days.

In the event that the guilty party delays in executing the decision, the employee, in accordance with Art. 389 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, one can receive a special document - a certificate, which can be assigned to bailiffs for the enforcement of the decision of the CCC.

Discrimination can be committed through thoughtlessness

Employers do not always discriminate deliberately; it often occurs through negligence and ignorance. First of all, it manifests itself in the establishment of different conditions for assigning bonuses , additional payments, etc. to employees of the same category.
For example, in the wage regulations, the employer provided additional payment to women for child care benefits. And when a man with a child applied for such an additional payment, he was refused. The court considered this to be a manifestation of discrimination, since men and women have equal rights, and the right to receive child care benefits is also granted to men (fathers, guardians). Under such circumstances, the contested provisions of the employer's local regulations (LNA) are discriminatory. In another case, an employee was deprived of a bonus for the period worked only because he quit of his own free will. True, there is an opposite example - the Appeal ruling of the Nizhny Novgorod Regional Court dated April 10, 2018 in case No. 33-3694/2018 . And in the third dispute, the court found the conditions of the LNA, which lower “bonus” points for an employee being on sick leave, discriminatory.

If employees have the same performance indicators, then selective bonuses are undesirable.

In general, it is dangerous to give bonuses only to selected employees if they and those deprived of bonuses have the same performance indicators ( Appeal ruling of the Investigative Committee for civil cases of the Khabarovsk Regional Court dated January 16, 2015 in case No. 33-117/2015 ), and for employees of the same level with the same labor function to establish different conditions for the appointment of incentive payments ( Appeal ruling of the Omsk Regional Court dated August 20, 2014 in case No. 33-5259/2014 ).
The court also recognizes as discriminatory the increase in wages only for workers of a certain category, for example, those who were not laid off, if the salaries of those who were “hit” remain the same ( Cassation ruling of the Khabarovsk Regional Court dated October 7, 2011 in case No. 33-7279 ), and the payment of financial assistance only to members trade union ( Appeal ruling of the Supreme Court of the Komi Republic dated June 20, 2013 in case No. 33-3285/2013 ).

“Belittling” of part-time workers is also common - they are deprived of the right to receive payments that “main” employees receive ( Appeal ruling of the RF Armed Forces dated 04/06/2016 No. 2-APG16-2 ).

LNA should not be discriminatory and infringe on the rights of workers by abolishing or reducing the guarantees enshrined in labor legislation.

In second place in terms of the number of violations in this area is an incorrect understanding of the scope of the employer’s “legislative” powers and the establishment of working conditions that contradict federal legislation. The employer has the right, within its competence, to issue and adopt labor regulations ( Articles 5 , 8 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation ), but they should not be discriminatory and infringe on the rights of employees in comparison with what is provided for by labor legislation. For example, the court found the conditions of the LNA to be discriminatory that the day of discovery of a disciplinary offense is the day of listening to recordings of the registrar of official conversations, since this allows the employer to act arbitrarily and puts employees in an unequal position - depending on the discretion of the employer. Conditions are created for discrimination ( Appeal ruling of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Khakassia dated 06/09/2015 in case No. 33-1546/2015 ). In this dispute, the employer would have avoided claims if he had established a clear procedure, terms and criteria for monitoring employees in the LNA (for example, determined when and how recordings were listened to, limited the period for identifying misconduct).

How to complain to the labor inspectorate about an employer, is it possible to file a complaint online?

The most common answer from practitioners to the question of where to file a complaint against an employer is to the State Labor Inspectorate. GIT by virtue of the provisions of Art. 354 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation is a single and specially authorized body for supervision of compliance with labor legislation.

Article 357 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation gives inspectors of this service broad powers. In particular, inspectors have the right to:

• visit organizations and individual entrepreneurs to check compliance with labor law standards;
• request all necessary information from employers and conduct accident investigations;
• issue orders on the need to eliminate violations by companies, bring them and their officials to administrative responsibility;
• apply to the judicial authorities with demands to liquidate the organization if violations of labor protection rules are detected, etc.

The main way to exercise powers to supervise the compliance of organization administrations with labor law standards is to conduct documentary and on-site inspections of specific companies. One of the grounds for conducting an inspection is a complaint to the labor inspectorate against the employer.

What violations should you complain about?

Often, an employee simply does not know what issues can be addressed to the labor inspectorate, considering violations to be a normal work process. But this is not so: an employee has the right to apply to the State Tax Inspectorate in response to any violations or facts of discrimination on the part of the employer. Carefully read the text of the contract, study the internal rules and job descriptions. Familiarize yourself with the procedure for granting vacations and sick leave. Often employers do not give vacation in the summer, forcing the employee to rest only in winter or autumn - this is illegal. The workplace must comply with labor safety standards. And fines for being late or not meeting the sales plan are a gross violation. It makes no sense to list them all - the list is huge.

Procedure for filing and consideration of complaints

The norms of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation do not define special features of filing applications to the inspectorate. In this regard, practitioners in this matter should be guided by the provisions of the Law “On Procedure...” dated May 2, 2006 No. 59-FZ. According to Art. 8 of Law No. 59, the complaint must be submitted in writing to the relevant territorial unit of the inspectorate. Within 3 days, the complaint is subject to mandatory registration, after which the citizen must be given an answer on the merits of the questions raised within a month.

The second way to contact the inspectorate, according to Art. 13 of Law No. 59, - during a personal reception of citizens by management or authorized employees of the inspection. The personal appointment schedule is indicated on the website of the inspection unit.

During a personal reception, an oral complaint is registered in the appeal registration card. Accordingly, the response to the complaint can be given, at the request of the applicant, orally or in writing. Also, during a personal reception, a written appeal can be accepted, which will be considered within the time frame indicated above.

Another way to contact the inspectorate is to file an online complaint against the employer with the labor inspectorate. This complaint is submitted by filling out an electronic form on the inspection website. If it is necessary to attach any documents, they are also sent in electronic form.

A response to an online request can be received either in traditional written form or by sending an electronic document to the address specified by the user. The procedure for considering electronic complaints is similar to the procedure for considering written complaints.

Are anonymous requests considered?

In Art. 11 clause 1 No. 59-FZ “On the procedure for considering appeals from citizens of the Russian Federation” the question of how to contact the labor inspectorate anonymously or without indicating a return address is considered. In this case, the request remains unanswered. State in the application a request not to disclose the personal data of the person who wrote it - on the basis of Art. 358 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, you have the right to this. Art. 6 No. 59-FZ prohibits prosecution of a citizen in connection with his appeal in order to protect violated rights. Paragraph 2 of this article contains a prohibition on disclosing the applicant’s personal information without his consent. Sometimes this is difficult, since during an inspection the inspector is required to indicate its basis.

Complaint to the prosecutor's office

The question of where to file a complaint against an employer is also answered by the provisions of the Law “On the Prosecutor's Office...” dated January 17, 1992 No. 2202-I. Prosecutor's officers also have the right to conduct checks of compliance with legal requirements in accordance with Art. 21 of Law No. 2202-I. The basis for conducting inspections in organizations is information received by the prosecutor's office (including those contained in citizens' complaints) about violations of labor legislation.

Article 22 of Law No. 2202-I defines the powers of the prosecutor when conducting an inspection. In particular, the prosecutor has the right:

• visit the territory of enterprises and organizations, demand the presentation of documents necessary for inspection;
• conduct inspections, audits, attract experts and specialists to carry out these activities;
• demand explanations from citizens and leaders of the organization, call them to give explanations, etc.

Based on the results of inspections of organizations, when violations are detected, the prosecutor issues a presentation, the requirements of which must be fulfilled within one month. The results of the measures taken to the prosecutor, according to Art. 24 of Law No. 2201-I, must be notified in writing.

As for the procedure for filing a complaint with the prosecutor's office against an employer, it is similar to filing a complaint with the labor inspectorate and is regulated by Art. 8 and 13 of Law No. 59.

Collective complaint

A collective complaint is filed according to the same principle as an individual one.

When drawing up a document, it is necessary to take into account the following features:

• The information about the applicant must indicate not just one, but all participants. It is permissible to write that the complaint is being filed by the organization’s team, and attach the list as a separate document or write it after the main part of the complaint.
• At the end, the signatures of all applicants are placed.
• The text must indicate the responsible employee who will represent the workforce in the prosecutor's office.

Collective complaints about violations of labor rights (sample) are considered by the prosecutor's office first. It is necessary that all applicants come to a common opinion and have no complaints about the contents of the document.

Going to court

One of the most common answers from practitioners to the question of where to complain about an employer is to court. The competence of the judiciary to consider complaints against the administration of the organization is defined in Art. 391 Labor Code of the Russian Federation. Accordingly, actions (inaction) and decisions of bodies and officials who previously considered the employee’s complaints (CPS, labor inspectors, etc.) can be appealed in court.

In addition, in Part 2 of Art. 391 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation contains a list of issues that can only be resolved by the court. These include:

• disputes regarding the reinstatement of a dismissed employee in his previous position and transfer to another position;
• about changing the reason for dismissal;
• payment of compensation for unjustified dismissal or difference in salary upon transfer;
• disputes with an employer who is a citizen and does not have the status of an individual entrepreneur;
• violations by the organization's administration of legal requirements regarding employee personal data.

Is discrimination an elastic concept?

Regulatory legal acts at various levels are aimed at combating discrimination - from international to regional. First of all, the prohibition of discrimination is due to ensuring equal opportunities for everyone to realize their rights. Article 3 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation , dedicated to discrimination in the sphere of labor, begins like this: everyone has equal opportunities to exercise their labor rights.
The International Labor Organization (ILO) also emphasizes the importance of equality, pointing out that the term “discrimination” includes any difference, exclusion or preference based on race, color, sex, religion, political opinion, national origin or social origin and resulting in elimination or violation of equality of opportunity or treatment in the field of work and occupation.

Discrimination is always an action aimed at infringing on the labor rights and freedoms of a citizen.

But is it enough to say that discrimination is everything that stands in the way of achieving equality? Of course not, such a definition is too vague and unclear. Then what should we do? Carefully read parts 2 and 3 of Art. 3 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation , where Russian legislators describe their ideas about the content of the concept of discrimination.
From this point of view, it consists of two elements: 1. Discrimination is always a restriction of labor rights and freedoms or the provision of advantages in this regard to someone to the detriment of others.

In Russian, restriction is usually understood as an action aimed at establishing an acceptable limit, a norm for something, reducing, reducing something, constraining (see D. V. Dmitriev’s Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language). That is, labor discrimination is an infringement, a curtailment of labor rights, a reduction in a citizen’s ability to realize them. Such infringement also occurs when giving advantages to someone - in order to highlight one, one must, in fact, belittle the other. It turns out that discrimination is always an action aimed at infringing on the labor rights and freedoms of a citizen.

2. Infringement of rights is based on the attribution of a citizen to a certain group of people. The selection criteria in case of infringement of rights are based on certain preferences of the employer related to the biological-physiological, cultural-social, political and other characteristics of persons possessing these rights (race, nationality, age, attitude to religion, marital status, property status, party affiliation, place of residence, etc.). Thus, in one of the FMBA institutions, the regulations on the certification of employees stipulated that specialists of retirement age undergo certification at least once a year, and other specialists at least once every five years, which served as the basis for the intervention of the prosecutor’s office.

Discrimination is the infringement of human labor rights and freedoms or the establishment of unjustified privileges based on the attitude of a citizen to a certain group of subjects with the same characteristic.

The list of “qualifying” grounds is very extensive. Moreover, in the Labor Code of the Russian Federation such a list is open - preference can be recognized as discrimination on almost any basis, depending on the circumstances of the case (see, for example, the appeal rulings of the Bryansk Regional Court dated 02/07/2017 in case No. 33-738/2017 , Supreme Court of the Udmurt Republic dated August 22, 2016 in case No. 33-3636/2016 ).
Thus, discrimination is the infringement of human labor rights and freedoms or, on the contrary, the establishment of unjustified privileges based on the attitude of a citizen to a certain group of subjects with the same characteristic.

Terms and procedure for going to court

According to the requirements of Art. 392 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, a complaint against the organization’s administration should be filed with the court within 3 months from the moment the employee learned of a violation of his rights. At the same time, an even shorter period has been established for resolving disputes regarding dismissal - 1 month.

Consider labor disputes in accordance with the requirements of Art. 24 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, the district (city) court is authorized.

Appeal to the court is made by filing a statement of claim. The requirements for it and the attached documents are listed in Art. 131 and 132 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation. It should also be remembered that, by virtue of the provisions of Art. 393 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the employee does not need to pay a fee for going to court, as well as other legal expenses.

What should I do if my employer violates my labor rights?

Relations between employees and employers are rarely rosy: the former criticize management for greed and unreasonable strategic decisions, the latter are dissatisfied with the results of work and the fact that employees are inert. However, conflicts often arise not because of simple discontent, but because of serious violations of the employee’s rights by the employer. The employee asks the question: “ What to do if the employer violates my labor rights ?” The answer is simple - be sure to defend them yourself or with the help of a competent lawyer and with the participation of supervisory authorities.

The complexity of labor disputes lies in the fact that workers often prefer not to aggravate relations with their superiors, for fear of losing their jobs altogether, and therefore resign themselves to the employer’s violation of labor rights and limit themselves to discussing the arbitrariness among their colleagues and family. This is what the employer hopes for, becoming more and more confident in his impunity. In addition, often all the documents that confirm the violation are kept by the employer, and it is almost impossible for the employee to obtain them, or they are properly executed “as it should”, and there is practically no evidence of the violation. However, by using our legal assistance or the advice in this article, you can effectively resist the violation of your labor rights by your employer .

What can you do before contacting government agencies?

1. In large organizations, as a rule, authoritative trade unions of workers still operate, which monitor the observance of labor rights by the employer at a particular enterprise and can respond to violations with their own regulations. In addition, in each region there are industry trade unions with which employers prefer not to get involved. The very fact of contacting may prompt the employer to stop the violation and will show that you intend to protect your rights.
2. Contact the commission for individual labor disputes in the organization (if such a commission has been formed). This option is suitable if the employer violates the employee’s labor rights in some minor points, but of fundamental importance for you. In more serious cases, if the employer violates your labor rights , it is better to immediately contact the supervisory government authorities.

We turn to government agencies for the protection of labor rights

Please note that the law provides for a fairly short period within which you can file a statement or claim in court; for example, in the case of illegal dismissal, this period is only one month. Therefore, in order not to waste time, you can contact government authorities either one by one or simultaneously to all authorities.

1. First of all, with a complaint about the actions of employers, you can go to the Labor Inspectorate, which is in every region and is an independent organization. What is the advantage of filing a complaint with this body can be indicated in the statement of non-disclosure of the applicant’s data during the inspection. That is, if you intend to continue working at your previous job and do not want the employer to know who exactly is complaining about him, you indicate your data in the complaint and ask for a check to be carried out without indicating your data as the applicant. In this case, Inspectorate employees will check the documentation and working conditions not only concerning you, but also other employees. Thus, the employer will not be able to determine who exactly wrote the complaint. Having identified violations, the Inspectorate will issue an order to the employer to eliminate them and monitor how this order is fulfilled. The only inconvenience: your complaint will be considered within a month, another month will be given to the employer to correct the identified deficiencies, so you should not expect a quick response. Another disadvantage is that the inspection mainly checks compliance with labor law based on documents, thus, in case of incorrect calculations of payments, inspections will be effective, but in case of unspoken pressure on the employee, discrimination or verbal coercion to dismiss, inspections of the Inspectorate will be powerless.
2. The next most popular authority where workers go to protect their rights is the prosecutor’s office. A very effective remedy for workers if the employer violates labor rights and is confident of his impunity. Based on your complaint, the prosecutor's office itself checks the documents, their compliance with the law and internal regulations of the company itself, and interviews witnesses. Having identified a violation, it may issue a motion to eliminate the violations within a month, or, at the request of the employee and in defense of his interests, he may file a claim in court for the restoration of violated labor rights. Thus, by contacting the prosecutor’s office, an employee receives either quick restoration of his violated rights, or an authoritative defender and free legal representation in court.
3. As a rule, employees go to court if all previous authorities were powerless to restore violated rights, or if restoration is possible only through judicial proceedings (for example, collection of amounts, reinstatement at work, changing an entry in the work book). Please note that to protect labor rights, there are fairly short deadlines for going to court, so it would be better to go to court along with other authorities, and not after you have received answers from the Labor Inspectorate and the Prosecutor's Office. The statement of claim is written according to the general rules; you attach to the statement all the documents that confirm the fact of work in this organization, as well as the fact of violations (if there is evidence). If there is no evidence, in the statement of claim, ask for assistance in obtaining evidence, and the court will request documents from the organization, and it, in turn, will certainly provide these documents. If you request to recover any amounts or make a recalculation, you will have to attach a detailed written calculation of the amounts.

Please note: You need to clearly formulate your requirements. Also, be prepared for the fact that an experienced lawyer will act against you from your employer, so it makes sense for you to take legal help. With the support of our specialists, you will receive competent protection of your labor rights both in communication with the employer and the competent authorities, and in court hearings and at the stage of execution of the decision.

employee rights instructions

How to complain to the tax office about an employer

Unlike all the authorities listed above, the tax inspectorate has special competence in relation to organizations and individual entrepreneurs. According to clause 1 of the Regulations, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated September 30, 2004 No. 506, the Federal Tax Service is empowered to control the completeness and correctness of the calculation and payment of taxes, fees, and insurance premiums. Accordingly, the Federal Tax Service is not authorized to consider labor disputes themselves.

Therefore, it makes sense to contact the Federal Tax Service only when the illegal actions of the organization’s administration are related to tax violations that may affect the interests of the employee in terms of payment of personal income tax or insurance premiums or relate to other taxes not related to labor activity (income tax, VAT, excise taxes and etc.).

IMPORTANT! It should be remembered that the main form of control on the part of the Federal Tax Service is conducting documentary and on-site inspections regulated by Chapter. 14 Tax Code of the Russian Federation. Contacting the tax office is also carried out in accordance with the requirements of Art. 8 and 13 of Law No. 59.

Business qualities are a remedy against discrimination.

In part 2 art. 3 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation additionally emphasizes that all of the listed “discriminatory” criteria are such only in one case - when they are not related to business qualities, that is, with the ability of a citizen to perform a certain labor function, taking into account the professional qualifications he has (for example, the presence of a certain profession, specialty, qualification), personal qualities (for example, health status, a certain level of education, work experience in a given specialty, in a given industry) [6]. In essence, business qualities are what makes a person suitable for performing work with the result that is required by the employer and corresponds to the specifics of the activity and the characteristics of the profession or position.

It is business qualities that should be taken into account when deciding issues of concluding an employment contract, remuneration, assigning production tasks, etc. (Determination of the Moscow City Court dated December 6, 2017 No. 4G-14792/2017, appeal determinations of the St. Petersburg City Court dated 02.21.2017 No. 33-3449/2017 in case No. 2-4697/2016, Supreme Court of the Republic of Bashkortostan dated 10.24.2016 No. 33-21227/2016). Everything else is essentially discrimination. The employers’ mistake in the above examples was that they did not connect the “gradations” of bonuses with the performance indicators and business qualities of the employees. However, if equal conditions for bonuses are established for all employees of the same level, but performance indicators are taken into account, then the courts, as a rule, reject arguments about discrimination (Appeal ruling of the Moscow City Court dated April 2, 2018 in case No. 33-13223/2018). For example, the court did not accept the argument of discrimination in terms of establishing unequal amounts of bonuses for employees with the same position, since they had different amounts of work. The court considered such a bonus to be justified (Appeal ruling of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Bashkortostan dated February 15, 2018 in case No. 33-2993/2018).

“Gradations” of bonuses must be clearly linked to performance indicators and the business qualities of employees.

At the same time, it is permissible to stimulate and support certain categories of workers regardless of their work results, but such stimulation must be a) motivated; b) do not allow discrimination within this category of workers. Thus, the court’s complaint in the example of additional payment for workers with children was not that the additional payment was established at all, but that it took into account only mothers and ignored fathers. It is not considered discrimination to support “young specialists”, retired workers, employees with a certain length of service with a particular employer, etc. The main condition is that such allocation of workers must be justified and not form a “closed caste”, that is, other employees must also have the opportunity to fall into this category (for example, having worked for some time for an employer, having given birth to a child).

Is it possible to complain anonymously?

Since filing a complaint may subsequently lead to a negative attitude of the organization’s administration towards the employee, the question of where to complain about an employer anonymously is of fundamental importance for the latter. When deciding this issue, you should remember the provisions of Art. 7 of Law No. 59, which defines the requirements for a complaint.

Thus, the complaint must indicate the following information about the applicant:

• initials (F.I.O.);
• address for sending a response;
• date of filing the complaint and signature of the applicant.

If the appeal does not indicate information about the applicant, then the official who accepted the complaint must be guided by the rules of Part 1 of Art. 11 of Law No. 59. These rules, in turn, require not to respond to anonymous requests.

So there is no answer to the question of where to complain about an employer anonymously, since government agencies do not work with anonymous complaints. At the same time, in practice, the issue of taking action on an anonymous complaint will be decided in each case individually, based on the actual circumstances of the case.

It should be remembered that if the appeal contains facts that make it possible to establish that the administration of the organization has committed or is preparing to commit an illegal act, then the employee who accepted such an appeal is obliged to forward it to his jurisdiction to take the necessary measures.

Terms of consideration

In accordance with the Instructions approved by Order of the Prosecutor General's Office No. 45 dated January 30, 2013, the appeal is considered within 30 days after receipt, regardless of the form of submission (electronic or written).
The response to the applicant is sent within 15 days, unless additional checks are required. Appeals that do not fully outline the essence of the issue or lack any data are returned within 7 days with a reasoned justification. A citizen can supplement the complaint with the missing information and re-apply to the government agency. If consideration of the issue is not within the competence of the prosecutor's office, then the petition is forwarded to the relevant authorities, and the applicant is informed about this within a week.

Prosecutor's office employees conduct inspections based on a request. The applicant is sent a response containing information about their results. The citizen must be familiar with them, even if these violations are not identified.

Results

To summarize, we note that the current legislation quite clearly answers the question of who to complain about the employer, defining the list of authorities and the procedure for contacting them with complaints about the administration of the organization.
The article offered to readers will allow them to quickly determine where and in what way it is best to address a specific issue. You can find more complete information on the topic in ConsultantPlus. Free trial access to the system for 2 days.

To which prosecutor's office should I file a complaint against my employer?

Alternative jurisdiction applies to complaints. This means that you can send an application to the prosecutor’s office:

• located at the place of registration of the complainant;
• operating in the territory where the organization in respect of which the document is being submitted is registered;
• in case of a collective complaint - according to the previous option.

When submitting an application to another authority, the application must be redirected. The review period will be extended accordingly, since the document will be received by the prosecutor’s office authorized to consider the complaint later.

How can a labor lawyer help?

We have been protecting citizens in labor disputes for many years. Practice shows that you absolutely require legal assistance to protect your interests. You cannot independently confront lawyers and the personnel service of your organization in court; in most cases, you are deprived of access to the necessary documents, video recordings, and you do not have to rely on the testimony of your colleagues.

What should a good employment lawyer do? Collect all possible evidence, force the employer to restore your rights through negotiations, contacting the competent authorities, or winning the case in Court.

Violations related to the provision of vacations

An employee has the right to take 28 days of paid vacation annually. It is provided in accordance with the schedule , which the employer approves no later than two weeks before the end of the previous year.

It has become a common practice to provide vacation not entirely, but in parts . However, this procedure requires the prior consent of the employee. If it is not there, then in accordance with Part 1 of Article 125 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, this is a violation. In addition, one part of the vacation cannot be less than 14 calendar days .

What to do

To legally share vacation time, an employer should:

1. Obtain the employee's consent. Towards the end of the year, receive an application from each employee next year's vacation
2. Ensure that one part of the vacation is at least 14 calendar days.

2 weeks before the start of vacation, which is provided according to the schedule, the employee must be notified of its start . The employee himself does not have to submit an application. On the contrary, it is the employer who draws up the written notice. This could be a personal notice for each employee, introductory sheets, or a general statement. In addition, you can take the T-7 and supplement it with two columns. The employee will sign one and put the notification date on the other.