In order to prevent disciplinary discord during the course of labor activity or to increase labor productivity, the legislation provides for some disciplinary measures, the application of which properly affects the employees of any team. What can they be and how should they be applied? More on this later.
General concept
What is meant by disciplinary action? This is a set of measures that are carried out by the head of an enterprise, institution or organization, as well as authorized bodies, as a result of which the desired effect of labor productivity is achieved. With the help of these measures, an unscrupulous employee can be punished or one who perfectly fulfills his labor duties can be encouraged.
Types of disciplinary action against an employee
In labor legislation, two types are distinguished: rewards and punishments. Moreover, if the first type can encourage a conscientious employee and thereby stimulate the work of the whole team in general, then the disciplinary measures from the second category are designed to eliminate situations in the group of employees related to work disorder and violation of labor discipline.
As for the concept of violation of labor discipline, the Labor Code of the Russian Federation does not give an exact definition of it. The legislator assigns the obligation to determine such to the special bodies operating in the enterprise, which are involved in the issuance of thanks and penalties. If you think on the basis of the concept of labor discipline, then its violation is recognized as a failure by the employee to fulfill instructions entrusted to him.
Value
At any enterprise, labor discipline is of great importance. First of all, it encourages each employee to fulfill their powers to the fullest, with dedication. In addition, in the process of conducting labor activities a high level of productivity is achieved, which contributes to an increase in the workload of the entire enterprise. This element is considered especially important in factories and industrial enterprises, where the exact fulfillment of assigned tasks is necessary, with a minimum number of defective elements.
Observing labor discipline, the whole enterprise creates favorable working conditions associated with an increase in the level of labor protection of both one employee and the entire team. Among other things, clearly observed discipline is the key to a properly distributed working time for each employee individually and for the whole team as a whole.
Incentive measures
The most enjoyable for any employee are encouraging disciplinary action. These include the payment of bonuses, the issuance of thanks, the delivery of a diploma, diploma or other award, as well as the fact of promotion on the career ladder. However, these benefits are not available to every employee, but only to the best of the whole team. In this regard, each employee tries to better perform their duties, which perfectly stimulates the work process.
As practice shows, this method works great in large companies, where career promotion relies on career advancement in positions where a large amount of salary is offered.Also, as some employers note, one-time bonus payments are an excellent incentive option - in this case, each employee of the team tries to do their job better than his colleague, which in sum gives an amazing result for the whole company or any other organization. Often, various organizations offer bonus payments for introducing innovative ideas into their development - this also stimulates the process of growth in production volumes.
Penalties
What about disciplinary measures in the form of punishments? The Labor Code offers several options for stimulating a general group of workers and punishing an employee who unfairly fulfills his duties and does not observe established discipline. These include comments, warnings, reprimands, orders, as well as removal from office or, in other words, dismissal.
It should be noted that such methods also work perfectly in the scope of the labor law, encouraging other employees (including the offender) to continue not to decompose the working atmosphere, to engage exclusively in the performance of their duties.
What is taken into account when applying disciplinary measures?
In order to punish an employee, it is necessary that he has committed a disciplinary offense. What is disciplinary misconduct? This is a violation in the process of conducting work entrusted to the employee. An example of this can be lateness, failure to fulfill the assigned plan, non-compliance with subordination, and so on.
In the process of applying such measures, first of all, the employer or the body that is authorized to resolve these issues in the organization or enterprise must pay attention to the severity of the offense. In addition, it is of great importance whether this happens for the first time, or whether the employee systematically demonstrates non-compliance with labor discipline. In the second case, of course, more severe disciplinary measures are applied against the employee.
In addition, the administration must take into account the circumstances in which the misconduct was committed, the personal qualities of the employee, as well as characteristics from the previous place of work, if any.
When can measures be applied?
Before taking disciplinary measures, the administration of the enterprise or the body that is authorized to carry out such activities must make sure that more than a month has passed since the discovery of the misconduct - otherwise, the application of the punishment is considered illegal. At this time, the periods of the employee’s stay on vacation or on sick leave should not be taken into account. When deciding on the punishment of an employee, one should also make sure that no more than six months have passed since the misconduct (if the situation was discovered through an audit or inspection, no later than two years).
The procedure for applying penalties
For those groups of workers that are not special (employees of railway stations, judges, employees of the prosecutor's office and investigative bodies), a single procedure for the application of penalties is provided. First of all, the representative of the administration or the body authorized to conduct such cases is obliged to issue an order for the enterprise, the content of which states that a fact of a disciplinary offense was discovered at a certain time, and the measure chosen for punishment was announced. A copy of this order is given to the guilty employee on receipt, which must be signed within three days from the date of publication of the document.
In the event that the employee refuses to take note of this circumstance (does not put his signature), the body is obliged to draw up an appropriate act where it is necessary to indicate the circumstances of the refusal.
Consequences of a penalty
The order to take disciplinary measures has a limitation period of one year. After this period, all measures must be canceled. Removal of measures is also carried out at the initiative of the body that assigned them, or the head of the enterprise. If the employee wishes, he can independently turn to the official and declare the removal of measures of influence, demonstrating his correction. Based on the arguments presented, the authority has the right to independently decide whether to refuse or grant such a request.
During the year, while the order on the application of disciplinary measures is in effect, the employee cannot be encouraged. The facts of petty misconduct for which measures of influence are applied are not recorded in the work book, but they can be reflected in the characteristics from the place of work.
Dismissal
Dismissal or removal from office - this is the most stringent measure of impact, which is provided for by labor legislation. It is used only in the case of a gross violation of one's official duties or in the event that the competent authorities identify inconsistencies of the employee of the position.
As a result of the dismissal, the employee ceases to work in this enterprise or organization. Only the body that deals with the hiring of employees is entitled to apply such a penalty.
The Labor Code of Russia refers to a list of professions whose representatives can be removed from their posts not only as a result of systematic disciplinary offenses, but also after a single case of gross violation. An example of this is the option when a train station employee poses a threat to the safe passage of trains. In addition, this sanction can be applied to a financially responsible person, to whom, on certain grounds, confidence in the storage of monetary or other types of valuables has been lost.
Appeal
The application of such measures may be appealed by an employee of the enterprise personally to the State Labor Inspectorate or by filing an application with the court. The body where this decision of the organization’s management can be challenged is also labor dispute commissions, which are created mainly at large enterprises.
Cases on such issues are considered on a collegial basis, after all the explanations are presented by the employee and the employer. After studying all the facts presented to the attention of the commission, its members are required to make a general decision, which may be either the satisfaction of the complaint or the refusal to do so.
In the event that this commission has revealed a violation on the part of the head of the enterprise or the body authorized to take disciplinary measures related to the application of punishment, the guilty person should be urgently removed from his post by the body superior to him.
What is not considered an impact measure?
Disciplinary measures are a very good lever in moving the enterprise in the right direction of development. However, in addition to this, there are other ways to stimulate employees of an institution or organization, which at first glance may seem to be measures of influence, but in fact they are not. They are also represented in labor law. These, for example, include partial deprivation of bonuses or those measures that were applied for violations in other areas of its activity, but not labor (for example, in everyday life, administrative offenses, etc.).
In the event that within the time specified by law the employee was not informed that disciplinary measures were applied to him, they are also considered invalid. In addition, the announcement of their presence should be made exclusively by written notice, under the signature of the employee.The section of labor law on disciplinary measures also states that if the statute of limitations of the order has expired, the misconduct has been canceled or the punishment has been canceled, then the penalty is also taken.
