As one of the most important circumstances with which the legislation connects the emergence of many legal relations in the field of social security, the general length of service stands. Its size has a significant impact on the scope of rights granted to disabled citizens. What is a general seniority? What is included in it? We will consider these questions further. 
Definition
The concept of “total work experience” means the total duration of professional and other socially useful activities paid and unpaid. It has both qualitative and quantitative characteristics. Periods of total length of service include directly the time during which the employee performed his duties and also improved his qualifications.
In this case, work can be at home, seasonal, temporary, permanent, and so on. Studying in the direction from the enterprise is included in the general work experience. Its purpose may be certification of an employee, increasing the rank, retraining, and so on. Under "other activities" should be understood the provision of services or the implementation of some work under the terms of civil contracts, the creation of works in accordance with the copyright agreement, individual commercial activity.
Specificity
From the definitions that the legislation uses, some transformation of a number of characteristics becomes clearly visible. So, labor, acting as a qualifying criterion or attribute, establishing the citizen's right to pension insurance, begins to be replaced by another concept. In particular, we are talking directly about the payment of contributions, that is, the real financial result of this activity. 
Normative base
The right to receive old-age payments of a number of categories of citizens is established on the basis of seniority. This provision is provided for in the norms of Art. 10, paragraph 2 of the Law governing pension provision. The total work experience includes work and other activities specified in Art. 10 and 11 of the above Law. In this normative act, the procedure for confirming the duration of professional and other activities is not defined. Not established and the rules for its calculation. However, in accordance with the meaning of the provisions of Article 10 confirmation and calculation of the total length of service is carried out similarly to the procedure and norms of Art. 13.
Important point
Before calculating the total seniority, it is necessary to take into account other activities related to deductions of the FIU. In this case, it is appropriate to clarify some points. Analyzing the content of Art. 10 and 11 of the above Law on Pensions, we can conclude that there are differences in non-insurance and related to the payment of insurance contributions of parts of work and other activities. A normative act establishes certain conditions. In particular, to include activities in length of service it is necessary that she:
- It was carried out on the territory of Russia.
- Insurance premiums were paid during this time.
The legislation also provides for the possibility to include in the insurance period the activities of citizens abroad, if this is established by an international agreement. An additional condition is the payment of insurance premiums on a voluntary basis in accordance with the Insurance Law. 
Other activities
The insurance period also includes:
- Military (contract, draft) service.
- The time for leaving one parent for each child is up to 1.5 years, but not more than three years in general.
- The period of receipt of unemployment benefits, participation in public (paid) events, moving to another place to get a job in the direction of service.
- The time of detention, as well as the serving of punishment in the unjustified application of criminal liability, the time of reprisal for those who subsequently rehabilitated.
- Caring for people with disabilities 1 gram, a disabled child or a citizen who has reached the age of 80.
All specified activities are counted if there is a prerequisite. All of them should be followed either (and) by work. However, requirements for its duration have not been established. Theoretically, one day may be enough. However, in practice, such an activity is considered random and has its own characteristics and consequences. Since it is possible to calculate the total length of service only taking into account the periods indicated above, their duration must be documented without fail. 
Counting Rules: Legal Framework
The insurance and general work experience are determined in a calendar order. If there is a coincidence of any activity (for example, work and care for a relative), one of its types is included. The rules for confirmation and calculation are set in Art. 13, paragraph 4 of the Law regulating state pension provision. This procedure was approved by Government Decision No. 555.
Total length of service: list of activities
Assessment of a citizen's pension rights is carried out on the basis of the total duration of work and other socially useful activities carried out before January 1. 2002 year. It is counted in calendar order. The total length of service includes:
- Activities as an employee (including for employment outside the country), an employee, a member of a collective farm or other cooperative association. This category also includes other work in which a citizen, not being an employee or employee, was subject to compulsory pension insurance. It also takes into account the time of activity in the militarized guard, mine rescue unit, special communications agencies, regardless of its nature, individual activity, including in agriculture.
- The creative work of members of the respective unions - composers, artists, writers, theater workers, filmmakers, as well as artists and writers who are not members of them.
- Service in the NE of the Russian Federation and other military units formed in accordance with the current legislation, the Allied Forces of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Armed Forces of the former USSR, the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Russian Federation, the FSB, foreign intelligence, federal executive structures where military service is provided, the former units of the State Security of the Russian Federation and the USSR (including then, when these structures had a different name), stay during the Great Patriotic War and the Civil War in partisan units.
- Temporary incapacity for work, which began in the course of work, the period of being on disability 1, 2 gr., Received as a result of injury or injury associated with the production, or occupational disease.
- The time spent in places of detention more than the appointed time for the re-examination of the case.
- The period of receiving unemployment benefits, moving in the direction from the employment center to another territory for employment, participation in public (paid) events.
Legal value
Total seniority is a key category in the conversion of pension rights to the appropriate capital as of January 1. 2002 year. The direct legal significance of this category is determined in Art. 30, paragraph 4 of the Law governing labor pensions. According to this norm, only those activities that are expressly provided for in paragraphs 1-6 of this article should be included in the total length of service. Moreover, all of them are summarized in calendar order.
Comparative characteristics
The total length of service is currently applied by employees of the FIU in determining the amount of pension capital. It represents the amount of savings of a citizen at the time of the entry into force of Federal Law No. 173. Of these, the pension insurance part will be established. At this point, special attention must be paid. You should know that the basic pension part is always unchanged, it is set in clearly defined amounts, despite the fact that the insurance component is dynamic. The latter has a direct impact on the amount of expected payments. Simply put, the total length of service will affect the size of the pension for those citizens who started their career before Jan 1. 2002, before Law No. 173 came into force. 
The meaning of "other activities"
It is of interest exclusively to the Pension Fund. This organization must be contacted with documents giving the right to add periods to the existing experience. In case of loss (damage) of the book, in which professional and other activities are recorded, the employer is obliged to issue the missing papers at the request of the future pensioner. This may be, for example, a copy of the contract, a certificate of experience. The main task of the employer is the correct summation of all activities of the employee, reflected in the documentation. The employer should assist in every possible way and help to orientate in the process. applying for a pension citizens employed in his enterprise.
Clarification of the definition
The emergence of such a term as "length of service" is caused by the reform of pension provision in the Russian Federation. The first mention of this definition can be seen in the text of Federal Law No. 27. Its provisions regulate personified (individual) accounting in the system of pension (state) support. Within the meaning of existing regulations, it can be determined that the length of service is the total duration of those periods of professional activity of the insured citizen during which the corresponding contributions were paid to him in the FIU.
Special circumstances
In some cases, there is a need to confirm the absence or to establish the existence of insurance experience with the employee. This is necessary, first of all, in determining employee rights to receive a pension - in old age, in connection with the loss of a breadwinner, in disability. In this case, the legislation establishes certain conditions. In particular, in order for an employee to receive an old-age pension, in addition to reaching women 55 and men 60 years old, it is necessary to have insurance experience, the duration of which is at least five years. This provision is enshrined in Art. 7, paragraph 2 of the Federal Law on Pensions. In other cases, it is not so much the duration that is important as the direct presence of the insurance experience.
