One of the active niches in civil proceedings is labor disputes. The reason for this is a large number of conflicts and disputes between the employee and the employer. This type of disagreement, in which the employee is involved on the one hand and the employer on the other, relates to individual labor disputes.
Subject of individual labor disputes
The bulk of litigation in labor disputes is related to monetary issues of accrual and payment of salaries, bonuses, processing fees, compensation, interest, sick leave, vacation pay, retention of fines, unreasonable claims, non-compliance with the contract and questions of dismissal.
Such disagreements can be settled through negotiations, but in cases where they have not yielded results, the parties go to court.
What is the statute of limitations for labor disputes in regulatory documents? Let's consider this question in more detail.
Briefly about the concept
Statute of limitations is used to indicate the period of protection of rights that have been violated. During this time, the injured party has the right to file a lawsuit and demand the restoration of their rights. The expiration of this period does not deprive a person of the opportunity to file a lawsuit, but the defendant in this case will not be obligated to fulfill his obligations.
The generally accepted limitation period is set as three years, for example, the limitation period for transactions and other civil law relations. But there are special terms other than three years, stipulated for certain types of disputes. Such special deadlines are stipulated for labor disputes.
One more thing to understand: the statute of limitations does not work automatically. The interested party must initiate the issue of limitation in this case before the final decision of the court. If she did not do this and complied with the claim, then it is impossible to return the paid back.
What is the statute of limitations for an employee
The law defines different limitation periods for the parties to the dispute - the employee and the employer. These norms are spelled out in article 392 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, which describes several terms for filing a lawsuit for the parties to the dispute.
The first paragraph of Article 392 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation states that for workers, the limitation period for labor disputes is:
- 3 months - all labor disputes, except for dismissal;
- 1 month - disputes over dismissal.
During these terms, he has the right to file a claim and protect the violated rights in court. As for the period of 3 months, the countdown begins from the moment when the employee was aware of the violation of his labor rights.
Regarding the illegal dismissal, we can say that the employee has only one month to protect his labor rights from the moment when he was handed a copy of the order with the order to dismiss or from the day of receipt of the work book.
As you can see, the deadlines for the employee are very short, and many unknowingly miss them. The expired limitation period can be restored, but only having a good reason for missing the deadline. Such a cause may be illness, the death of a close relative or other causes quoted in court.
But even if the agreed deadlines are missed, the court is obligated to institute proceedings. However, employers are aware of the short deadlines and will definitely take the opportunity to declare that the deadline has been missed. The court will ask the plaintiff for reasons for missing the deadline and consider them. If the plaintiff’s side does not provide evidence of good reason, then the case will be denied.
What is the statute of limitations for the employer
Dates for the employer are indicated in the second paragraph of Article 392 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. The limitation period is 1 year from the moment the property damage (negligence) was discovered by the employee. Moreover, this applies to those employees who are currently working, as well as to those dismissed from the company.
Long terms for the employer and short for the employee were introduced, apparently, to protect the rights of the employer and to stimulate the worker to protect their rights without delay.
An employer who misses the agreed deadlines must also show evidence of good reason for this.
How to recover a missed deadline?
It is noteworthy that none of the regulatory documents spelled out what specific circumstances of the deadline can be considered valid reasons. This means that the court decides these issues at its discretion.
But an indicative list can be found in the fifth paragraph of the Resolution of the Plenum of the Armed Forces of Russia dated March 17, 2004 No. 2. The document defines a good reason as the one that really prevented the party from submitting a statement of claim. The same document provides examples of such situations:
- Disease with issued sick leave.
- Inpatient treatment.
- Business trip to another city.
- Care for a seriously ill close relative.
In the case of an illness or a business trip, the suspension of the limitation period is applied - this means that the period during which the plaintiff was not able to sue will not be set off in the general term.
These and other good reasons will need to be documented by presenting specific facts.
It often happens that the specified period was missed by the employee without a valid (provable) reason, then the suspension of the limitation period cannot be applied. But protecting the rights of citizens in any field has no statute of limitations. On this issue, you can contact the labor inspectorate by writing a complaint there.
Difficulties in determining the timing
As already noted, the limitation period for labor disputes of a general nature lasts 3 months. But in such cases it is impossible to say for sure when the employee found out that his rights were violated. If there is a specific documented date for dismissal disputes, then the rest of the disputes are more blurry.
For example, an employee could learn about a violation of his rights six months ago, and in court declare a term of 2 months. In such cases, the court will use only real provable facts, such as the day of payment of wages, the day of a specific order, etc.
In addition, in matters of cash payments, it is not so simple to determine what point is considered the beginning of the calculation of the limitation period. There may be several points to be considered: the day of delay in payments, the day of refusal of payments, the day of dismissal, the day when the employee refused to receive an unfair payment, etc.
Disorders that are ongoing
The resolution of the Plenum of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, which was mentioned earlier, contains the procedure for considering cases in ongoing labor relations. This applies to those cases when the employment contract is not broken and the labor payment is charged (deposited), but not paid - the statute of limitations does not matter here. The employer's statements about the missed deadline on the part of the employee will be considered as not having grounds for dissatisfaction with the claims. The obligation to pay accrued and delayed wages remains with him while the employment contract is in effect.
The explanatory documents indicate that the continuing nature of the violation can only be recognized in the case of a deposited but not paid salary (or other cash payments). That is, the employer fulfilled its accrual obligations, but delayed the payment.
For this reason, the limitation period for the recovery of accrued and delayed wages in cases of a valid employment contract simply does not matter.
In the case of unappreciated salaries, reference should be made to Article 392 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.
Refusal of the employer in payment - the beginning of a dispute?
If we consider the same issues regarding the delay in wages, then the moment of violation of the right does not start from the date of delay, but from the date the employer refuses to pay. More precisely, when an employee turned to the employer for accrued wages, but was refused. This moment can be considered the date of the beginning of the labor conflict.
If the employer does not refuse to pay, but cannot make it at the moment, then by and large there are no grounds for a labor dispute. Since the law does not limit the time frame for the payment of accruals, if the employer refuses the payment, the employee has the right to go to court. And if the conditions of Article 392 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation are met, namely, the three-month period has not expired, the court will make a decision satisfying the lawsuit. Statute of limitations character in three years will be decisive. In other words, the fact of delayed wages must not be older than three years (according to the Letter of the Federal Tax Service of October 6, 2009 No. 3-2-06 / 109).
Short deadlines - quick response
In conclusion, it is worth emphasizing that the worker is most often interested in labor disputes, therefore, lawmakers consider such a short period to be quite sufficient for workers to protect their rights. In addition, this prompts you to act quickly and efficiently, because if you miss the deadline, it will be difficult to prove the existence of a good reason.
The limitation period for labor disputes needs to be known, since practice shows that most of such disputes result in a judicial refusal in connection with missed periods.
