It is no secret that employers, heads of educational institutions and government organizations are responsible for non-payment of wages and other compensations to their employees. Money is the blood of the economy, without them a person cannot live, work, eat, and according to the law, people have the right to receive remuneration for work.
The most frequent cases of conflict situations are disputes over unpaid wages. The obligations of employers in this area are regulated by the legislation of the Russian Federation. The consequences of neglecting the rule of law can often result in criminal liability for the employer.
How to protect employees from dishonest managers?
An employment contract as a guarantee of employee peace
At the very beginning, when he enters work, the employer is obliged to conclude an employment contract with the new employee, which defines the terms of reference and the rights of the employer and the employee in relation to each other. It also indicates the amount monthly relying on the employee, the procedure and terms of payments, as well as the responsibility for non-payment of wages.
The employee must insist on signing an employment contract as a guarantee of the protection of his rights. If the clauses of this document are not observed, an employee of the company may apply to the relevant authorities with a statement of the fact of an offense or file a lawsuit with the court. Everyone should know that if there is a non-payment of wages, the criminal and administrative responsibility lies entirely with the employer.
If for some reason an employment contract has not been concluded, then repaying wage arrears will be a more difficult task. In this case, lawyers are advised to apply to the court with written evidence of the person’s labor activity in this company. The facts confirming this can serve as documentary evidence of admission to work, such as a pass, as well as testimonies of other employees that this employee really has an employment relationship in this organization.
Infringement of the rights of citizens
If the employer does not pay what he has earned, the state does not pay pensions, the educational institution does not pay scholarships, then these actions are qualified as a crime. Responsibility for non-payment of wages exists both administrative and criminal. The gravity of these crimes lies in the fact that they see not only a violation of the constitutional right to remuneration of a person, but also undermine the guarantee of social protection of citizens, which is also defined by the legislation of the Russian Federation. In other words, this is a crime that infringes on a person’s interests.
Articles No. 37 and 39 of the Constitution of our state concern the provision of citizens with scholarships, allowances, pensions. And questions about wages are regulated by article 2 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.
Minimum wage
The establishment of wages is unacceptably lower than the level determined by federal legislation of the Russian Federation.
Since January 1, 2015, the minimum wage is 5965 rubles. If we consider the metropolitan region, then from January 1, 2015, the minimum wage in Moscow is limited to 14,500 rubles, and from April 1, 15,000 rubles.
What are the implications?
What threatens non-payment of wages? People should know their rights and not be shy about reporting violations in the field of payment of monetary compensation for their work, especially since such violations are strictly prosecuted by the employer.
Legislation of the Russian Federation, namely article 145.1 Criminal Code, non-payment of wages is qualified as a crime against the person, which means infringement of the constitutional rights and freedoms of people.
The head of the employing company is directly responsible for the commission of these acts.
If within two or more months there is a 100% non-payment of wages, the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation regulates this action as a violation that entails imprisonment for a year.
In cases of partial non-payments that last for more than three consecutive months, the fine imposed on the employer may amount to 120 thousand rubles or equal to the size of the wages of the injured employee for the year. The law also provides for the deprivation of an unscrupulous employer the right to occupy certain positions or carry out certain activities. Finally, in some cases, the employer may be imprisoned for up to one year.
Much more severe may be the punishment for non-payment of wages to employees in full.
If you keep 100% of wages for more than two months, the employer may be fined by court order. The collection amount is from one hundred to five hundred thousand rubles. The head of the organization should not forget that for such an offense as a prolonged one hundred percent non-payment of wages, the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation determines the term of imprisonment up to three years inclusive.
In addition, if the actions of the employer entailed grave consequences for workers, then the punishment can be even harsher. Serious consequences mean damage to health, disability, disability, death of a person, partial damage or destruction of his property. The size of the fine in these cases can be from 200 thousand to half a million rubles, and the term for limiting the freedom of the employer can be up to five years.
Along with this, today employers cannot rely on advocate support in such cases, so it’s worth thinking about responsibility for employees many times.
The same conditions apply to the heads of higher educational institutions and state bodies for non-payment of scholarships, pensions and other cash benefits.
Employer guilt
Decisions regarding the degree of punishment of employers remain at the discretion of the court after self-interest or personal gain in the actions of the head of the organization is proved.
Under selfish goals is meant the intentional deduction of funds that are intended to pay employees wages, motivated by the desire to receive material benefits from the employer.
The personal interest of the leader can be expressed in getting rid of unwanted employees who interfere with career growth, or other selfish actions.
In cases where the company withholds the wages of employees for more than two months, and the court has proved that the employer has the funds, criminal liability for non-payment of wages.
Where to apply
Under current law, the employer must pay wages to its employees at least once every half a month. This is regulated by law.
Non-payment of wages by the employer does not mean the impossibility of a peaceful dialogue between the head of the company and the employee. First you need to find out the reasons for the delay in salary. Perhaps the employer is experiencing temporary difficulties that will be overcome as soon as possible, and a compromise will be found out of the situation. The solution may be a partial repayment of debt to the employee on a strictly defined schedule and other proposals related to the resolution of the conflict.
If the employer, despite the agreements reached, continues to pay salaries, where to contact the employee?
The employee may file a complaint about the unlawful actions of the employer with the labor inspectorate, the prosecutor’s office or apply to the court with a request to recover the deducted amount.The court may decide to pay not only the material part of the salary, but also compensation for non-pecuniary damage.
Applying to the Labor Inspectorate
The labor inspectorate is a public authority whose main task is to protect the rights of workers from violations by the employer. In the application submitted to this body, the victims should state the whole essence of the problem.
Appeal to the prosecutor
The labor rights of citizens can also be protected by representatives of supervisory authorities. In urgent matters such as non-payment of wages, the prosecutor's office checks first of all, especially if the rights of socially unprotected layers of the population, such as people with disabilities or young people under 18, are infringed. The prosecutor analyzes all the factual evidence that is set out in the application. In relation to the employer, the representative of the supervisory authority decides to immediately terminate the offenses committed against the employee.
Lawsuit
The employer may be punished for non-payment of wages through litigation. Appeal to the judiciary is an effective measure for collecting employee debt on their salaries. The statement of claim is filed with a competently executed evidence base containing the facts and requirements of the injured party. Upon consideration of the application, the court shall render a decision. If it meets the requirements of the applicant, appropriate coercive measures will be brought against the employer.
How to apply for non-payment of wages
A submitted application must be executed in accordance with the requirements of Russian law.
The submission of the document is carried out in the appropriate territorial authority at the location of the company having payables for the payment of wages to the employee.
The content of the application is clearly regulated:
- the full name of the official body to which the application is submitted, indicating its legal and actual addresses;
- fully listed personal data about the applicant with the obligatory indication of contact information;
- detailed information about unscrupulous employer indicating his details, physical and legal addresses, information about the head of the organization and the chief accountant;
- deadlines for non-payment of wages indicating dates, amount of debt at the time of filing this application.
Documents submitted to the prosecutor's office or labor inspectorate should contain evidence that the employee in good faith tried to independently resolve the labor dispute. The application must be accompanied by correspondence with the head of the company, requirements, collective complaints and other documents, which must necessarily contain the motivation of the employer to pay off wage arrears. When submitting an application to the authorities, it is important for the applicant to show his awareness of the field of labor law and demonstrate attempts to resolve issues with the company’s management regarding salary payments.
If the application is not drawn up correctly and the applications are not compiled properly, then the requirements of the injured employee may not be fully met, and there is a risk of delaying the process for an indefinite time.
Independent filing of a claim with a judicial authority
A lawsuit may be filed within 3 months from the date of violation of the rights of the employee. This day in fact is the day after the date of payment of wages established in the contract.
If the employee decided to file an application with the employer about non-payment of wages to the court, then he should not delay the time for submitting documents. They should be sent as soon as possible so that the statute of limitations for the lawsuit is not reached.
If it happened that the deadline for submitting an application was missed, in accordance with applicable law, there is the possibility of restoring the period that was determined for the application.
To accomplish this, it is necessary to send a petition to the judge, in which the reasoned reasons for missing the deadlines for filing a claim must be stated. Consideration of this application if there are good reasons will be granted.
If the employee submits a statement of claim, non-payment of wages in this case threatens the employer with additional legal costs. The filing of such a statement must be carried out by the employee in the judicial authority at the actual location of the organization.
It must be borne in mind that the court will only be able to accept a claim if the document is prepared in accordance with all the rules and in compliance with the requirements of the law. It should contain references to specific regulatory acts, requirements must be motivated, mandatory applications proving the existence of an employment relationship between the parties to the dispute. It is safer and easier to entrust the writing of a statement of claim for the recovery of salary arrears to a professional. In this case, the claim can be accepted by the court much faster.
In addition to the requirements to satisfy the material part of wages, the employee has the right to demand compensation for compensation for non-pecuniary damage, and any amount may be claimed. Practice shows that moral compensation is satisfied in proportion to the amount of debt owed.
Documents submitted to the court together with the statement of claim must contain:
- a copy of the employment contract;
- A photocopy of the order on the hiring of the employee;
- reference information on the amount of salary, as well as on the average income of the applicant.
In addition, the documents should contain information on the calculation of accounts payable of the company to the employee. Accounting should provide the employee with certificates of accrued but delayed wages. These certificates should also be attached to the filed claim.
If all the documents are submitted correctly, the court will order the issuance of a writ of execution, on the basis of which it will be possible to collect debts on wages from an unscrupulous employer. Further actions are carried out with the help of the Federal Bailiff Service.
Penalties to the employer for non-payment of wages
On the basis of Article No. 236 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, an unscrupulous employer who is responsible for delaying wages to his employee, in addition to direct debt for compensation of labor activity, is obliged to pay a certain percentage to the employee. The penalty for non-payment of wages is the amount that is calculated from the funds not issued to the employee on time, taking into account each day of delay. The amount of this amount is not less than one three hundredth of the level of the current refinancing rate, at the moment the rate is 13%. Settlement is carried out from the next day after the due date for payment up to and including the day of actual repayment.
In this case, the amount of penalties may be revised upwards if this condition is spelled out in a collective or labor contract and is also regulated by a regulatory act.
The procedure for payments upon the dismissal of an employee. Compensation for non-payment of wages after termination of the employment contract
Upon dismissal of an employee, the employment contract between the employer and the employee is terminated. This happens in any case, regardless of the reasons for the dismissal of the employee.
On his last working day, the employee must receive from the employer his work book and the final cash payment. Payment of all amounts, according to the legislation of the Russian Federation, is made precisely at these deadlines.If the employee is not at the workplace that day, then the salary must be paid to him no later than the next business day after the application is submitted.
According to the law, non-payment of wages upon dismissal will require the employer to compensate all arrears with interest.
The scheme for calculating penalties is similar to the scheme described above. The size of percent depends on the value discount rate Of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and is calculated on the basis of the amount unpaid to the employee on time monetary allowance for every day delay.
