In the process of the activity of each employee, conflicts with employers may arise if a violation of labor rights occurs. Most often, such situations are resolved peacefully within the labor collective. However, sometimes it comes to the point that a complaint to the labor inspectorate is required.
When to contact
The State Labor Inspectorate and, accordingly, its regional branches are designed to:
- consider appeals of citizens who have reported violations of their labor rights;
- take measures to eliminate found violations and restore violated rights.
Based on this short list of inspection functions, it becomes clear that we are talking about almost any violation of labor laws. As a result, a complaint to the labor inspectorate may be filed in cases where:
- the citizen is not provided with the work specified in the employment contract;
- salary is not paid in full or in violation of the terms;
- a job is provided that does not correspond labor protection requirements or the terms of the collective agreement;
- the employee does not have a compulsory social insurance contract;
- the employee is not provided with rest time or is not provided in full.
This list is not closed and allows the emergence of new reasons for applying to the inspectorate. For example, a candidate for a position may complain about an employer if he was refused employment on a pretext. Moreover, if the violations are widespread, then a collective complaint to the labor inspectorate may be necessary. Inspection in such cases checks employers with redoubled energy.
Where to go
At the head of the entire hierarchy is the Federal Service for Labor and Employment, or in short - Rostrud. Inspections that perform their functions in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation go lower in rank, and even lower in cities and regions.
In order to file your claims, you should write a complaint to the labor inspectorate, which is responsible for the address of the employer's location. Higher instances should be contacted if the outcome of the review does not satisfy the applicant. The address of the local inspection can be found in the telephone directory or on the Rostrud website.
Which way to send
Until recently, there were two ways to file a complaint with the labor inspectorate:
- visit the inspection in person and submit the documents to the secretariat or inspector;
- send the complaint by registered mail, preferably with a receipt of receipt.
The document should be printed in duplicate. In the first case, the second copy will bear a mark of acceptance for consideration by the inspection, in the second case, the root of the notification of delivery will be attached to it.
However, Internet technologies allowed to add one more very convenient way to the listed ones - electronic. Rostrud launched a service with the help of which a complaint can be submitted to the labor inspection online, that is, from its website you can immediately contact the inspectors. And here, in turn, you can use two options:
- send an electronic complaint within the framework of the resource Online Inspection.rf, and then the answer will be, rather, of a consultative nature;
- and you can also apply through the website to receive an official response that will be in the form prescribed by law and may serve as an argument in litigation.
What arguments to bring
In all cases, it is advisable for the first time a citizen to make such an application to consult with competent persons. Usually, in such cases, the specialist of the territorial inspection can help, who will tell you which articles of the laws to rely on. So, the labor inspectorate of Moscow, for example, allows you to write a complaint right at its office.
The wording of the claim must be clear and not to be ambiguous. It should be indicated:
- what labor rights the employer violated;
- what articles of the legislative acts determine these rights (usually the main document to which the applicants refer is the Labor Code of the Russian Federation);
- in what period are the rights violated;
- what does the employer refer to when performing unlawful (according to the applicant) actions;
- what is the debt to the employee on wages, vacation pay, bonuses and other payments (if they are the case);
- what costs the employee incurred as a result of such actions of the employer.
This list, of course, is not final. Quite often, workers complain about working conditions, delayed leave and other similar circumstances that do not bear visible material damage.
How to reinforce the arguments
To confirm the applicant’s correctness, it is highly desirable that the complaint to the labor inspectorate be supported by weighty arguments. As such documents usually act.
There is no strict list of them, but of the documents available to the employee, you can submit to the inspection:
- An employment contract containing clauses that do not comply with the law, or those clauses that have been violated (duration of the working day, working week, etc.).
- Settlement sheets issued by the employer when issuing salaries.
- Statements from the salary bank card account to which funds are received from the employer.
- The contested order of dismissal or leave without pay" and others.
Filing a complaint to the labor inspectorate must be accompanied by copies of the documents. The originals must be kept for possible further litigation.
How to write a complaint
There is no strict complaint form to the labor inspectorate. But the text must necessarily contain the following details and information:
- name of territorial inspection;
- surname, name, patronymic of the head of this inspection (if this information is not available, you can limit yourself to the name of the position);
- surname, name, patronymic of the applicant;
- the name of the appeal is “complaint” or “statement”;
- essence of the complaint;
- Signature and date of writing of complaint.
Sample complaint
As a result, a sample complaint to the labor inspectorate will look something like this:
State Labor Inspectorate ___________
Head ________________________________
from ________________________________________,
living _____________________________________
tel. _____________________ (indicated if
need operational communication)
A complaint
Until _______ (date), I worked at the enterprise ___________ (company name and address) in the position of ________. The head _________ (full name) dismissed me _______ (date and number of the order) under a far-fetched pretext. Thus, my rights specified in article _____ of the Labor Code were violated.
I ask you to take measures to restore the violated rights and restore me to work in my previous position.
Attached are copies of documents:
- ______________________.
- ______________________.
Date ___________________ Signature ____________________ Full name.
Of course, this is just an example of a complaint to the labor inspectorate, and the essence of the claims may be completely different.
How to check the employer
The complaint will become an indispensable basis for conducting an audit of the employer's actions. The practice of inspectors shows how the labor inspectorate checks complaints.
1. First, the existing composition of documents will be examined. In other words, inspectors will check whether all the necessary documents are available. This refers to the collective agreement, staffing, labor regulations, labor contracts, timesheets, payroll sheets, the provision for allowances and bonuses, the register of sick leave, vacation schedules. However, the interests of the inspectors will not be limited to this list: they will certainly need work books and a book for recording their movement, personal cards.
If the complaint contains claims to working conditions, then they will also check labor protection.
2. Then it will undergo verification of the correctness of registration of existing documents.Particular attention will be paid to employment contracts, which may contain the following shortcomings:
- Employment contracts are absent in some employees.
- Limited-term (fixed-term) employment contracts do not provide grounds for such a restriction.
- The employment contracts indicate that payment is made according to the staffing table, and at the same time there is no tariff rate or salary. This situation indicates a violation of Art. 57 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.
- In employment contracts there is a record that for the duration of the probationary period the salary will be lower than that of the main staff. There is a violation here Art. 132 Labor Code of the Russian Federation.
Workers applying for a job should pay attention to concluding labor contracts rather than civil contracts with them, as is often the case. In the latter case, the employer makes his life easier and avoids the payment of personal income tax and insurance premiums. A citizen will have to submit a tax return himself. If the labor inspectorate receives a complaint about this, the employer will face serious sanctions: in addition to paying the “saved” taxes and fees, he will pay penalties and fines.
What threatens the employer with violation of labor laws
In rare cases, a complaint to the labor inspectorate remains without consequences. Sanctions are still applied, but they depend on the severity of the violations. Inspectors have very broad powers of punishment, and they may and may:
- issue instructions on elimination of detected violations;
- bring the perpetrators to administrative responsibility;
- issue instructions to the management on bringing the organization's responsible persons to disciplinary liability;
- to suspend the work of entire companies, as well as their divisions or even individual sections, if significant violations are discovered that result in a threat to the life and health of employees;
- to remove from work persons who have not been trained in workplace safety;
- to petition law enforcement authorities to bring perpetrators to justice if circumstances so require;
- to act as experts in administrative and criminal cases regarding violations of labor laws.
The result of the work of the inspectors will be an inspection report, to which, if violations are discovered, an order to eliminate them with specific deadlines must be attached. The act will further review the inspection management and decide on the punishment or absence thereof. The decision will be surely communicated to the organization’s management and to the applicant (if the complaint is not anonymous). The term for consideration of a complaint by the labor inspectorate is 30 days, counting from the moment when it arrived at the inspectors. It can be extended, but only for a month, no more.
Where to appeal in case of disagreement with the verification results
The appeal system in state institutions is designed so that walking “over the head” is not recommended. This means that if you disagree with the results of the audit, you should first appeal to a higher authority, that is, a republican, provincial or regional labor inspectorate.
At the same time, no one forbids immediately suing the employer, however, as mentioned above, local courts will attract local inspectors as experts.
There is another resource that is very widely used in the search for justice in labor relations. This is the prosecutor’s office. Law enforcement officers of this department especially love wage issues and speak in court on the side of the victims.
Anonymity or formality - what to choose?
In some cases, workers, wanting to complain about the wrongful actions of the employer, want their surname not to appear anywhere during the inspection. Note that if the complaint was submitted anonymously to the labor inspectorate, then it cannot be considered by law.
But the labor inspectorate provides some kind of incognito replacement. The text of the complaint may indicate a desire to remain unknown to the public. Auditors will be required to maintain secrecy. In addition, they will check the organization for all employees, and it will be impossible for the employer to understand who wrote the application.
