What may be valid reasons for failing to appear in court?

What is considered truancy?

To understand whether a person’s absence constitutes absenteeism, you should refer to the norms of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. The exact definition of absenteeism is given in subparagraph “a” of paragraph 6 of Art. 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation - this is recognized as the absence of an employee from the workplace for more than 4 hours in a row during the working day or throughout the entire shift and at the same time the employee does not have valid reasons for such absence.

In practice, there are valid and disrespectful reasons for absence from work. Employers independently decide which category to classify an employee’s failure to appear in, since the Labor Code of the Russian Federation does not strictly regulate this point. If an employee had good reasons for not coming to work, but the employer refuses to recognize his arguments and fires him, the employee has the right to appeal such a decision in court.

Is it legal to punish absenteeism for a good reason?

If a person does not show up at work for any reason and does not answer the phone, then this is not a reason to consider his absence as absenteeism, until all the circumstances are clarified. Punishment is imposed if the reasons are classified as disrespectful.

According to the Labor Code, the employee is not obliged to report to his superiors in advance about forced absence, but after which he must give a written explanation. If, after the next appearance at work, it turns out that the circumstances are of an important nature and are due to failure to appear, then the boss should not subject his subordinate to disciplinary measures. Otherwise, this may be appealed in court.

What are valid reasons for absence from work?

Valid reasons for absence from work, in accordance with legislative norms, may include: as follows:

• Passing a mandatory medical examination (in accordance with Article 213 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).
• Donation of blood and its components (the procedure for granting exemption from work to donors is regulated by Article 186 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).
• Non-payment of wages by the management of the enterprise. If the delay in payments is more than 15 days, the staff has the right to suspend the performance of work duties until the delayed amount is paid to them, and the employer must be notified in advance of the failure to appear in writing (the list of exceptions is given in Article 142 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).
• Involving an employee during his working hours in the performance of public or state duties (Article 170 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

Personal reasons include, for example:

• Illness of the employee himself or one of his family members.
• Call for military training.
• Utility accidents, fire, flood, etc. emergency situations at the citizen’s place of residence.
• Participation in litigation.

Examples of valid reasons for absence from work due to force majeure situations:

• breakdown, accident of public transport, etc.;
• getting into an accident;
• natural obstacles (ice, heavy snow, hurricane, etc.), etc.

Having received written permission from the employer, the employee may be absent for the following reasons:

• death of a close relative;
• birth of a child;
• wedding, etc.

Also, a valid reason for absence from work is the occurrence of force majeure circumstances that the employee cannot influence: disasters, accidents, weather disasters, etc.

Additional reasons

There is no separate rule or article in labor legislation that would list what is considered a valid reason. In the following cases, an absent employee has the right to count on agreeing on the time of his absence from work without subsequent sanctions from the administration:

1. Temporary incapacity for work of an employee or a member of his family, confirmed by open sick leave, gives the right to be legally absent for the entire period of illness.
2. Donation, with confirmation of the fact of blood donation by a corresponding certificate from a medical institution, serves as the basis for exemption from work duties for 2 days.
3. A strike with the participation of an employee does not give management the right to fire a person for absenteeism, which is confirmed by Art. 414 Labor Code of the Russian Federation.
4. Calling a citizen to perform duties to the state if it is necessary to perform special assignments or public works.
5. Involvement in legal proceedings through a subpoena.

Since the Labor Code does not provide clear instructions on what situations may be considered disrespectful reasons for failure to appear, one should adhere to the basic norms of the Labor Code and established judicial practice. So, for example, the following situations can be recognized as disrespectful reasons:

• undergoing a medical examination, consultation with a doctor without opening a sick leave;
• absenteeism from work due to unregistered leave from vacation and absence of documents confirming that the period was worked;
• lack of approval on an application for leave to care for a minor ward;
• hospitalization of the spouse.

Unless otherwise specified by law, management will decide whether to consider the reason for non-appearance to be valid or to apply punishment for violation of labor discipline.

• Reprimand for improper performance of official duties

Depending on the severity of the offense, management has the right to issue a reprimand for a single violation, but in case of systematic offenses and disregard for the work schedule, the administration may issue a severe reprimand followed by dismissal under the article. In special cases, if absence from work for more than 4 hours caused a disruption in production and led to losses for the enterprise, dismissal with the first offense is also legal.

If the employee considers the applied sanction to be excessively strict, the administration’s decision will be challenged in court. Do not forget that the final decision on whether to punish a subordinate is made by the manager himself, and he has the right to cancel the punishment or limit himself to an oral reprimand.

Not valid reasons

These are considered to be situations where an employee did not show up for work and did not notify immediate management, and also did not provide any supporting documents. Unexcusable reasons for absence from work are grounds for the employer to take disciplinary measures, the purpose of which is to prevent similar behavior in the future. It should be noted that if an employee warned the head of the organization in advance about absenteeism, such a situation cannot be considered absenteeism.

External factors

A person can miss work not only for personal reasons, but also for factors completely beyond his control that occur from the outside. In other words, these are situations that can be safely classified as force majeure. Their very presence can automatically be considered a valid factor for preventing a person from coming to an office or enterprise. Here are some examples of such situations:

• malfunction of the elevator, when a person got stuck in it, was waiting for help, and therefore could not come to work;
• an accident if the employee was driving his own vehicle to work;
• malfunction of the vehicle, with the simultaneous inability to transfer to another vehicle. This is very typical for a situation where an employee travels to the enterprise every day by train or intercity bus;
• various natural phenomena - hurricane winds, floods;
• a complex infectious or epidemiological situation that has arisen in the city or vaccination carried out by employees of medical institutions;
• a significant delay in the departure of the aircraft, which created certain insurmountable obstacles and prevents a timely return from the trip;
• not a delay, but a complete lack of tickets at the box office, when a person does not have the opportunity to return home by air, water or any other type of road transport.

If, upon arriving at work, an employee provides documentary evidence of one of the listed factors, the employer, by law, will not be able to fire him or fine him.

How can an employee of an organization justify absence from work?

In Art. The Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation states that each party to the proceedings is obliged to confirm the circumstances to which it refers. For employees, evidence of valid reasons for failure to appear will be a medical certificate, sick leave, documents about an accident, a summons from the court and other supporting documents. The employer can use the employee’s absence from the workplace and witness testimony as evidence of absenteeism.

If the employee fails to provide supporting documents, the decision remains with the employer. Therefore, it is always recommended to notify management in advance about your absence, because if the matter comes to trial, it will be easier for the employee to prove that he had a good reason for not showing up for work.

Advance reasons for missing work

Sometimes the direct reason for missing work may be other circumstances that are known in advance and are not unexpected. Among them are joyful and sad moments, such as:

• wedding;
• the birth of a baby;
• death of a relative who was previously ill.

In the above circumstances, the employee not only has the legal right not to come to work, but can request additional days off from the employer. Here you need to understand that they will not be paid, but they are also not recognized as absenteeism.

In order to receive such legal, but unpaid days off, the employee must notify his employer in writing that such circumstances have arisen that several days of rest are required. If it is not possible to warn in advance, which is typical for the birth of a child or the death of a relative, then the employee must call the company and verbally notify the employer.

In such situations, the employee cannot be denied days off. But their number should not exceed 5 days.

Non-appearance of a witness

A witness is an important participant in a court hearing. His testimony could radically change the course of the case. The liability of a witness for failure to appear in court is enshrined in Articles 168 and 105 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation. The amount of the penalty can be up to 5,000 rubles. The amount is determined by the court.

If a witness is unable to attend the hearing for good reason, he or she must do the following:

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• inform in a timely manner about the impossibility of attending the trial;
• provide written evidence of valid reasons for failure to appear.

Failure to appear for the applicant's exam

Let's consider whether those who did not appear for the Unified State Exam or internal exam can count on admission.

What to do if you missed the Unified State Examination

If a graduate missed the unified state exam for a valid reason (illness, cataclysm, natural disaster) and confirmed it with the appropriate document, he will be able to take the test on a reserve day.

Such a document is submitted to the point where the student registered for the Unified State Exam.

Failure to appear for entrance exams

To enter some universities or technical schools, you need not only to provide a certificate or Unified State Examination results, but also to pass an internal exam. The situation with him is similar: if the applicant brings to the admissions committee documentary evidence that he was absent that day for a serious reason, he will be able to take the exam on other dates.

But if the last possible date is missed, the graduate loses the chance of admission: he must pass the exam within the deadlines specified in the admission rules.

By the way! For our readers there is now a 10% discount on any type of work

Failure to attend a session without a valid reason is grounds for expulsion.

Liability provided for failure to appear of persons participating in the case

The law provides for liability in the form of a fine or monetary penalty for persons who fail to appear in court for unexcusable reasons.

But this requires the simultaneous coincidence of two circumstances:

• The person failed to appear at the court hearing for an unexcused reason;
• The person was duly notified of the need to appear in court.

What happens if you don't appear in court? The issue of imposing a fine or monetary penalty is considered in a court hearing, and a ruling or resolution is issued based on the result. It is worth noting that the application of such a measure of liability is the right of the court, and not its obligation.

If a witness has been fined for failure to appear at a hearing, this determination can be appealed by filing a private complaint.

Another measure used against a “truant” is a judicial summons. If a participant in the proceedings does not want to come to court on his own, then bailiffs go to his place of residence or place of work and forcibly bring this person to court.

This measure cannot be applied to children under 14 years of age, pregnant women, or persons who, for health reasons, cannot participate in a court hearing.

Witness liability

The liability of witnesses for failure to appear at a court hearing is provided for in all branches of procedural law:

• Part 2 Art. 168 Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation – a fine of 1000 rubles;
• Part 2 Art. 157 Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation and Part 1 of Art. 119 of the Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation - a fine not exceeding 2,500 rubles.
• Art. 117 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation - monetary penalty not exceeding 2500 rubles
• part 8 art. 51 CAS RF and Art. 122 CAS RF - a fine not exceeding 5,000 rubles.

Example from practice. When considering a criminal case, a penalty of 2,500 rubles was imposed on the witness. The witness did not agree with such a punishment because he did not appear at the court hearing for a good reason, as he was on sick leave. But the appellate court did not accept the arguments of the complaint, because the witness was repeatedly summoned to court, and during the arrest he refused to go with the bailiff. In addition, the witness did not report the reasons for his absence and did not provide medical documents confirming the validity of the reasons.

Thus, to avoid liability for missing a court hearing, you must:

• Report in a timely manner about the inability to appear at the trial;
• Provide written confirmation of the valid reasons for non-appearance.

Personal

The most common reasons for absenteeism are considered to be personal reasons that did not allow an employee of the organization to go to work at the appointed time. Usually, when such situations arise, everything is reported to the management of the enterprise, but if there is no opportunity to call or write a message to the manager, the employee does not face any additional sanctions.

The most common personal reasons for employee absence from the workplace include:

1. Injury or illness. When visiting a clinic or calling an ambulance, the employee is given a certificate or an appointment sheet indicating the date of the doctor’s visit or the emergency call. In this case, this document is filed with the employee’s file, and dismissal for absenteeism is not allowed.
2. Passing a medical examination - clinical examination. For many organizations, especially in the catering industry, having a medical record and passing a medical examination is a prerequisite for working. If visiting doctors is a necessary measure, then the absence of an employee from the workplace is not absenteeism.
3. Illness of a child or other family member who requires outside care during illness. In this case, the employer is provided with a doctor’s certificate or sick leave for child care.
4. The occurrence of a technical malfunction in the gas, water and heat supply system, as well as physical breakdown of the door lock in the employee’s apartment. If for some reason there is a breakdown or fire in a residential or other premises owned by an employee, then failure to show up for work is a valid reason, since it is necessary to call special services. To confirm the authenticity of this reason for absence from work, a receipt for payment for services to replace a door lock or call a plumber, as well as information about a fire, if one, can serve.
5. An employee's participation in government matters, such as testifying to a law enforcement officer or testifying in court. In this case, if possible, the employer is informed in advance about the need to visit government services, and is also provided with a summons or other document.
6. Long-term non-payment of wages. If payments are delayed by more than 15 days, the employee has the right to refuse to work, but with mandatory written notification to the employer. Refusal to work may last until full or partial payment of wages; dismissal of such an employee is not allowed.

In addition to personal reasons for absenteeism, there are other reasons that arise for reasons independent of the behavior and actions of the employee.

Consequences of failure to appear in court without good reason

If a citizen fails to appear in court without good reason, he will be punished by a fine. The amount of the penalty is determined by the judge. Based on the results of the consideration, an appropriate decision is made.

Sometimes a citizen does not agree with a court decision. Then he can appeal it by filing a private complaint.

In case of systematic failure to appear at court hearings, a judicial summons may be applied against one of the participants. In this case, bailiffs forcefully deliver the “truant” person to court. The easiest way to find a person is to go to his work address.

The judicial process does not apply to the following categories of persons:

• pregnant women;
• children under 14 years of age;
• disabled people.

Consequences of two no-shows

The claim may be left without consideration if the following grounds exist:

• the plaintiff failed to appear in court two times in a row;
• the defendant does not ask to consider the case on its merits;
• The plaintiff did not request the case to be considered in his absence.

The grounds for leaving an application without consideration are listed in Article 222 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation. If the claim was canceled due to the plaintiff’s failure to appear, then it is not possible to appeal such a decision. To resume the process, the applicant will have to re-apply to the same court, documenting the valid reasons for failure to appear.

If one of the parties does not appear at the trial, the case may be considered in her absence. In this case, the citizen loses the right to defend his position in court.