An employee was absent from the workplace without good reason for the entire working day: Can he be fired? Correct designations for employee absence - how absenteeism is noted in the accounting report card

What is considered truancy?

According to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, absenteeism is the absence of an employee at the workplace according to the work schedule without good reason.
It is recognized as a gross violation by the employee of labor discipline and the terms of the employment contract with the employer, as well as non-compliance with internal labor regulations. On our website you can familiarize yourself with the procedure for drawing up labor regulations and filling out this document. Read the article “Internal Labor Regulations – Sample 2021”.

What do modern employers understand by absenteeism? Of course, employees not showing up for work on time can cause a lot of trouble for company management. And employers often intimidate staff by dismissing them for being late for work, staying late after a lunch break, leaving work early, etc. But the situations listed above, as a rule, are not absenteeism.

Situations in which an employee’s absence from work (workplace) is recognized as absenteeism were considered by ConsultantPlus experts. If you have access to K+, go to the HR Guide; if you don't, get it for free.

On the other hand, the Labor Code of the Russian Federation does not have a clear list of valid reasons. Our legislators leave this issue to the discretion of the enterprise management. Apparently, the manager must independently assess the extent to which the reason for absence from work is valid. Valid reasons include illness, death of loved ones, natural disasters, road accidents, housing problems that require immediate solutions, etc. Each such absence must be confirmed by a sick leave certificate, a certificate from a medical institution, the traffic police, the housing management company, etc. d.

IMPORTANT! If an employee verbally warned the manager in advance about his absence from work, this will not be considered absenteeism. Especially when this fact can be confirmed by other employees of the enterprise - direct witnesses.

Employee absenteeism can create problems in the organization's activities, including financial ones. For example, a failure in the production process of an enterprise operating on a continuous cycle, an unsigned agreement for a major commercial transaction, as a result of which the enterprise could increase revenue, etc.

Important conditions for recognizing absenteeism

In judicial practice, there are cases where truant workers won lawsuits due to incorrectly documented and undocumented fact of absenteeism and were reinstated at work. That is why the employer must carefully prepare all documents related to absenteeism. However, you should not do this retroactively. As practice shows, such facts are provable and the court will side with the employee who committed absenteeism.

In what cases is an employee’s absence from work regarded as absenteeism:

If the employee is absent from the workplace during the entire work shift (even if it lasts less than 4 hours).

If the employee does not have a documented workplace and he was on the territory of the organization, the employer will not be able to give him official absenteeism. Conclusion: assign a workplace to each employee in the employment contract when he/she starts working.

If the employee is absent from the workplace for more than 4 hours.

Moreover, if the employee was absent for exactly 4 hours, such absence will not be considered absenteeism.

Absence from work for unexcused reasons.

The employee must confirm each absence from the workplace with supporting documents. For example, a sick leave certificate, a summons to court or for an inquiry, a certificate from a medical institution and other documents. At the same time, the employer has no right to fire a pregnant woman who has committed absenteeism.

If the fact of absenteeism is proven.

Each absence must be documented. Otherwise, if the employee goes to court, justice will not be on the employer’s side.

How to put absenteeism on your report card

The time sheet is maintained in the organization to confirm the hours worked by subordinates. The need for its preparation is to control the work schedule of each employee, obtain information about hours worked, calculate wages and compile reports for statistical authorities.

Truancy

Absenteeism may become one of the grounds for terminating an employment agreement at the request of the employer.

Absenteeism is the absence of an employee from his assigned place without a satisfactory reason for 4 or more hours in a row during one day (shift). Nothing depends on the length of the shift (the employee skipped working hours). The boss can define the following points as absenteeism:

When an employee who has signed an employment contract (term unspecified) leaves his workplace without satisfactory reason, without notifying the employer of termination of the agreement, before the expiration of the 2 week notice period;
When an employee who has signed a contract (fixed term) leaves the position without any valid reason before the expiration of the contract or before the expiration of the warning period for early termination;
Self-management of days off, as well as arbitrary assignment of vacation.

These norms may seem to be clearly defined and extremely transparent. However, employers, and often the courts, even today find themselves at a dead end when studying such cases and determining whether a particular situation constitutes truancy. As a result, judges' verdicts often turn out to be incorrect and hasty.

Necessary settings for registering absence for unknown reasons

In order for the program to be able to register absence for an unknown reason, in the settings for the composition of accruals and deductions (Settings - Payroll calculation - Setting up the composition of accruals and deductions) on the Absence accounting , the Absenteeism and absences checkbox must be checked :

Registration of absence for an unknown reason

Absence for an unknown reason is registered with the document Absenteeism, non-appearance (Human Resources – All absences of employees):

Entering the document “Absenteeism, no-show”

If two groups of users work with the program: HR specialists and payroll accountants, then it is assumed that the document Absenteeism, no-show is entered by a user with the HR , indicating the employee and the period of absence, and then the user with the Account Accountant approves the document.

In the document:

in the Month , you should indicate the month for which absence should be taken into account when calculating wages;
select the type of absence Absence for unknown reasons ;
indicate the period of absence. If the end date of the period of absence is not yet known (the employee continues to be ill), then if the document is entered before calculating the advance, then the 15th day of the month is indicated, if before calculating the salary - the last day of the month.

Example 1

The fact of an employee’s absence is registered using the document Absenteeism, failure to appear .
The document should indicate the Month - April, since it is when calculating the advance payment for April that this absence should be taken into account.
In this case, the period of absence should be specified as the period from the 10th to the 15th, since the end date of the employee’s illness is not yet known, and the salary will be calculated for the first half of the month - from April 1st to April 15th, therefore, all absences must be reflected in the database that occurred on April 15th.

If in the example under consideration you do not return and provide a certificate of incapacity for work by the end of the month, then you will need to enter an absence for an unclear reason and for the period from April 16 to April 30, so that this absence will be taken into account in the final calculation of wages for April.

Example 2

In this case, you also need to enter the document Absenteeism, failure to appear for this employee and register absence in April for an unknown reason for the period from April 27 to April 30.

Approval of the document “Absenteeism, no-show”

After a user with the HR the document Absenteeism, Failure to Appear, it will be highlighted in bold in the document log, since it has not yet been approved.
A user with the Account Accountant should approve the document using the Approve from Journal command or by checking the appropriate box in the document itself:
If multi-user work is not configured in the program, then the approval checkbox is not displayed in the document form; it is considered that the document is approved immediately when it is submitted.
After approval of the document Absenteeism, absence from attendance, when calculating the employee’s salary, the time worked will be determined taking into account this absence.

Reflection of absence for an unknown reason in the time sheet

Periods of absence for unknown reasons are reflected in the timesheet with the letter code NN :

Actions after an employee submits “sick leave”

After the employee provides a certificate of incapacity for work, it is necessary to register the document Sick Leave . In this case, there is no need to somehow specifically reverse or delete the document Absenteeism, no-shows .

We correctly formalize the removal of an employee from work

As soon as the employer considers one of the above reasons, the employee should not be allowed into the workplace until the reason is eliminated. In this case, the time of suspension is not paid, but with a caveat: if the employee has not passed the TB knowledge test or a medical examination through no fault of his own, then the time of suspension is paid as idle time, that is, in the amount of 2/3 of the salary.

What signs to put if the employee does not show up for work?

When a worker is absent from work for unknown reasons (there are no necessary documents about the reason for absence), without notifying the personnel service and the manager of his absence, the letter “NN” is entered on the report card (24).

This code is recorded until the employee enters the workplace.

Please note: an employee can be punished for being absent from work. The Labor Code provides for only three types of punishment - reprimand, reprimand and dismissal.

Article 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation in 2020-2021

In Art. 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, namely sub. “a” clause 6 states that in case of absenteeism, the employer can legally dismiss the employee. In this case, the conditions mentioned earlier must be met.

But should a manager always fire an employee for absenteeism? This article gives him the right to do this, but does not establish such an obligation. Legislators leave the right of choice to the company's management. It can reprimand the employee, reprimand him or simply leave absenteeism unattended.

In some cases, the dismissal of an employee is possible due to him going on unauthorized leave without warning management. Every enterprise must have an annual vacation schedule. It is brought to the attention of employees. Lack of a schedule is considered a violation of labor laws.

Find out how to properly create a vacation schedule and download the form on our website. Read the article “Vacation schedule - form and sample for filling out in 2021.”

But in any case, going on vacation without the approval of management is a violation of labor discipline, and the employee may be held accountable for absenteeism.

You may also find these articles useful:

“How to properly arrange leave followed by dismissal?”;
“Order for annual paid leave - sample and form”.

Sometimes it happens that absenteeism ends the employee’s desire to resign of his own free will. The employee writes a letter of resignation and, without working for 2 weeks, does not go to work at the scheduled time.

If an employer dismisses an employee for absenteeism, he makes a corresponding note in his work book with reference to Art. 81 Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

How to prove employee absenteeism

The main difficulty in documenting an employee’s absenteeism is to prove that the reason for his absence from the workplace is not valid. In some cases, an employee cannot notify the manager of his absence from work for objective reasons. For example, there was an emergency on the road, an employee was unexpectedly hospitalized in intensive care, etc.

IMPORTANT! There is no need to immediately prepare an order for dismissal or disciplinary action on the day of absenteeism. The main thing is to record the fact of a person’s absence from his workplace in the presence of several witnesses.

To do this, the HR department must draw up an employee absence report in any form on company letterhead. It is signed by witnesses who can confirm the situation. In addition, the act should indicate the place of preparation, the date and necessarily the exact time, the full name of the employee who compiled this document, as well as witnesses.

After the report is drawn up and before the reasons for the potential absentee’s absence from the workplace (if any) are clarified, o (failure to appear for unknown reasons) is entered in the work time sheet in form T-12 and T-13. In the future, if the employee submits supporting documents, he will be corrected, for example, to “B” (sick leave). If the employee does not have such documents, “PR” (absenteeism) is indicated.

An example of how absenteeism is reflected in a report card (in form T-13) was prepared by ConsultantPlus experts. Get free trial access to K+ and proceed to samples (including in excel format).

On our website you can find out the procedure for filling out time sheets, as well as download their forms. See articles:

“Working time sheet according to form T-12 - form”;
“Unified form T-13 - form and sample”.

When an employee appears at the workplace, he must be required to provide an explanatory note in writing about the reasons for absenteeism (in the absence of supporting documents). There are known cases where an employee fired for absenteeism filed a lawsuit against his employer for illegal dismissal and won the lawsuit.

Why can dismissal be considered illegal if the fact of absenteeism has been proven? The employee may refer to the last paragraph of Art. 192 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation and the fact that the employer did not even inquire about the reasons for absenteeism and did not assess the severity of the offense and the circumstances of its commission.

IMPORTANT! In case of absenteeism, be sure to require a written explanation from the employee.

But there are cases when employees refuse to give an explanation of the reasons for absenteeism in writing. Then the employer should issue the employee, against signature, a notice of the need to provide an explanatory note. The document must indicate the number of days during which the employee must explain his absence. This is 2 working days (Article 193 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

If the employee refused to receive the notice or did not provide an explanation after the specified time, this should also be recorded in an act in the presence of witnesses.

What signs to put if the employee does not show up for work?

Please note: an employee can be punished for being absent from work. The Labor Code provides for only three types of punishment - reprimand, reprimand and dismissal.

How is unexcused absence noted?

Even if the manager informs you about an employee’s absenteeism, there is no need to rush to enter the absenteeism code “PR”. You should wait until the absent specialist brings a paper with explanations.

If the reason for absence is not valid, “PR” (30) is written on the report card.

There are cases when absenteeism designations are indicated, and the employee was absent for valid reasons. Consequently, the timesheet submitted to the accounting department is incorrect and requires correction.

The Labor Code of the Russian Federation does not regulate circumstances that are valid under the unified regime. That is, the law requires employers to independently determine whether each individual situation is a valid reason for the absence of subordinates from work.

As a rule, the following reasons are considered valid:

employee illness;
death of a close relative of an employee;
natural disasters, fire;
road traffic accidents.

When determining the validity of a reason, one should be based on the principles of reasonableness and fairness.

Do not forget about the need to draw up a report in the event of a specialist’s failure to show up for work.

If there are no plans to take disciplinary action against the resigning employee, then it is possible to arrange for the employee to take leave without pay.

How are no-shows indicated - sample filling out T-13

There are 2 options for filling out the timesheet: continuous (a designation is entered for each day) and by deviations (only delays and omissions are noted).

There are no clear instructions on how to fill out the timesheet; for each enterprise, information is recorded in the timesheet based on practical skills. If the letter designation in the report card seems more convenient, they are used, otherwise numbers are used.

On the timesheet form, in the top line, data on the employee’s absence is recorded - NN, PR, the bottom line remains blank. For the final calculation of hours worked for the month, these days are not taken into account.

If an employee has been absent for more than 4 hours in a row, the employer legally registers absenteeism. Other cases of employee absence will not constitute a violation of labor standards.

In practice, there are situations when an employee was absent not the entire working day, but only for a few hours. In this situation, it is necessary to indicate the fact of absenteeism and partial attendance. For a unified report card form, a double code is used - “I/PR”; hours worked and hours missed are indicated through a fraction.

An example of filling out a time sheet in case of absence without a valid reason for 1 hour:

Documentation of employee absenteeism

So, we have figured out in what cases an employee’s absence from the workplace is considered absenteeism and how to prove it. How to document an employee’s absenteeism and its consequences?

The final decision on punishing an employee for absenteeism is made by the employer himself. An employee may be held liable for absenteeism in the form of:

Layoffs. When dismissing someone for absenteeism, you do not need to draw up 2 orders - on imposing a disciplinary sanction and terminating the employment contract. An order to terminate the employment contract is sufficient. As the basis for such an order, reports, acts, explanatory notes from the employee, time sheets, that is, documents that prove the fact of absenteeism and justify dismissal, are indicated.
Disciplinary action. It is issued by order of the head of the institution. This order does not have a unified form, so each enterprise can develop its own sample order. You can take the unified forms of other orders as a basis, so as not to forget to indicate all the necessary details in the document. For example, an order in form T-6 to grant an employee leave.

you can order in form T-6 on our website .

Such an order must reflect the following points:

the fact of violation by the employee of labor discipline, that is, absenteeism itself, indicating its date;
documents that prove the fact of absenteeism of the employee (memos, acts, explanatory notes from the employee, time sheets);
type of punishment (consequences of violation): reprimand, reprimand, deprivation of another bonus, etc.

On our website you can form an order for disciplinary action. See the article “Disciplinary sanction order - sample and form” .

In order to, if necessary, punish an employee for absenteeism, the employer must, upon hiring, familiarize him with his job responsibilities (employment contract, job description) and internal labor regulations against personal signature. Then, after a decision on dismissal or disciplinary action is made, if the employee goes to court, there will be a greater chance that justice will side with the employer.

Results

Absenteeism is the absence of an employee from the workplace for more than 4 hours in accordance with the work schedule. This is a gross violation by the employee of labor discipline, the terms of the employment contract with the employer and internal labor regulations. To recognize absenteeism, a number of conditions must be met:

absence of an employee from the workplace during the entire work shift;
absence of an employee from his workplace for more than 4 hours;
absence from work for unexcused reasons;
proof of the fact of absenteeism.

In case of absenteeism, the employer must require the employee to provide a written explanation for his absence from the workplace. An employee may be held liable for absenteeism in the form of:

dismissal, which is formalized by an order to terminate the employment contract with the employee;
disciplinary action, which is also formalized by a corresponding order.

Each incorrectly executed document can affect the outcome of the lawsuit not in favor of the employer if the employee goes to court due to illegal dismissal. So all documents must be drawn up properly at the right time and, if necessary, signed by witnesses to the situation.

Sources: Labor Code of the Russian Federation

You can find more complete information on the topic in ConsultantPlus. Free trial access to the system for 2 days.

NTVP "Kedr - Consultant"

LLC "NTVP "Kedr - Consultant" » Services » Legal consultations » Labor disputes » On the correct registration of an employee’s absence from work for reasons not clarified at the beginning of the period of absence

Question.

The employee was absent from work from May 30 to June 10. , When closing the report card for May, he was given a no-show for unknown reasons. 11.06. he brought a certificate of arrest, on the basis of the certificate, the corrective report was marked with “NB” - suspension from work (preclusion from work) for reasons provided for by law without accrual of wages. Is an order from the employer necessary in this case?

Lawyer's answer

The legislation does not contain a clear procedure for registering an employee’s failure to appear at work due to detention (arrest). Therefore, it is best in this case to act according to generally established rules.

It is necessary to draw up a report regarding the employee’s absence from work. The document indicates the date and exact time of the employee’s absence, as well as the time the report was drawn up. The document must be drawn up daily before the employee returns to work or is dismissed (for example, the employee is sentenced to imprisonment). You can also receive a report or memo from the immediate supervisor of the arrested person regarding the employee’s failure to appear.

Next, you need to decide how to fill out the time sheet. If the employer does not yet know the reason for the employee’s absence, then the letter code “NN” (failure to appear for unknown reasons) or the digital code “30” should be entered on the timesheet. The same code can also be entered in cases where it is known from the very beginning that the employee has been arrested.

This is due to the fact that the unified form N T-12 (approved by Resolution of the State Statistics Committee of Russia dated January 5, 2004 N 1) does not provide an alphabetic or numeric code to indicate an employee’s failure to appear at work due to arrest.

Also sometimes they use the letter code “NB” (numeric - “35”) - suspension from work. But this is not very correct. Thus, removal from work occurs only for certain circumstances, to which arrest does not apply. This code should be entered in the report card only if the court suspended the arrested person from work and only from the moment specified in the resolution.

Let us remind you that the employer, on the basis of the Procedure for using unified forms of primary accounting documentation (approved by Resolution of the State Statistics Committee of Russia dated March 24, 1999 N 20), has the right to make changes to the time sheet. Consequently, he can enter an additional code indicating the absence of the employee due to arrest; these additions must be formalized by an appropriate order.

If the organization has developed its own forms of primary accounting documents (from January 1, 2013, the forms contained in the albums of unified forms of primary accounting documentation are not mandatory for use), including time sheets, then the symbol should be chosen from those that were installed independently.

Thus, on the report card, regardless of whether the reason for absence is known or not, you can enter the code “NN” or the code entered in the organization to indicate failure to appear due to arrest. If the reason for the absence was not immediately known and the timesheet has already been marked “NN”, and the company has entered a special code, then the document can be corrected.

After returning to work, the employee must provide documents confirming the reason for absence. Depending on the preventive measure, they may be:

- protocol on administrative detention. Such detention is carried out for a period of three to 48 hours, that is, a maximum of two days. A protocol is drawn up if an employee is detained on suspicion of committing an administrative offense. The document must indicate the time of detention and release. A copy of the protocol is issued to the employee at his request. If he has not received a copy, he should be asked to do so;

— certificate of serving an administrative arrest in a special detention center;

— certificate of release from custody. It is issued to an employee arrested on suspicion of committing a criminal offense. The document must indicate who detained the employee, the date and time of detention and release.

During the period of arrest of an employee, the employer has the right to take another employee in his place, for example, under a fixed-term employment contract, part-time (internal and external) or by way of temporary transfer.

Article: Employee arrested... What should an employer do? (Svetlichnaya I.R.) (“Practical Accounting”, 2014, No. 5; “Consultant”, 2014, No. 11) {ConsultantPlus}

Based on the above, issuing an order in this case is not required.

The explanation was given by Igor Borisovich Makshakov, legal consultant of LLC NTVP Kedr-Consultant, June 2017.

When preparing the answer, SPS ConsultantPlus was used.

This clarification is not official and does not entail legal consequences; it is provided in accordance with the Regulations of the CONSULTATION LINE ().