Work experience: how long can you not work after dismissal without it being interrupted? Is it important?

What is continuous work experience?

Continuous work experience can be interrupted without legal consequences, but only if the reason was valid, for example, the birth of a child, etc. This feature of the concept seemed quite logical in the system of Soviet labor legislation. This is how this term was interpreted in labor legislation until 2006. In particular, continuity of experience was maintained if the citizen found a new job within 1 to 3 months, depending on certain conditions. In some situations, continuous work experience after voluntary dismissal was “frozen” for an indefinite period, for example, if a married couple moved to another area due to the transfer of one of the spouses, and the second could not quickly find a job. This was a very important indicator that influenced sick pay and the amount of pensions. This issue was regulated by Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR dated April 13, 1973 No. 252.

In 2006, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, by Resolution No. 16-O dated March 2, 2006, canceled this document, since the concept itself was recognized as inconsistent with the Constitution of the Russian Federation. The Constitutional Court can also formulate labor legislation if we follow the logic of the norms of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. The Constitutional Court considered that the use of the term “continuous work experience” violates the right of citizens to free work. Since then, no new interpretations of continuous work experience have been adopted. However, today there are several industries where it is still taken into account. But, unlike the term “work experience,” the indicator under discussion is not used so widely. Here are some examples:

1. The length of work experience without interruptions is important in some cases when assigning temporary disability benefits, but now this does not always happen.
2. In addition, such length of service is taken into account when assigning bonuses and benefits in certain professional fields.
3. Sometimes employers in collective agreements provide for certain payments or bonuses for long-term work in one place.
4. When applying for employment, continuity of work experience can be taken into account: the point here is this: the employer automatically pays attention to how long the employee worked at each specific enterprise and how many jobs he changed. This point has nothing to do with legislation and is not regulated anywhere.

Two types of experience

During Soviet times, the state struggled with staff turnover, encouraging workers to work in one place for as long as possible. That’s when the concepts of intermittent and continuous experience appeared, and the latter was given preference. Many social guarantees depended on it: the size of the pension, the amount of temporary disability benefits and other material preferences.

Intermittent work experience is how many years a citizen has officially worked for different employers. “Officially” in this case means that insurance premiums or other necessary transfers were paid for this entire period. For example, in the Soviet Union there were no such contributions, but two taxes were withheld from employees: income and childlessness, which is equivalent to insurance contributions. That is, interrupted work experience is the total period of labor (or other useful) activity.

Continuous experience means time worked in one organization. It is not interrupted even after dismissal and employment in another place, but only if this is done within the established time frame.

Continuous work experience: how it is taken into account

Now, what length of service is considered continuous is determined differently. According to the norms of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, this is the period during which the employee worked at the same enterprise. Although none of the articles of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation directly indicates this, this is clear from the meaning, for example, Article 121 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. At the same time, this indicator no longer affects the amount of sick leave or the amount of pension. The only thing it gives is allowances and benefits in certain areas. For example, when working as a teacher or doctor. Medical workers are entitled to receive an allowance for many years of work in the healthcare sector. In addition, in the Far North and in similar areas, wage supplements are given to those individuals who continuously work in such climatic conditions. Such regions, in accordance with Order of the Ministry of Labor of the RSFSR dated November 22, 1990 No. 3, include:

• Arhangelsk region;
• Irkutsk region;
• Chita region;
• Republic of Karelia;
• Komi Republic;
• The Republic of Buryatia;
• Tyva Republic;
• southern regions of the Far East and Krasnoyarsk Territory.

Does it affect your pension?

This indicator is determined in accordance with existing formulas by summing up the periods:

• when a person performed labor duties on the basis of relevant contracts;
• when municipal or civil service took place;
• the person must be insured for a situation related to temporary disability.

It turns out that the fact of continuous work does not have any impact on the size of pensions or even on the size of social benefits. This is due to the fact that in all practical circumstances the basis is the actual work activity, and these breaks sometimes have no actual significance.

When can seniority be interrupted upon dismissal?

The length of service is interrupted regardless of the duration of the break in activity upon dismissal for the following reasons:

• for systematic evasion of the performance of official duties established by a contract or job description, or other internal regulatory documents of the enterprise;
• for absenteeism (that is, absence from work for 4 hours or more);
• for appearing in the organization in a state of alcoholic (or other) intoxication;
• in connection with the conviction of an employee, when the punishment, in accordance with the sentence, excludes the continuation of activities in the organization (not only imprisonment, but also correctional labor);
• in connection with a conviction for committing theft at an enterprise;
• for the commission by an employee performing educational functions of an immoral act or regarded as such that it makes continuation of the activity impossible;
• in connection with the imposition of a disciplinary sanction by management;
• in connection with the establishment of other guilty behavior of the employee, for which dismissal is provided as a sanction.

When to interrupt after dismissal

Continuous service lasts for 1 month after dismissal from the previous job. This rule applies to the termination of labor relations with employees employed at manufacturing enterprises, commercial and state, municipal institutions, organizations of any form of ownership.

The exception applies to the following categories of employees (for them, a period of 2 months is included in the continuous work experience after signing the order to terminate the contract):

• upon termination of activities at enterprises located in the Far North or equivalent areas, upon termination of the contract due to the expiration of the term;
• in case of official employment abroad upon termination of the contract with the employer;
• when working in states with which Russia has concluded social security agreements.

Three months are counted as length of service after dismissal:

• in case of staff reduction due to liquidation or reorganization of the company in any form: merger, spin-off, merger, etc., declaring an organization of any form of ownership insolvent (bankrupt);
• if it is impossible to hold a position as at the last place of work due to deteriorating health, the onset of partial incapacity, confirmed by a medical certificate;
• when transferring the other spouse to another location to perform work functions.

The length of service is qualified as continuous when a citizen on pension benefits returns to official work under an employment contract.

Interrupted work experience can be restored based on the order of the trade union at the regional or district level. In any case, the time spent traveling to another location is not taken into account as a break for the spouse and, in general, for all adult members of the employee’s family.

When will the experience continue?

If you are wondering how much continuous work experience you have, how to calculate and take into account its duration, everything is simple: it is determined in days, calendar months and years. In particular, this is all the time recorded in the work book during which the employee had an employment contract. If an employee changes jobs, continuity is lost. The exception is when a person continues to work in the same structure and field, as in the case of teachers and doctors. If they remain in budgetary institutions and work in their specialty, questions about whether they have continuous work experience or how many days there was a break between employment usually do not arise in order to assign an allowance.

In addition, it should be taken into account that, by virtue of the Law of the Russian Federation of April 19, 1991 No. 1032-1, the following periods do not affect continuity:

• a period of official unemployment with the receipt of benefits in connection with this;
• the period of study in secondary and higher educational institutions for which a scholarship is paid;
• participation in public works on a paid basis,
• moving to another area in the direction of the employment center for employment;
• officially established temporary disability;
• maternity leave;
• being in compulsory military service or military training;
• participation in activities related to preparation for military service or alternative civilian service;
• performance of state duties (for example, election as a deputy to legislative bodies).

What needs to be done to ensure that your work experience is not interrupted?

To ensure that your work experience is not interrupted, it is necessary to track the period of time after which a break in activity is considered. In this regard, you can use the norms of Resolution of the USSR Council of Ministers of April 13, 1973 N 252, previously repealed, but applied in practice by analogy.

If continuity is monitored in connection with employment for a certain position, obtaining the status of a judge, lawyer, or carrying out other professional activities, then one should be guided by the provisions of industry regulations.

Continuity of service does not affect the amount of pension provision or its establishment, but may affect the accrual of additional vacation days, bonuses or other benefits for employees established by the Labor Code of the Russian Federation and local regulations at the enterprise.

How to calculate length of service using a work book

You can calculate your continuous work experience using an online calculator. In this case, it is enough to enter the data in the appropriate fields, and the calculation will be performed automatically.

When making calculations using a regular calculator, you first need to calculate the working time at each enterprise and add up the periods if the break was of a legal duration or occurred for a good reason.

An example of calculating the continuous work experience of a specific employee.

In what cases is work experience not interrupted after dismissal?

The law provides for cases in which length of service does not cease to be maintained. The list of such circumstances is as follows:

• When changing jobs within one month;
• When canceling a contract by women who are pregnant or have children under 14 years of age or a disabled child under 16 years of age. The period of service will not be interrupted until the child reaches the specified age;
• For working citizens of the northern regions, breaks from work should not exceed two months;
• When military personnel serve under a fixed-term contract. If the period between dismissal and new employment does not exceed a year;
• Maternity leave, including parental leave;
• Termination of the organization's functioning;
• The period after retirement;
• Upon dismissal in regions with a high percentage of unemployment;
• When returning to office after the removal of an unjustified sentence;
• Carrying out paid public works.

There are situations when, for some reason, you have to leave your place of work. Then the question of breaks in work experience after dismissal becomes most relevant. To obtain as much information as possible on the relevant topic, you should refer to the provisions of labor legislation.

What is the impact of working in one organization?

Currently, continuous work experience is used only in certain areas to assign salary bonuses. In addition, when answering the question: what does continuous work experience affect? ​​You can remember the norms of Article 17 of Federal Law No. 255-FZ of December 29, 2006. It provides for the use of length of service when determining the amount of temporary disability benefits due to an employee. Although usually, to calculate these benefits, the insurance period is taken into account as a general rule.

However, it happens that the duration of the insurance period for the period before 01/01/2007 will be less than the duration of the continuous work experience. In this case, it is possible to assign benefits in accordance with previously valid regulatory legal acts for the same period, i.e., take as the calculated value the time during which the employee worked without breaks or with breaks that do not violate the flow of the established period.

What is this anyway?

First, let's define the essence of the concept. These are periods after the fact of dismissal, which should not exceed the interval that is provided for by law in some cases of termination of employment contracts with employers.

After Federal Law No. 225 “On Social Insurance Fund” was adopted in the event of temporary disability associated with the birth of a child, payments will only take into account the periods for which contributions were made to the Social Insurance Fund . Previously, standards were adopted regarding continuous work experience, which contradicted the Constitution of the Russian Federation regarding freedom of labor. The result was the abolition of these norms.

Pensions and benefits

Currently, the employee’s length of service without interruptions does not affect the amount of the pension, as well as the right to early retirement. Therefore, in connection with the assignment of a pension, the question: how to calculate continuous work experience is not worth it. An important role here is played by the period during which a person was registered in the pension insurance system, and the employer paid insurance contributions to the Pension Fund for him (the so-called insurance period). There is currently no increased pension for working in one place for a long time. The main thing is that all payments in favor of the employee are official, and that the employer makes timely and full insurance contributions from them. If a person works in one place for a long time, but receives a dull salary, the deductions to his personal account in the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation are scanty. Therefore, such a future pensioner cannot count on a decent pension.

How is it now?

From January 1, 2007, in accordance with paragraph 1 of Art. 16 of Law N 255-FZ, the amount of benefits for sick leave or child care under 3 years of age depends not on the total continuous work experience, but on the insurance period. That is, when determining the amount of payments, all the years when a person worked and was subject to compulsory insurance are summed up. The insured person is considered to be a person who is covered by state pension insurance, that is, everyone who has a certificate of state pension insurance. Thus, a person who had previously worked for 17 years quit, got a job six months later, then went on sick leave, and was paid at the rate of 60%, since continuous service began to be counted anew. According to the latest law, sick leave will be paid 100%. And rightly so.

Your work experience will not be interrupted if you join the labor exchange no later than two months after your dismissal.

Thus, now the length of service is not calculated continuously, as was previously the case, but cumulatively, regardless of the duration of the break.

However, the length of service remains relevant for receiving a pension in the future. According to the Labor legislation of the Russian Federation, to calculate a pension, it is enough to have 5 years of work experience, regardless of whether it was interrupted or not. When calculating a pension, continuous work experience does not play a role. The total length of service when contributions to the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation were made is taken into account.

The procedure for calculating continuous work experience

The calculation of continuous work experience differs little from the usual one. In the work book it is reflected in the form of entries with calendar months and years of work. However, according to the new legislation, there are no continuity marks. The reason is that the continuous work experience in terms of benefits, sick pay and pensions is completely the same as usual.

Of course, the absence of long breaks in work will lead to a longer insurance period. Even a change of place of work, if carried out quickly enough, does not stop the accrual of the employee’s continuous work and insurance experience.

Legal breaks

The concept of “continuous work experience” does not mean that the employee must work continuously. In addition to mandatory days off, he is entitled to legal types of breaks that do not stop the accrual of NTS.

From a legal point of view, breaks that do not stop the accrual of continuous work experience include:

• maternity leave (maternity leave);
• military service - alternative or contract;
• military service upon conscription (upon reaching conscription age);
• periods of work in cooperatives;
• work in the Ministry of Internal Affairs;
• work as a deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation;
• for women – raising a disabled minor child (NTS is not interrupted until he reaches adulthood);
• leave due to the need to care for a small child (maximum until he reaches 3 years of age).

These forced breaks in work activities do not stop the accrual of continuous work and insurance experience.

During what period of time after dismissal is continuous employment uninterrupted?

Dismissal is an integral part of any work process. Some employees leave of their own free will (it is worth remembering that there are good reasons for leaving), others are fired for various offenses. Continuous work experience is interrupted only in the second case.

If an employee who quit voluntarily without a good reason finds a new job within 3 weeks, then his continuous work experience will not be interrupted and the amount of pension benefits will continue to grow.

If the reason for dismissal is employment in an organization located in another locality or country, then the break in work activity should not exceed one calendar month (a similar situation occurs when the employee’s spouse is transferred to another city).

Is it saved when registering with the labor exchange?

Not everyone has in-demand professions to find a job after leaving their previous job. Some citizens of the Russian Federation have to register with the labor exchange. The question arises: is continuous work experience then maintained?

The answer is the same, but with amendments. The unemployed are entitled to unemployment benefits. And there are no contributions from them to the Russian Pension Fund, which determines the amount of the citizen’s future pension. Therefore, by registering with the labor exchange, you can maintain continuous work experience, but your pension will not increase.

List of sources

• vse-o-trude.ru
• calculator-ipoteki.ru
• russiansu.ru
• atc-assist.ru