14 mistakes you shouldn't make during downtime

Crises and production failures often occur even at large enterprises. This may occur due to circumstances beyond people's control or result from management negligence. The law provided for the possibility of registering downtime at the enterprise in such cases in order to preserve jobs after the restoration of the usual work regime. How to register downtime due to the fault of the employer and what employees should do during this time - these issues require detailed study.

Legislative regulation

The Labor Code of the Russian Federation does not have a separate chapter devoted to this term. It is not clear whether this period should be classified as working time or rest time. In Art. 72.2 provides a meager definition that downtime is a “temporary suspension of work.” It can have different reasons - it is important whose fault the malfunction occurred:

• Employer;
• Employee;
• Due to circumstances beyond the control of the parties.

Downtime caused by an employee has no legal consequences and is not regulated by law. But the Labor Code of the Russian Federation provides for the responsibility of the employer for dishonest attitude towards their duties, which caused disruptions in production, and also establishes additional rights for employees for this period.

In practice, it is difficult to prove whose actions caused downtime at work. Here's a simple example: sales figures have decreased. On the one hand, the employer may refer to a drop in demand, but on the other hand, this may be caused by illiterate business practices and negligence. Courts, as a rule, take the side of workers if management has not ensured maximum production capacity.

The Labor Code of the Russian Federation does not regulate the permissible downtime due to the fault of the employer, which frees his hands. In fact, he can repeatedly extend this period until the reasons that caused the failure are eliminated. The main thing is that the required documents are completed on time.

How to compose

The legislator has not defined clear requirements for the execution of an act recording the suspension of activities. The employer has the right to make an independent decision on how to issue an order to declare downtime. The same document may provide for the absence of employees from their place of work during such a period.

In the administrative act, reflect:

• date, number, place of formation;
• employer name;
• title of the paper, for example: “Order for payment of downtime due to the fault of the employer”;
• justification of the reasons for the interruption in activity;
• a list of actions of responsible employees that they must perform during the period;
• FULL NAME. employees, names of structural units that were idle;
• start and end dates of downtime (if known);
• amount of payment for downtime;
• location of employees during the period of business interruption.

The time of suspension refers to the time of work, not rest, since Art. 107 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation does not contain an indication of such a period of time as rest. Formally, employees must be present at their places of work. But in the administrative document, the employer has the right to establish a provision according to which people have the right not to be at work.

Employees subject to downtime must be familiarized with the administrative document and sign it, expressing their consent.

An order is drawn up and issued if the act declaring the period did not contain an end date. In this case, the document should indicate on what date employees are required to start working. Employees subject to the downtime regime are familiarized with the document.

Reasons for suspension of work

The main factors include:

1. Economic. These are common difficulties caused by financial crises within the country and in production itself, and a lack of material and raw materials. Responsibility lies with the employer, since there is a business risk.
2. Technological. May be caused by the reorganization of the working mechanism and the introduction of new production methods.
3. Organizational. A common example is a change in the form of an enterprise in the event of a division, merger or reorganization.
4. Technical. These include equipment upgrades that require employee training, or equipment breakdowns. Technical reasons can be a consequence of the actions of both the employee and management. If the employee’s guilt is proven, then payment for downtime is not provided.

The legislator does not single out force majeure circumstances (emergency situations, disasters) as special reasons, but in fact they relieve the employer of blame and change the formation of wages during this period.

Is it possible to declare forced downtime due to coronavirus?

Downtime at work is a temporary suspension of the work process due to certain circumstances that interfere with further work activity. 72.2 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation provides a more detailed definition of this term.

The reasons for declaring forced downtime at an enterprise may be technical, technological, economic or organizational factors, man-made disasters, natural disasters, including an epidemic that threatens the life and health of people.

In accordance with this, the employer has the right to declare downtime in the organization due to the spread of coronavirus.

Declaring downtime may be a solution if the company does not have the opportunity to transfer staff to remote work. It is the remote work regime that is recommended by the Ministry of Labor, but not all companies can organize such working conditions. The transition to remote work is formalized by order of the manager and an additional agreement to the employment contract.

You can also arrange paid forced leave for an employee - details here.

As for downtime, the employer may have a question about whether it can be declared, since it is working time - the employee may not perform work duties, but must be at the workplace, which must be excluded during the coronavirus period. Letter No. 22-2-2004 of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation dated 02.02.2009 allows the employer to send staff home during downtime if this period is prolonged.

Thus, the coronavirus epidemic is a valid reason for registering downtime at an enterprise without the need for personnel to go to work. The announcement can be made throughout the entire enterprise, for individual departments or for some employees.

For example, it is possible to send some of the staff to work remotely from home, and for those employees for whom it is impossible to create remote working conditions, it is possible to issue downtime with partial retention of wages.

Downtime due to coronavirus is included in the vacation period, which gives the right to annual leave. For example, in the event of a suspension of work for a period of 1 month, employees during this time will receive the right to 2.33 days of vacation (with an annual vacation duration of 28 days).

How is an employee's time paid?

Labor Code of the Russian Federation in Art. 157 established the norm on the minimum wage for employees during the suspension of activities. In this case, the calculation procedure depends on the reasons that led to it. Guaranteed payment for downtime due to the obvious fault of the employer is 2/3 of the employee’s average earnings. It includes not only the tariff rate, but also allowances, bonuses and other required payments.

An example of such a calculation - let the salary be 20,000 rubles + a guaranteed monthly bonus of 50% of the tariff rate. The calculation for 5 days looks like this: (30000/29.3) * 5 (days) * 2/3 = 3412.97 rubles.

In the event of force majeure, payroll changes and payment for downtime due to circumstances beyond our control will be 2/3 of the salary. For employees working at a tariff rate, there is no difference, but in production most often they set a small salary, and decent wages are formed through incentive bonuses. Therefore, managers try to prove their innocence in causing difficulties so that downtime is paid at a lower rate.

If during this period the employee goes on sick leave, then he is not provided with temporary disability benefits. When sick leave begins before the suspension of production or ends after it, the calculation is made for the days actually worked. The employer is responsible for failure to pay compensation during downtime. In this case, he faces a fine and possible loss of his position.

Sample

Sample order on suspension of activities:

About introducing downtime

In connection with ____________________________, guided by ______________________________ (link to the normative act),

I ORDER:

1. From __________ until further notice, introduce idle time (suspend activities) of the following structural divisions:

• ________________________
• ________________________

2. Employees of the structural units specified in paragraph 1 of this order should not be present at their workplaces during downtime.

3. HR department:

• ensure familiarization with this order under the signature of the employees specified in paragraph 1 of this order;
• within three working days after the issuance of this order, notify the central control center in writing about the introduction of downtime.

4. The chief accountant should pay for downtime in the amount of 2/3 of the official salary of employees in proportion to the downtime.

CEO ________________

The following have been familiarized with the order:

________________________

________________________

Procedure for registration of downtime

If reasons arise that lead to a disruption in production, the employee can inform management, both orally and in writing, about the start of downtime due to the fault of the employer and the inability to continue working. The management itself can initiate registration of downtime, but is reluctant to do so, thereby increasing its costs.

The Labor Code of the Russian Federation in Article 91 gives the employer the obligation to keep a log of hours worked by each employee in the approved form. It must indicate downtime. .

Step by step procedure:

1. The employer issues an order on downtime, indicating the start date, a list of employees whose work is suspended and their responsibilities, and the salary amount for this period.
2. The downtime order is handed over to employees for review against signature.
3. If the enterprise has completely stopped production, then within 3 days the management reports this to the employment service.
4. An appropriate note is made on the working time sheet.

The employer may offer affected employees to temporarily transfer to another position while maintaining average income or to take a vacant position with higher or similar qualifications.

Example of an order:

If management does not begin the registration procedure, then employees can draw up a collective act of downtime in free form, outlining the reasons and circumstances of the incident. It is transferred either to the board of directors of the enterprise or to a trade union organization.

Act template:

Payment for downtime

By virtue of Part 2 of Article 157 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, downtime due to the fault of the employer is paid in the amount of at least 2/3 of the employee’s average salary.

By virtue of Part 3 of Article 139 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, in any mode of operation, the average salary of an employee is calculated based on the salary actually accrued to him and the time actually worked by him for the 12 calendar months preceding the period during which the employee retains the average salary.

Downtime due to reasons beyond the control of the employer and employee is paid in the amount of at least 2/3 of the tariff rate, salary (official salary), calculated in proportion to downtime.

WHEN CAN AN EMPLOYEE CONTACT THE PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE FOR LABOR DISPUTES WITH AN EMPLOYER?

Reasons for downtime that do not depend on the actions of the employer

The obligation to prove the existence of circumstances that caused downtime rests with the employer (clause 17 of the Resolution of the Plenum of the RF Armed Forces of March 17, 2004 No. 2 “On the application of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation by the courts of the Russian Federation”).

For example, the forced nature of downtime may be caused by objective reasons, initiated by banks - PJSC Sberbank of the Russian Federation and JSC Rosselzozbank, which initiated an illegal bankruptcy procedure. The banks filed applications for declaring the company bankrupt to the Arbitration Court, in connection with which the established sales and delivery systems were undermined, the renewal of which is not possible for the company (Decision of the Leninsky District Court of Kursk (Kursk Region) dated November 23, 2016 No. 2 -4819/2016).

COST OF LEGAL SERVICES

Important!

Downtime can be declared due to the difficult financial situation of the company, caused by the lack of payment for work performed by the company from outside, the lack of new projects and orders that ensure the implementation of the company's activities.

But often employees do not agree with the imposed downtime, believing that this is a change in their work functions. In the event that, for reasons related to changes in organizational or technological working conditions (changes in equipment and production technology, structural reorganization of production, other reasons), the terms of the employment contract determined by the parties cannot be preserved, they may be changed at the initiative of the employer, with the exception of changes in the employee’s labor function (Article 74 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

The employer is obliged to notify the employee in writing no later than two months in advance of upcoming changes to the terms of the employment contract determined by the parties, as well as the reasons that necessitated such changes.

Responsibilities of the employee

What do employees do during downtime? This issue is resolved individually between them and the employer. The order must reflect the time or schedule of workers’ stay on site. In any case, forced downtime due to the fault of the employer does not constitute additional leave, and employees must be present at production.

The employer may offer them to stay at home, but this fact is documented. Otherwise, missing a day of work will be considered absenteeism and will not be paid. Management sometimes uses a trick and offers to give employees leave without pay. In this case, employees also lose the right to compensation.

The suspension of the enterprise's activities is unpleasant for both sides of the issue. Timely registration of downtime will allow you to maintain long-term relationships with employees and quickly restore production.

Let's sum it up

• Each downtime is characterized by its own unique set of parameters - the reason for its occurrence and who is responsible for this reason, start and end dates, specific employees, decisions made regarding presence or absence at work and provision or non-provision of other work. The description of these parameters is fixed in the downtime order.
• There is no special form for ordering downtime. Therefore, it is drawn up according to the same rules as any other organizational and administrative document, describing in the main part all the characteristics of the downtime to which this document relates. It is mandatory to familiarize yourself with the text of the order against the signature of all persons mentioned in this document.

Sample notification of downtime due to the fault of the employer - No problem

Declaring forced downtime caused by someone other than the employee requires prior notification to employees, the issuance of an appropriate order, and scrupulous timekeeping.

This is done in accordance with Art. 157 Labor Code of the Russian Federation. The order is the basis for calculating compensation and justification for the tax office.

Timesheets allow you to thoroughly track downtime and employee activity.

Sample order for downtime due to the fault of the employer

The order is issued on the basis of an act of downtime, drawn up based on a report from an employee who is unable to perform his duties for reasons beyond his control.

The order reflects the following facts:

• downtime - from what date to what date,
• its reason without decoding,
• list of employees to whom it concerns,
• an indication of their temporary transfer or specification of responsibilities,
• the opportunity not to attend the workplace during this period,
• instructions to accounting departments and personnel officers on recording working hours and calculating compensation.

No reference is made to the employee’s primary act and report. If it is impossible to determine the exact period of downtime, the event by which it should end is indicated. For example, from such and such a date until a new order is received. The law provides for the maximum possible period of forced downtime – 6 months.

During this time, the employer is obliged to eliminate all reasons for stopping work or announce the closure of the company. Downtime is not announced in advance - several months or weeks in advance. Its causes appear suddenly.

At the end of the temporary suspension of activity, an act is issued announcing the start of production and the return of employees to their direct duties from a specific date.

The reason is indicated in one word - economic, organizational or technological. It is not necessary to indicate the specific event that caused the downtime.

Sample downtime notice

Employees and the employment service are notified of downtime due to the employer's fault. The former are notified before the order for downtime is issued. The second notice is sent after the order is issued.

Notifying employees. Employees are notified of a forced stoppage of work before the order is issued. The notification may be oral. It serves as a warning. Applies only to those employees whose activities are interrupted.

In a conversation with an employee who has been downtime, you can discuss the possibility of recruiting him for another job, sending him on a business trip, or performing the same duties at another site. Indication in the order of the employment of such an employee for a period of downtime is possible only after obtaining his consent.

• Employment service notification. Sent only in case of shutdown of the entire enterprise. If the downtime concerns one site or several employees, then there is no need to notify the employment service. The message is drawn up in free form with a mandatory reference to the order and an indication of the downtime period (at least tentative). It is sent no later than 3 days from the date of issue of the order.

After starting the production process, the employment service should also be notified of the end of the downtime.

Downtime notifications can be found at the link below:

Sample notice of downtime due to the employer's fault

How is downtime due to the employer's fault considered?

Recording of downtime is mandatory. This is a paid period at a rate of 2/3 of the salary (Article 157 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). It is very important to count all the days and hours that fall within this period.

If an employee continues to perform his duties at another site, he does not fall under the conditions of downtime, but receives his salary in full. Temporary transfer to another position is paid at the tariff rate of the unit whose duties are performed. To take into account all these nuances, it is necessary to fill out the timesheet correctly.

To reflect downtime and temporary transfer, special symbols are used in the timesheet - letters and numbers. They allow you to correctly calculate the period of work at full time, for 2/3 or in a substitute position.

How is downtime due to the employer's fault paid?

The formula for calculating wages during downtime is simple.

Average daily earnings * number of downtime days * 2/3.

Downtime calculation example

The calculation is made taking into account all the nuances of Art. 139 Labor Code of the Russian Federation. This algorithm calculates the minimum amount of payment for a forced non-working period. Additional payments and retention of full earnings are made at the discretion of the employer. Payment for idle time cannot be less than that provided by law; it is no longer prohibited.

Sick leave for downtime is calculated in the same way - 2/3 of the disability benefit that an employee would receive during normal operation of the enterprise. In this case, sick leave is paid provided that the employee began to be absent due to illness before the downtime was announced.

How is absence of work due to the employer’s fault compensated?

During downtime, the employer has the right to use employees to perform other duties. The latter are required to attend the company unless an additional order is issued allowing them not to come to work until a specified date. If there is such an order, absence from work is paid. Otherwise, it is considered as truancy and is punished in accordance with the provisions of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

Options for involving an employee during downtime:

• Temporary transfer to another position. Provided that the employee’s qualifications match the proposed position. It is formalized with payment according to the new position. The employee’s consent is required, as is the case for transfer to a lower-skilled position.
• Business trips. Employees who are temporarily unemployed can be recruited for field work with payment of travel allowances and salaries according to the duties performed.
• Involvement in the general economic activities of the enterprise. For example, for general cleaning of a production room, office, work on site, etc. Since the employee is obliged to come to work on these days, and the employer is obliged to pay for it, such an offer cannot be refused.

To legalize any of the above actions, a separate order is issued. ( 24 votes, 4.30

Source: https://bproblem.ru/obrazec-uvedomlenija-o-prostoe-po-vine-rabotodatelja.html

Registration of downtime - step-by-step procedure 2021

Downtime is an event that requires documentation. However, the legislation does not stipulate the procedure for this registration. Let's look at what it consists of in practice.

Why do you need to document downtime?

The essence of downtime is the forced suspension of activities by an employee or employees. This essence is the only characteristic of idle time that remains unchanged. All other parameters characterizing each specific situation of suspension of activity have options for selection and can occur in different combinations.

Not only the dates of occurrence and completion of the next downtime are different, but also:

The parameters related to a specific downtime will determine:

• does the employee need to go to work during it;
• whether he will receive wages or payments for downtime (provided that the employee is not guilty of it);
• calculation formula used when calculating payments for downtime;
• the final amount of payments during downtime.

To prevent these parameters from being ambiguous in their interpretation, they are documented. The document created in this case is called an order to introduce downtime. It is quite difficult to do without it (due to its importance), so it is mandatory.

Sample order for downtime Download

What documents are required to introduce downtime?

An order to impose downtime can be created either on the basis of other documents evidencing downtime, or without supporting documents.

A basis document will not be required if the initiative to introduce downtime comes from the employer (for example, in the case of a difficult economic situation for him) or is a consequence of reasons beyond the control of either the employee or the employer (for example, due to changes in legislation).

If downtime occurs directly at the workplace, then no matter what causes it, the employee is obliged to inform his immediate supervisor or other representative of the employer about this situation (Article 157 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

Sample memo about downtime Download

Information to the immediate manager can be both oral and written (in this case, a written message about downtime due to a strike is required - Article 414 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

But the message is still conveyed to the final authority - the employer's management - (if not by the employee himself, then by his immediate supervisor) in writing.

And it is this document that most often becomes the basis for issuing an order to introduce downtime.

In addition, the basis document may be an act drawn up by the commission.

Sample act of demurrage Download

Drawing up a downtime report is necessary if the employee fails to report a situation in which his work activity is suspended. If the employee is guilty of downtime, then an explanatory note will be required from him.

Sample explanatory note about downtime Download

Downtime - employer actions

Actions taken when downtime is introduced are in the following sequence:

The first point may drop out of this sequence if the initiator of the downtime is the employer.

Let's sum it up

• Each specific simple characterizes its own set of parameters related to it. Since these parameters are variable, their final set should be documented. The role of such a document is performed by an order to introduce downtime.
• An order to introduce downtime that occurs at the workplace must be preceded by information about it from the employee. It is transferred either to the immediate supervisor of this employee or to another representative of the employer. Downtime introduced at the initiative of the employer may not be accompanied by such a message.
• If the employee did not inform about the occurrence of downtime, such information is documented by the commission in the form of an act. This situation is often associated with the employee’s fault during downtime, and he is required to provide written explanations for his actions.
• Downtime spent without providing the employee with other work is reflected in the working time sheet. In this case, special codes are used that indicate the culprit of the downtime. Payment for downtime is calculated on the dates of payment of wages.

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Source: https://blogkadrovika.ru/oformlyaem-prostoj/