Mandatory wage indexation. Wage indexation: procedure, calculation

The Labor Code and the Constitution of the Russian Federation recognize the right, the inalienable right of an employee to annual leave. At the same time, the vacation period for the legislation is no different from the working one - for example, a citizen can go on sick leave, extending the vacation period.

This point is often hushed up by the employer: it is believed that illnesses and injuries during the vacation period are problems exclusively for the employee himself. Article 124 of the Labor Code says the opposite - if a person gets treatment during a vacation, it is postponed or transferred to another time period.

In case of illness during the holidays, it is extremely necessary to issue a certificate of incapacity for work. This document will confirm the fact of the disease and help to transfer the rest period without spending it on the hospital and treatment.

Employer notification of sickness

Federal law does not require without fail notify the employer in advance about illness during the vacation period. However, the company may add this obligation to an additional regulation so that the failure to report becomes a violation of labor discipline.

The situation was considered by the Supreme Court of Russia in October 2013, when the woman did not notify the employer about the illness, but extended it without permission and went to work later. This case was qualified by the local court as a clear violation of the internal regulations - in case of an unplanned absence from work, the employee is obliged to inform the employer about the causes of the event.

The Supreme Court, after considering the case, recognized the decision as erroneous, stating that the absence of notification of the employer about the presence of a sick leave and the fact of illness cannot be a reason for dismissal. If an employee is sent for treatment during vacation, then he does not have to be informed in advance about the fact of missing work - this can be done when transferring the sick leave to the head or to the personnel department.

Nevertheless, you should not abuse this - a timely message about a pass will help to redistribute the vacation schedule much more painlessly and decide possible problems with the absence of a specialist in the workplace.

Employer actions

An ill employee can notify the employer of this fact in advance or upon the fact of going to work. workplace. If an employee performs several part-time jobs, then all companies for which copies of disability certificates are taken should be reported about the illness.

The management of the company, having received a sick leave from an employee, is obliged to perform one of the following actions:

• extension of leave for the duration of the registered period of illness;
• transfer of missed days to another period agreed with the employee.

Important! After the transfer of the sick leave, the missed days of vacation are not automatically counted, and the employer cannot ignore the employee's request to extend it.

The transfer is carried out with the help of an order issued by the head, or on the basis of the fact that there is a sick leave. Sometimes a company can insure itself and issue an order even if there is a sick leave, although there is no particular need for this.

Extension or postponement of vacation

From a legal point of view, both options are equivalent. By mutual agreement, the employer and the employee can either postpone the period closed due to illness or extend the vacation directly. Which option would be more important if there is a conflict of interest?

According to the required actions, the transfer and extension differ markedly:

In most cases, the transfer is much more convenient for the manager. It allows you to more flexibly adjust the vacation schedule and saves the authorities from unnecessary paperwork.

Both companies and judges interpret Article 124 of the Labor Code in markedly different ways in the event of proceedings. Adherents of the extension justify the need for the Soviet rules on holidays, according to which the period for returning from vacation in case of illness is automatically extended, with immediate notification of the employer. This approach has already been used in real court hearings, for example, in the regional court of the city of Kaluga in case No. 33-1110/2015.

The other side relies on the decision Supreme Court that there is no need to notify the employer about the period of illness, which makes automatic renewal more difficult and makes the transfer a more logical option. As an example of such a trial, one can mention the case of the Novosibirsk Regional Court No. 33-6004/2016.

In fact, there is no correct option, and due to the lack of case law in Russia, previous decisions of the courts can only be used as possible options. The decision in each particular case depends on the agreement of the parties, and if they could not reach it, on the decision of a particular court.

Sample Documents

The postponement of the vacation or its extension is not automatic - the employee must submit the application to the boss. A free-form document is being executed, it looks something like this.

After considering the application, the employer can approve the transfer without any supporting documents or issue a special order. The document is also issued in free form.

The order itself must contain:

• Company name;
• date and time of its publication;
• the basis for issuing an order (article of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, sick leave data);
• an indication of the time of transfer of the vacation or its specific period;
• additional, resulting from the fact of transferring instructions to other employees (for example, to take over his duties or recalculate funds);
• signatures of all persons responsible for the transfer and related actions.

For an accountant, it is possible to take sick leave through the 1C system. Accounting is carried out in one of two ways, depending on which period the disability sheet is taken into account.

Details on the correct registration of disability during the holidays in the 1C system can be viewed in the video tutorial.

sick leave payment

In case of illness during vacation, payments are no different from compensation for illness during the period of work. There are three standard steps for counting.

1. Calculation of the average daily earnings of an employee over the past two years.
2. Based on the total length of service, a coefficient is calculated by which this average earnings will be multiplied.
3. The allowance is credited within 10 working days.

The benefit is paid in general order, on the day the salary is paid for the company or transferred to a plastic card. At the same time, even if the employee does not inform in advance about the fact of illness, the sick leave provided is a sufficient basis for paying for the lost days and partially postponing the vacation.

Exceptions to the rules

Not all types of vacation are considered the same. Some of them are not extended even if there is a sick leave, and the time of incapacity for work is not paid in them. Several categories of vacations are distinguished by such "cut-down" opportunities.

study leave is provided to employees who are studying by correspondence at universities for the duration of the session. The period is strictly limited by a certificate from the educational institution, and in case of illness, the student employee will receive compensation only for the period that is not included in the vacation time.

Maternity and care leave also does not apply to periods in which the employer provides additional assistance to sick mothers. Strictly speaking, both the decree and the parental leave are in themselves a kind of long-term sick leave, so the issuance of additional assistance is not provided for by law. A disability certificate is not provided, and if the mother hid the fact of being on maternity leave in a medical institution, it will not have legal force.

Taken by an employee own initiative, is also not a reason for additional payments. Sick leave compensates only for periods paid by the employer, breaks in work at their own expense do not apply to such.

Caring for children or elderly relatives is also considered a type of vacation at one's own expense, is not paid and, for obvious reasons, is not extended in case of illness. A sick leave issued in a medical institution is issued from the day when the employee was supposed to return to his duties.

It is important to understand that the “lost” days due to illness on one of these holidays are not transferred, and the sick leave actually does not give anything. It is worth registering the period of illness if it falls at the end of the vacation and the employee is not sure whether he will have time to recover before it ends.

Possible reasons for refusal and conflict situations

An employer often assumes that an employee should deal with sickness and other disability issues on vacation himself. He is partly right - during unpaid leave, the disease does not provide any preferences. During the period of paid annual rest, its extension in case of illness is the legal right of the employee.

Let's start with the fact that any attempts not to pay compensation, refuse to extend or postpone the vacation violate article 124 of the Labor Code and are illegal. At the same time, the employee is not required to provide a sick leave in advance, nor notify the employer of his illness before transferring the sick leave.

At the same time, the question of whether the employer is obliged to provide an extension or transfer is not directly determined either federal law, nor judicial practice. Offended by disrespect, the leader may postpone the transfer to the middle of next February, and even in the event of a trial, the court may well be on his side.

In general, the law establishes that leave must be granted in full. Specific implementation details or disputes are at the mercy of the parties themselves labor relations or a judge if the employee and the employer could not resolve the issue on their own.

Video - What to do if an employee falls ill while on vacation

Leave with dismissal

The legislation allows the use of unclosed vacations at a time, with dismissal immediately before going to work. In this case, the day of dismissal is not the first working day, but the last day of vacation.

So, the employer must dismiss the employee on the day preceding his entry to work. What happens if an employee takes sick leave? Will it be extended or will the dismissal still occur on the last vacation day?

Here the law is on the side of the employer. An employee, declaring a desire to receive leave with further dismissal, actually terminates relations with the employer. The employer, in turn, terminates all relations with the employee at the time of going on vacation. In fact, he has already been fired, regardless of the length of the vacation period and the official date of termination. employment contract.

This option has been discussed many times judicial practice and the court has always sided with the company. The sick leave does not extend any of the categories of vacations, and the dismissal occurs on the agreed date.

FAQ

Is vacation extended when taking a sick leave due to illness of a child or ward?

No, it is not extended. Article 124 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation directly indicates the extension only in case of disability of the employee himself. Sick leave issued for other reasons is not a basis for extension.

Moreover, the order of the Ministry of Health directly indicates that a sick leave certificate for a child’s illness should be issued from the day the parent leaves for work. If the doctor was not informed about the mother's leave, only days that do not overlap with vacation days are still payable.

How does sick leave work during the three-year care period if the mother works part-time at the company?

In general, periods of maternity leave and parental leave are not paid additionally by the employer. However, if the employee continues to work during the vacation period, then the sick leave is issued to her in the general manner, with appropriate payments. In any case, care leave cannot be longer than the three years specified in the legislation, so there is no question of postponement or extension.

How is illness celebrated during a holiday at your own expense?

The sick leave granted to the employee is not noted in the document in any way, and all the days allotted for vacation are marked in the report card with the mark “TO”. In fact, illness during unpaid leave does not affect the distribution of the employee's working time, therefore it is not mentioned in any way. If an illness that began during the vacation period partially affects working days, then it is marked with the standard code "B".

Last update: 13.02.2020

Anyone can get sick, and at the most inopportune moment. It happens that the employee went on his legal annual leave, and fell ill. Not everyone knows what to do in such cases - whether it is necessary to open a sick leave during the holidays and how this will affect the duration of the rest.

In Art. 124 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation says that if employee(we are talking only about those who are officially employed and work under an employment contract) fell ill and issued a sick leave during the holidays, 2 scenarios are possible:

• extension of vacation by the number of sick days;
• providing an equal number of vacation days at a convenient time in agreement with management.

Important! How is sick leave paid while on vacation? By general rules. The disability benefit will be paid in the next days of salary after leaving the vacation.

But in order for all actions to take place legally and the rights of the employee were not violated, he must notify his management in time that he fell ill. This can be done in various ways - by phone, e-mail, mail. It is recommended that you keep evidence of the notification to your superiors so that there are no misunderstandings later.

Action algorithm

It is the duty of the employee to timely notify the authorities about his illness during the holidays. This can be done at any time of illness and vacation, but before the vacation ends. The Labor Code of the Russian Federation offers 2 ways out of this situation:

• the employee, by agreement with the management, extends his rest for exactly the number of days that he fell ill;
• the employee leaves the vacation on the day when it was planned according to the schedule and application. He will be able to take days off from his illness later, at a time convenient for him, but in agreement with the management.

Important! Both options are provided for by the current legislation, so the authorities cannot refuse the employee to apply one or another algorithm. But agreement between the parties is required.

Rest extension

Not a single legislative act stipulates that the extension of leave after illness occurs on a declarative basis. That is, there may be a verbal agreement between the employee and management. The basis for extending the rest for a particular employee is a certificate of incapacity for work drawn up in accordance with all the rules.

This document is transferred to the accounting department or to the personnel department, which fill out their part. After that, the sick leave is sent to the FSS. If used electronic form document, then informing the employer and the FSS is carried out through telecommunication channels.

The actions of the employer are as follows:

• filling out your part of the disability sheet and transferring it to the FSS;
• making changes to the time sheet in connection with the postponement of vacation.

Important! The legislation does not provide for the issuance of an order to extend the vacation. Enough changes made to the timesheet.

Transfer of rest

If the employee decides to go to work after the end of his vacation exactly as previously planned, he has the right to do so. He also has the right to take these days off at a convenient time for him. But this will require a written application addressed to the head.

That is, an employee cannot just leave to finish his vacation. He must notify his superiors and obtain permission. There is a right to use sick days at a convenient time, but you can use it in agreement with the employer.

Based on the application, an appropriate order is issued, with which the employee must be familiarized. The application and order are transferred to the personnel department and accounting, and the sick leave to the FSS. There is a recalculation of vacation pay, disability benefits are accrued.

Employer actions

The authorities cannot interfere with the actions of the employee after illness, if they do not contradict Art. 124 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. If the vacation is extended, then no additional personnel and accounting documents need to be drawn up. It is necessary to additionally accrue disability benefits within 10 days after the employee presents a closed sick leave.

If the employee decided to take off the “painful” days after the vacation, at any other time, he must coordinate this with the management. To do this, he writes a statement, on its basis an order is issued. Vacation pay is recalculated, disability benefits are accrued in the usual way.

In any case, the employer must fill out his part of the disability certificate and transfer it to the FSS.

Possible reasons for refusal

Often, employers believe that an employee’s illness during his vacation is his problem, so you don’t need to pay anything! This belief is partially true. There are legitimate reasons for not paying sick leave while on vacation. This:

• sick leave during unpaid leave. If the employee took several days “at his own expense”, the sick leave payment on vacation of this type is not made;
• the sick leave was the result of an injury or illness resulting from an administrative or criminal incident, in which the applicant's guilt was proven;
• the sick leave was the result of an illness due to a suicide attempt;
• leave is provided for education and is issued on the basis of a certificate-call from an educational institution;
• not the employee himself fell ill, but a member of his family who needs care. A common situation - the child fell ill, the mother issued a sick leave;
• a certificate of incapacity for work was received while the woman was on leave for BiR or to care for a child up to 1.5 years old;
• the cause of the onset of the disease is alcohol, drugs or other intoxication;
• intentional harm to health or dishonest implementation of the recommendations of the attending physician. This fact must be established by the medical commission;
• the employee did not provide a certificate of incapacity for work within six months from the date of its closure.

Important! If the accounting department refuses to pay for the period of illness, it is necessary to require written registration from them. This document may be useful in challenging management's decision.

You can file a complaint about the unlawful refusal of the authorities to pay sick leave during vacation to the labor inspectorate, the prosecutor's office or the court.

Sample Documents

When transferring vacation days to another period, you must write an application:

Based on the application, an order is issued for the enterprise:

sick pay

Sick leave during vacation is paid in the general manner. As soon as the employee comes out of vacation, he must hand over his certificate of incapacity for work to the accounting department. Within 10 days, the allowance must be accrued. They will pay it on the days of the next payment wages.

The amount of disability benefits is affected by:

• total earnings for the last 2 years;
• general work experience;
• number of sick days.

The amount of sickness benefits will be almost equal to the salary of an employee if he has a total service of 8 years or more, and within 2 years he has no exclusion periods.

The formula for calculation is the following PpN \u003d SrdZ * DB * KSt, where:

• PpN - disability benefit;
• AvdZ - the average daily earnings of a particular employee;
• DB - the number of days of illness;
• KST - the coefficient of experience. If the experience is less than 5 years, then a coefficient of 0.3 is applied, if the experience is 5 - 8 years, then 0.6, if more than 8 years, then 1.

The amount and calculation of the allowance is made by the accounting employee on the basis of data on wages and seniority. Previously, only the period that the employee worked for a particular employer was taken into account. It turned out that with each change of place of employment, the disability certificate was paid in the minimum amount.

This rule changed a few years ago. Now, when changing jobs, a person can take a certificate of earnings from the previous employer and present this certificate to the new management. Then the sick leave will be paid taking into account the previous earnings and the previous length of service.

If a certain number of vacation days is transferred to another period, then previously paid vacation pay is recalculated. For days of illness, a person is paid an allowance.

Conclusion

The illness can last quite a long time. All days are paid in the prescribed manner. With a prolonged illness, the disability certificate can be extended.

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Good afternoon, dear readers! In this article we will talk about the features of obtaining and paying sick leave during vacation.

Today you will learn:

1. Is sick leave paid during the holidays and what options there may be;
2. Whether leave is extended due to illness in various cases;
3. Features of leave with subsequent dismissal;
4. Maternity leave and its extension.

We have listed the most important points that are of interest to everyone. It is important for you, as an employer, to study this topic in order not to give out extra amounts and days of rest to your employee unlawfully.

What is sick leave

So, a sick leave, or rather a certificate of incapacity for work, is a document uniform pattern for the entire territory of the Russian Federation, which confirms the legitimacy of your employee's absence from work and gives him the right to pay disability benefits.

Only licensed medical institutions can issue sick leave ( ambulance, donor points and reception departments hospitals are not included in this list).

To apply for a sick leave, it is enough to present a passport. A certificate of incapacity for work is issued at the time of applying for medical care if a person called a doctor after the end of the work shift, it can be issued tomorrow, the issuance of a sick leave by yesterday is prohibited.

And one more important detail: the attending physician can issue a sick leave for a period of not more than fifteen days, then the extension of the sick leave is carried out only by the medical commission.

Paid sick leave while on vacation

What if your colleague, who recently went on vacation, says on the phone that he is “on sick leave”?

To begin with, the following questions need to be clarified:

• Where exactly is it located geographically;
• Who is sick;
• What kind of vacation is your colleague on?

Let's deal with each item separately.

Where is the employee located geographically?

If the employee is resting in his city, then the sick leave is no different from all the others issued by your medical institutions. Certificate of incapacity for work issued in another city Russian Federation, also filled out on a standard form.

The only accounting advice in this case is more carefully and in detail (for example, in the FSS). The most crucial case is when your colleague fell ill while on vacation abroad.

In such a situation, the employee should seek medical help directly in the country where he is resting. Be sure to get an official document confirming the fact of the disease. But according to this document, neither payment nor extension of vacation is provided.

Therefore, upon returning to the Russian Federation, in your city, you must contact medical commission honey. institutions, for issuing a sick leave according to Russian standards. And also attach a translation of a foreign document certified by a notary.

Who exactly is sick?

If the employee himself is sick, then the sick leave will necessarily be paid by the organization. Moreover, a colleague can apply for both an extension of vacation and a transfer of non-vacation days due to illness.

And if, God forbid, a child (or any other relative) falls ill, then the sick leave will not save anyone. In this situation, the sick leave is payable only if its period goes beyond the vacation. (Repeat: until the end vacation days sick leave is not paid). Respectively extra days does not add to vacation.

What kind of vacation is your subordinate on?

Only the answer to this question will help to finally solve the dilemma: pay - do not pay, renew - do not renew.

Consider holidays:

• Annual,
• Training,
• At your own expense
• Decree.

Annual, regular or main paid leave. Everything is simple here, as mentioned above, the employee is provided for the payment of sick leave, and at the same time, the extension of vacation by the number of days of sick leave.

study leave is provided upon presentation of a certificate-call for the period of the session at the correspondence educational institution. A trainee who becomes ill during study leave may contact their educational institution with a request to postpone the session due to illness. In this case, it is possible to change the terms in the certificate-call, and the days of study leave, respectively.

However, sick days that coincide with the period of study leave are not paid by the employer. In the event that an employee continues to get sick after the end of the study leave, the sick leave is paid on common grounds.

Vacation at own expense (without maintenance). The answer follows from the very name of the holiday. Maintenance, i.e., payment during this vacation is not expected, including due to illness during this period, however, if the employee continues to get sick at the end of the vacation, a sick leave is issued on a general basis.

Maternity leave. The colloquial name "maternity leave" implies two consecutive leaves: maternity leave, continuing leave to care for a child up to three years. The first of them is issued upon presentation of a sick leave for pregnancy and childbirth, the second on the basis of a birth certificate.

Vacation extension and transfer

Now that we have figured out everything about our subordinate, it remains to decide what to do with the sick leave and the interrupted vacation of this employee.

Firstly, mark the days of the sick leave in the report card, and secondly, pay it on a general basis (the only feature for the accountant will be the inclusion of fully accrued vacation in the calculation). And, thirdly, decide to extend the vacation for the employee or transfer the part that was not taken off to another time. But, to be precise, only the employee himself can solve this issue.

Again, two options:

• If a colleague decides to just walk his vacation to the end, then, in fact, nothing needs to be done, the staff just needs to correctly record the employee, and the accounting department to calculate and pay for the provided sick leave;
• If your colleague goes to work exactly the next day after the end of the vacation issued by order, then to transfer the remaining part of the vacation, you must fill out an appropriate application and agree with you, as a manager, on a specific date for the continuation of the vacation (force the employee to return the overpaid vacation pay, the accounting department does not has the right, in this case, you can recalculate the amount to be paid the current salary or accrued sick leave, the calculation of the transferred part of the vacation will be recalculated).

Leave followed by dismissal

In agreement with the management, the subordinate can take a vacation with subsequent dismissal. As an entrepreneur, you have the right, but not the obligation, to allow this type of leave.

In this case, two sets of documents are immediately issued, both for vacation and for dismissal. And the accounting department fully counts on a colleague so that he does not have to return to his workplace again.

What to do if at the time of such a vacation an employee falls ill, because formally he is still your employee?

In such a situation, the sick leave must be paid, even if it lasts longer than the vacation period. made on a general basis, taking into account the last payments. However, the extension of the leave in such a situation is not provided, since the employee has already been released from work.

Maternity leave

Let's talk more about maternity leave. We repeat that in fact these are two types of vacation.

Maternity leave given for 140 days. This is a sick leave issued in a antenatal clinic, which allows a woman, under the supervision of specialists, to prepare for the birth of a small child, to spend the first days and months of his life with him.

In the "cadres" this period is documented by an order for vacation (Let's clarify: a woman can take a vacation later than the date the sick leave opens, but the end of the vacation always coincides with the end of the sick leave).

If the expectant mother works in several organizations, she is given the right to receive several sick leave and holidays, respectively. All of them must be paid.

If a woman gives birth to twins, or something goes wrong at the time of childbirth, the sick leave will be extended for strictly established 54 and 16 days, respectively. In such a situation, maternity leave will also be extended. Payment is also provided for the main sick leave and its extension.

I would like to note some updates in our legislation. If earlier the employee had the right to extend the contract only until the birth of the child, now the contract must be extended for all 140 days (which gives her an undeniable opportunity to receive maternity benefits in full).

Also, our state provides for the right to take another vacation outside the schedule for the father of the unborn child.

Leave to care for a child up to three years. Just up to three years. However, payment is provided for one and a half years. During this period, a woman receives a child care allowance, which is popularly called "children's".

From February 2018 minimum amount allowance is 3,795.60 rubles. and 6,284.65 rubles. for the first and second child, respectively (the amounts are given without taking into account district coefficients). Although in some regions of the Russian Federation there is pilot project payment up to the age of three. There is a bolder bill to extend parental leave to four and a half years.

But, if you go down to earth, then on this moment everywhere the term of payment is up to 1.5 years. At the same time, "mommy" can exercise her right and take another vacation, which will be paid on a general basis (while the time spent on parental leave is not extended).

And one more clarification: if the “mommy” herself fell ill during maternity leave, she can apply to the territorial body of the FSS with a request to allocate her, and possibly her child, a sanatorium-resort voucher for treatment. Sick leave is not provided during this period.

Conclusion

Let's summarize. At the beginning of our conversation, we were faced with the question: is it necessary to take a sick leave while on vacation? We considered all possible life situations, types of vacations and sick leaves. We hope you found this information useful.

17.05.2018 13:58

Indexation is a way to protect against inflation by systematically increasing wages by a set coefficient. The annual pay increase compensates workers for rising prices for goods and services. Is wage indexation the responsibility of employers or is it optional?

Opinion of departments

Ministry of Labor and social protection And federal Service on labor and employment unanimously consider the indexation of wages the duty of employers.

Ministry of Labor in letter dated December 26, 2017 No. 14-3 / V-1135 notes that the failure to index the remuneration of employees of the organization, which entailed the payment of wages in part, is a violation of labor legislation and labor protection.

IN letter dated April 19, 2010 No. 1073-6-1 Rostrud also notes:

“The current legislation does not establish the indexation procedure. The legislator establishes only the obligation of the employer to carry out indexation. In the event that in local regulations organization does not provide for such a procedure, then, given that the indexation of wages is the responsibility of the employer, we believe that it is necessary to make appropriate changes (additions) to the local regulations in force in the organization.

Arbitrage practice

According to definition of the Constitutional Court of November 19, 2015 No. 2618-O, despite the uncertainty of the articles of the Labor Code and the absence of a statutory indexation procedure, it is mandatory for everyone, as it is a state guarantee for the remuneration of employees.

“Indexation of wages is aimed at ensuring an increase in the level of the real content of wages, its purchasing power, by its legal nature is a state guarantee for the remuneration of workers (Article 130 Labor Code of the Russian Federation) and by virtue of the prescriptions of articles 2, 130 and 134 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation must be provided to all persons working under an employment contract (Determination of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation of June 17, 2010 No. 913-О-О).

Provided by Article 134 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation legal regulation does not allow an employer that is not related to the public sector to deprive employees of the guarantee provided by law and evade the establishment of indexation, since it assumes that its mechanism is determined at the conclusion of a collective agreement or an employment contract or in a local regulatory act adopted taking into account the opinion of the elected body of the primary trade union organization (Determination of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation dated July 17, 2014 No. 1707-O)”.

Labor Code

Determines the obligation of employers to raise the level of the real content of wages in the manner prescribed by the collective agreement, agreements, local regulations. Employers' actions to increase levels include wage indexation due to growth consumer prices for goods and services.

There are no instructions in the Labor Code on the timing and procedure for indexing. For government agencies, as a rule, a certain coefficient is set. Commercial companies make a provision on indexation in a collective agreement, an employment contract with an employee or local regulations.

It is important to note that these requirements apply to individual entrepreneurs and small businesses.Standard form an employment contract concluded between an employee and an employer - a small business entity, which refers to micro-enterprises, contains two clauses that imply the introduction of indexation conditions.

How to index

Salary indexation should be carried out periodically.

Indexation terms must be specified in contracts or local acts of the company.

The terms and amount of indexation are not legally defined. How to raise salaries, the employer decides for himself. Rostrud advises using Rosstat inflation data as a benchmark.

Even if the salary is higher than the minimum wage, you need to index.

An increase in salary is not always considered indexation. If the indexation procedure is not fixed in contracts or local acts, the increase in employees' salaries will not be considered indexation. In this case, this can be regarded as the good will of the employer, which does not exclude the need for indexation.

Employer's responsibility

For the lack of indexation of wages, the employer may be held administratively liable in accordance with Article 5.27 of the Code of Administrative Offenses. The Ministry of Labor in a letter dated December 26, 2017 No. 14-3 / V-1135 clarifies:

“Failure to index the remuneration of employees of the organization, which entailed the payment of wages in an incomplete amount, forms the objective side of the composition administrative offense provided forpart 1 article 5.27 of the Code of Administrative Offenses ... since by these actions the organization violates the norms of the Code governing relations related to indexation and payment of wages.

Violations are punishable by fines:

For officials- 1,000 rubles. - 5 000 rub.

for individual entrepreneurs - 1,000 rubles. - 5 000 rub.

for companies - 30,000 rubles. - 50,000 rubles.

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I am often asked questions about whether the employer is obliged to index wages, or is it his right. And if so, by how much? Answering these questions, I would like to warn you against typical and gross mistakes that employers make when solving this issue in their company.

Unfortunately, there is no procedure established by law. There is only Article 134 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, which defines such an obligation of the employer: “Ensuring an increase in the level of the real content of wages includes indexation of wages in connection with an increase in consumer prices for goods and services. State bodies, organs local government, state and municipal institutions index wages in accordance with the procedure established by labor legislation and other regulatory legal acts containing norms labor law, other employers - in the manner prescribed by the collective agreement, agreements, local regulations.

You need to register the procedure for indexing in your local regulations or in a collective agreement.

That is, the employer has an obligation, but there is no exact procedure for calculating indexation and its frequency. Now it's a prerogative internal solution employer or an agreement signed with a representative body of employees. Although the project to correct this article has been discussed for a very long time.

While there are no changes, I recommend applying indexation not lower than the inflation rate based on the growth in value consumer basket, since the meaning of this norm is to "ensure an increase in the level of the real content of wages."

To do this, you can take the cost of the consumer basket at the end of the year and at the beginning of the year and compensate for an amount not less than this difference. For example, in 2016, the amount of indexation according to this logic should not be less than 1049 rubles, based on the following data:

living wage the working-age population for the 3rd quarter of 2016 is 17487, based on the Decree of the Government of Moscow No. 794-PP dated 11/29/2016;

the subsistence minimum for the working-age population for the 4th quarter of 2015 is 16438, based on the Decree of the Government of Moscow No. 81-PP dated 16.03.2016.

Tip: please note that the indexing order, purely theoretically, can also be prescribed in industry agreements (if you have them in your industry).

If speak about common mistakes, then there are three of them.

First: do not index at all.

If the company does not carry out indexation, then there is a risk that the court can oblige indexation for a particular employee, and for everyone in the company - the labor inspectorate or the prosecutor's office. They can set their own indexation based on the claims of the plaintiff (employee) or the inflation rate, and apply new administrative fines. Therefore, it is better to resolve this issue yourself.

By the way, a variation of the same mistake is to assume that your company should not index if your employees' salaries increase every year. If the increase in salaries is not related to the need to index the loss of purchasing power, but to other factors (for example, an increase in the market price for specialists, a good financial position company, high results for the year, etc.), then there will still be a violation. Here it is important to separately highlight the implementation of this requirement of the law.

The second mistake: set indexing in relative numbers.

It is important to emphasize here that this is not a violation of the law. If the employer independently establishes the indexation procedure, then it is his right to index in percentage. For example, set indexation at 5% or inflation rate as a percentage.

Like what's wrong with that? This does not quite comply with the principles of non-discrimination of employees and the protection of the rights of precisely those categories of workers who lose the ability to buy food when prices rise. With this approach, it turns out that the absolute amount by which increases is fundamentally different for those who receive little and those who receive a lot. For example, if we index by 5% the salary of a cleaner of 10,000 rubles, it will be 500 rubles, which will not even cover the increase in consumer prices for last year. And for a top manager with a salary of 200 thousand rubles, 5% is 10,000 rubles. That is, it turns out that such an indexing principle increases the gap between the minimum and maximum salaries, the "poor" does not give the opportunity to maintain purchasing power, and the "rich" unreasonably increases wages without any effort on their part.

Moreover, indexing in the same order in next year will aggravate this situation more and more, since the calculation base will be taken from the new salary indexed according to the results of the last year. Taking into account the fact that salaries fall on and automatically either increase the price or reduce the profitability of the business, this is also unreasonable from the point of view of managerial and financial logic.

Nevertheless, such an indexing order is not a violation. I could tell you what other negative consequences this leads to, but the article is about something else.

The third mistake: to index not all or in different sizes.

Norm labor law about the obligation of indexation is of a general nature - it cannot be established by one and not established by other employees. For example, it is impossible not to index one of the employees, justifying this by the fact that they already have a high salary. You can reasonably approach the size of such indexing. Similarly, courts and inspectors consider it a violation to carry out indexation in different sizes - for example, when you establish an approach in a company: this is so much, and this is so much. The very principle of indexation as a state guarantee should be the same. For example, if you index by 5%, as in the previous example, the absolute numbers will be different, but the indexing principle will be the same. If you want to change your salary to different amounts and differentiate your approach to different categories employees, then file this as a change for other reasons. That is, first index wages without violating the principle of non-discrimination, and then separately resolve other issues with wages.

What I want to say in the end: you can live with the law without conflict.

In fact, labor legislation allows you to apply it in such a way that not only does not infringe on the rights of the employer, but also often use it for your own benefit. Another thing is that we often do not know how to do it. Any question regarding payment should be considered not only from the point of view of the need to comply with labor laws. It is important to consider both the company's business goals and management risks. Ignoring the obligation to index often leads to far greater risks than we might think. Therefore, just look for options for combining the interests of the law and business. Believe me, they are.