The procedure for contacting the labor inspectorate after dismissal

How to contact the labor inspectorate?

The law protects the rights of the employee as a vulnerable party in labor relations. One of the ways of such protection is to file a complaint with a government agency that monitors compliance with legislation in the field of employment and personnel policy.

The procedure for appealing to the state is a complex matter regulated in detail by legal norms. You need to know exactly how to contact the labor inspectorate so that the supervisory authority stops the violation and restores the citizen’s rights. If you want to terminate your employment contract, contact the labor inspectorate, they will help you.

The claim can be filed in a court of general jurisdiction

An employer who does not agree with the results of control measures has the right to challenge the inspection itself as a whole, as well as the order and resolution. It is important to take into account that the procedure for appealing these documents is fundamentally different. But there are also general points. Complaints fall under the jurisdiction of district and equivalent courts (general jurisdiction). Therefore, there is no need to go to arbitration court.

The only exception is the appeal of decisions made against arbitration (bankruptcy) managers, as well as bankrupt companies. According to the arbitration courts, the consideration of such complaints is within their competence (resolutions of the FAS of the Volga District dated November 22, 2012 in case No. A55-10100/2012, the Twelfth Arbitration Court of Appeal dated July 26, 2013 in case No. A06-1259/2013). Although courts of general jurisdiction also accept them for proceedings.

Where to go if you are being abused by your employer?

According to the law (Resolution No. 875, issued by the Government of Russia on September 1, 2012), state supervision in the field of labor relations is a function of the Federal Labor Inspectorate, which consists of the Federal Employment Service and its territorial bodies.

Monitoring compliance with the law occurs in relation to:

organizations, regardless of their organizational form;
individual entrepreneurs;
individuals if they hire workers.

To identify cases of violation of the law, territorial divisions of Rostrud conduct scheduled and unscheduled inspections. The first are appointed every three years, the second - regardless of the time of previously carried out verification actions.

It is necessary to check the management of an enterprise unscheduled:

Provided that the period of the order issued to eliminate the identified violations of the requirements of the law has expired.
If appeals have been received from citizens, government bodies, or the media about violations in the organization.
In the event of an employee’s complaint about the employer’s illegal actions or his request to verify compliance with labor safety rules at the enterprise.
Upon receipt of instructions from the President and the Government, or demands from the prosecutor's office to carry out verification actions due to applications received from citizens by these bodies.

According to the law (Order No. 1325n, issued by the Ministry of Social Development on November 7, 2011), government officials are required to inform people about the location of their territorial bodies, the work schedule and acceptance of documents.

This happens via the Internet, at the request of a citizen by telephone or in person, by posting information on stands inside the premises occupied by a government agency or its territorial branch. Information information is provided free of charge.

Complaints to the inspectorate are addressed to:

By personal visit to the inspector.
By sending a complaint in a letter by mail.
By sending it via the Internet to the email address of the district unit.

If a person comes for an appointment with labor inspection officials, they are obliged to receive him within a period of time not exceeding thirty minutes.

When contacted by telephone, employees politely answer questions asked. The response contains information about the authority to which the citizen applied, the personal data and position of the person answering the call. The maximum response time in this situation is ten minutes.

When submitting an electronic document, indicate the procedure for receiving a response, information for sending it (email or postal address), depending on the choice of method of notification of consideration of the application.

Is it possible to revoke a document?

Having resolved the labor dispute peacefully, having reached mutual agreements, the applicant naturally wants to withdraw his application so that management does not have problems with the inspection.

It is necessary to submit a new paper stating that the labor conflict has been resolved, but this will not be a reason to terminate the inspection.

The fact of liquidation of Labor Code violations recorded in the appeal of an employee who cancels his complaint is subject to accounting as part of the consideration of cases of administrative offenses. This mitigates the administrative liability of this circumstance.

How to file a complaint about violations of employee rights?

According to legal norms (Order No. 1325, issued by the Ministry of Social Development on November 7, 2011), an appeal to the inspector must be written in legible handwriting and printed using technical means. If you are employed officially, with the help of contractual regulation of labor relations, problems should not arise, your interests will be protected.

It is drawn up in free form, but it contains information:

For citizens, this includes personal data, postal address for sending a response, the content of the appeal (questions to the inspectorate, the essence of the employer’s unlawful actions, a request for an inspection), personal signature and date of the letter.
For enterprises, this is the full name and postal address, position, surname, first name and patronymic of the company representative, his signature and seal of the represented legal entity.

The application should be accompanied by evidence of the employer’s violation of the law. The period for consideration of the application is fifteen days, starting from the date of its submission.

As a result, a decision is made to establish facts sufficient to begin checking compliance with legal norms in the organization, or that there are no grounds for unscheduled verification actions.

In the event that an employee of an organization working in it complains about illegal actions, he has the right to ask officials not to disseminate the name of the initiator of the unscheduled inspection.

Your desire to hide your data from the employer is indicated in the text of the application.

How did the appeal happen in the past?

Previously, the judicial authorities did not have a consensus on appealing the order.
It took place on the basis of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation. At the same time, the rules of procedure in cases concerning public legal relations were taken into account. However, this became irrelevant after September 15, 2015. The CAS came into force on this date. After this, appeals began to be carried out on the basis of this code. But disagreements remained. In particular, some courts believed that the appeal should be carried out on the basis of the CAS, while others believed that the procedure was carried out on the basis of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation. Throughout 2015-2016, the courts could not come to a common position.

Instructions for appealing against illegal actions of an employer

Establishing the fact of violation of the legislation of the Russian Federation

Reasons that give an employee the right to complain about the organization:

Dismissal without reason, in case of an incorrect choice of article of the labor law, in case of termination of a contract with an employee classified as a special category of worker.
Non-payment or incomplete payment of wages, their incorrect accrual.
The workplace does not comply with labor safety standards.
Refusal to provide annual paid leave.

The law does not establish an exhaustive list of violations. A person who was illegally denied employment, a newspaper correspondent, or prosecutorial employees are allowed to file a complaint.

Drawing up a complaint

It is difficult to correctly file an application for the first time, so seek help from a lawyer. Here you need to correctly state your position, indicate a specific case of illegality of actions, what rules of law were violated by the employer, how he justifies his unlawful decisions.

If we are talking about a wage debt, then its size and terms of non-payment are indicated.

When filling out an application, it is worth remembering that applications without indicating the applicant’s first and last name (anonymous applications) are not considered by the government agency.

What are the risks of contacting an employer?

Based on the results of the inspections, a report is sent to the organization with mandatory instructions and deadlines for their implementation.

In addition, penalties provided for by law may be applied to a negligent employer:

monetary fines;
disqualification for a specific position;
closure of the organization for a period of no more than 3 months;
criminal liability if the norms of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation were violated.

These types of punishments can be imposed not only on the company’s management, but also on the accountant and ordinary employees who were responsible in the matter violated.

Important: The amounts of administrative fines and other penalties directly depend on the severity of the offenses and their impact on the life and health of employees. At the same time, eliminating the regulations does not exempt you from paying penalties.

Legal aspects of verification of legal entities

In the event that an employee appeals to the labor inspectorate with a complaint and confirms the employer’s illegal actions, the head of the territorial unit issues an order on the appointment of inspection actions, which is drawn up in accordance with legal norms (No. 294 Federal Law, dated December 26, 2008).

The management of the organization being inspected is notified of the appointment and conduct of the inspection one day before its start. The rule on notifying the employer does not apply if it is based on an employee’s complaint about a violation of labor rights or a citizen’s request to establish compliance with labor protection rules.

The employer is not notified of the inspection in other cases if its notification will reduce the effectiveness of state supervision over compliance with legislation.

In addition to the organization being inspected, the prosecutor's office is notified of the inspection. This is done by sending an application signed by the head of the territorial inspection.

There is a distinction between documentary and on-site inspections. The first are carried out in the labor inspection building, the second - at the location of the organization or the location of its production premises.

Consideration of the complaint

In the process of considering appeals from participants in labor relations, labor inspectorate employees are required to ensure:

careful consideration of the essence of the request for documentation, if necessary, and the organization of verification activities, making informed decisions on proposals, applications, complaints, timely and thoroughly correct execution of the decisions made, informing applicants about the decisions that were made as a result of checking the applications they submitted, explaining to applicants the procedure for appealing

In cases where the application does not require additional research and organization of verification, then the deadline for its consideration, in extreme cases, is no later than 15 days.

It should be taken into account that the norms of the Labor Code in certain situations establish special deadlines for the consideration of appeals by FIT specialists. For example, in the case of appealing employers’ decisions to dismiss under Art. 373 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the complaint must be considered by labor inspectors within 10 days from the date of its registration by the secretariat.

Labor Code of the Russian Federation Article 373. The procedure for taking into account the reasoned opinion of the elected body of the primary trade union organization when terminating an employment contract at the initiative of the employer (as amended by Federal Law of June 30, 2006 N 90-FZ) (see the text in the previous edition) Guides on personnel issues and labor disputes. Questions of application of Art. 373 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, when making a decision on the possible termination of an employment contract in accordance with paragraphs 2, 3 or 5 of part one of Article 81 of this Code with an employee who is a member of a trade union, the employer sends to the elected body of the relevant primary trade union organization a draft order, as well as copies of documents, forming the basis for making this decision. The elected body of the primary trade union organization, within seven working days from the date of receipt of the draft order and copies of documents, considers this issue and sends its reasoned opinion to the employer in writing. An opinion not submitted within seven days will not be taken into account by the employer. If the elected body of the primary trade union organization disagrees with the proposed decision of the employer, it holds additional consultations with the employer or its representative within three working days, the results of which are documented in a protocol. If general agreement is not reached as a result of consultations, the employer, after ten working days from the date of sending the draft order and copies of documents to the elected body of the primary trade union organization, has the right to make a final decision, which can be appealed to the relevant state labor inspectorate. The State Labor Inspectorate, within ten days from the date of receipt of the complaint (application), considers the issue of dismissal and, if it is recognized as illegal, issues the employer a binding order to reinstate the employee at work with payment for forced absence. Compliance with the above procedure does not deprive the employee or the elected body of the primary trade union organization representing his interests of the right to appeal dismissal directly to the court, or the employer to appeal to the court the order of the state labor inspectorate. The employer has the right to terminate the employment contract no later than one month from the date of receipt of the reasoned opinion of the elected body of the primary trade union organization. During the specified period, periods of temporary incapacity for work of the employee, his stay on vacation and other periods of absence of the employee when he retains his place of work (position) are not counted.

If verification activities are required to objectively consider the appeal), then the time frame for consideration of the complaint by labor inspectorate specialists is 30 days.

In cases where the resolution of complaints requires an extended inspection (for example, a visit to remotely located branches or obtaining updated information), in accordance with Federal Law No. 59-FZ of May 2, 2006, the deadline for providing responses to such requests can be extended by a month - up to 60 days.

In such situations, the extension of the period is made based on the decision of the head of the territorial body.

This decision must be brought to the attention of the sender of the complaint. The law does not provide for the possibility of re-extending the time limit for processing a complaint. Thus, in all circumstances, the complainant must receive a response to his complaint within 60 days from the date of its registration.

The situation with the appeal now

The situation was resolved by the Supreme Court. In particular, determination No. 75-KG16-14 dated December 19, 2021 was issued. It contains these provisions:

The function of the labor inspectorate is to detect violations in the field of labor. However, inspectors do not have the right to resolve labor disputes.
The inspection order is an administrative document. Therefore, its appeal is carried out on the basis of the CAS. It does not matter whether the regulation concerns the rights of employees or not.

That is, now the position of the courts is completely defined. The legality of the inspector's decision is established administratively. What does this give to the employer? The administrative procedure is more beneficial for the company, as it simplifies the process of proving its position. In particular, in this case the employer does not need to prove the illegality of the decision. It is the labor inspectorate that must prove that the order was lawful and in compliance with all laws.

Appeal options

The possibility of appeal is stipulated in Article 361 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. The same article states that the procedure can be carried out in two ways:

Appeal to a superior person. In particular, the employer needs to file a complaint with the head of the State Tax Inspectorate carrying out the inspection. If this does not help, you can send your complaints to the country's chief labor inspector.
Through the court. It is necessary to file a claim in court after paying a fee.

We invite you to familiarize yourself with: Judicial practice in labor disputes and its role in regulating relations

The employer has the right to choose the method of appeal independently. However, if the inspector makes a decision to suspend the activities of the entity, then it can only be challenged in court.