When to complain about non-payment of wages
In accordance with the provisions of Art.
136 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, labor must be paid at least twice a month. Salary payment days must be shown in the employment contract. Typically, for the first half of the month payment is made after the 16th day, for the second half - after the 1st day, but no later than the 15th of the month.
Note : The start of the delay in the payment of wages is calculated from the day following the date of payment of wages established by internal departmental regulations. From this moment on, the subordinate has the right to file a claim with the manager demanding payment of wages.
If wages are not paid for more than 15 days, an employee can send a petition, regardless of the type of institution (individual entrepreneur, LLC, JSC, etc.), by sending a request:
- Directly to the head of the institution.
- To the prosecutor's office.
- In the state labor inspectorate (LTI).
- To a judicial institution.
A claim can be made to the head of the company immediately after a delay in payment of wages.
Before sending a request to the prosecutor's office, you must first try to resolve the problematic issue with the head of the company. It must be said that subordinates are not very willing to complain to the prosecutor's office, fearing future conflicts with the company's management. However, if management does not respond to a subordinate’s appeal, the employee, in order to protect his rights, will be forced to complain to the prosecutor’s office.
According to the latest changes in the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, since 2106, the limitation period for collecting wage arrears is one year. Often, management, knowing about the statute of limitations, delays payment, reassuring subordinates with promises, thus achieving an overdue appeal.
Judicial practice in disputes over non-payment of wages.
An analysis of the decisions made shows that the courts side with workers whose remuneration was delayed.
The Nazarovo City Court sided with the plaintiff (decision in case No. 2-428/2017). The construction company delayed payment of wages upon dismissal and did not issue a work book on time.
6 payments that, according to the decision, the defendant must pay in favor of the plaintiff
- Salary debt of more than one hundred and twenty thousand rubles.
- Compensation for delays in work records. The amount is over one hundred twenty-one thousand rubles.
- Reimbursement for unused vacation – 17,119 rubles.
- Interest for delayed salaries - 17,590 rubles.
- Compensation for moral damage – 10,000 rubles.
- Compensation for expenses for a lawyer – 3,500 rubles.
The solution shows that the miser pays twice. A manager who ignores Labor Code norms pays compensation to employees, penalties and compensation for moral damage.
Required papers
To file a complaint about delayed wages with the prosecutor's office, you must provide evidence of such an offense.
To substantiate the complaint, the following documents must be attached:
- A copy of the employment agreement between the employer and the applicant.
- An extract from the work record book confirming the fact of employment in the institution.
- Copies of written appeals to the company's management, with a note about the registration of the complaint (incoming number, a mark about the registration of the responsible person of the company).
After preparing the listed materials, the working person can safely submit a request to the prosecutor's office with attached certificates.
Time limits for consideration of the application on its merits
The response time to complaints from citizens of the Russian Federation is shown in the Instructions (Order of the Prosecutor General's Office No. 45).
Registration of a received request with a complaint about a violation of a citizen’s rights is carried out within 3 days from the date of its receipt and must be considered within 15 days. The time for consideration of a complaint can be extended to 30 days if there is a need for additional examination, when requesting additional materials, etc. A message is sent to the applicant about the extension of the consideration time.
The prepared response is sent to the address displayed by the applicant in the request.
The absence of details of the author of the petition in the request is regarded as anonymous. Such requests are not considered by the prosecutor's office.
Will add powers
In addition, the prosecutor's checks, according to him, covered all areas of activity that are related to the quality and safety of people's lives. Also, the head of the supervisory department reported that in the economic field, over 17 billion rubles were collected from the budget due to non-payment of taxes, unlawful use of lands and state property at the claims of prosecutors. Prosecutors also managed to achieve more efficient spending of money allocated from the budget for the implementation of 12 strategically important national projects.
Prosecutors also provided real assistance to one and a half million citizens in solving their pressing problems, including large families, the elderly and the disabled.
According to Chaika, protecting the rights of citizens remains one of the main tasks of the prosecutor's office. Yuri Chaika noted that this year prosecutors will have to deal with a wide and multifaceted range of issues and many new areas of activity.
“I think our predecessors could not even imagine how much the competence of the supervisory agency would expand, what technologies we would use,” said the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation. At the same time, according to him, it is very important that the connection between generations is not lost.
After the intervention of prosecutors, more than 20 billion rubles of debts were paid to half a million workers, and in the economic sphere, over 17 billion rubles were recovered from claims to the budget.
“The first prosecutors and us today are united by the desire to ensure the supremacy of the law, the inevitability of responsibility for its violators, and the triumph of justice. This is where we stand, and I am sure we will stand for many more centuries,” the Prosecutor General emphasized. Yuri Chaika noted that the merits of prosecutors are adequately appreciated and recognized at the highest state level. On the occasion of the professional holiday, 34 prosecutors were awarded state awards for special distinctions in their service, 45 were encouraged by the head of state, the government, the Federation Council and the State Duma, 17 were awarded the highest class ranks and military ranks.
Congratulating the prosecutors, Chairman of the Federation Council Valentina Mativenko said that in 2021 it is necessary to continue the process of humanizing criminal legislation through joint efforts. “You know that the Federation Council is a supporter of expanding the rights of the prosecutor’s office, control of the prosecutor’s office at all stages of the investigation,” she noted. According to her, there are a number of issues that senators, together with the prosecutor’s office, plan to move forward. In particular, this concerns the limitation of periods of detention during the investigation and a number of others. Earlier, Yuri Chaika reported that a new version of the law on the prosecutor's office is being developed in Russia.
How to write a statement to the prosecutor's office about non-payment of wages?
When writing a petition, the letter is written to the prosecutor who heads the department at the location of the company.
In the upper right part of the sheet it is required to display the position of the prosecutor, displaying the class and name of the unit, as well as full name. prosecutor.
Below are the details of the requester - full name, residence address and contact information. If there are many applicants, you need to display information about each one.
In the text of the request, after the title of the document, it is required to state:
- Full name of the working person.
- Company name, position and duration of work.
- Period of non-payment of wages.
- Amount of debt (in numbers and words).
- Evidence that the employee contacted the head of the company regarding the issue of delayed payment.
- If the employee stopped working because of this, then display the date of termination of work.
- A request to consider the request and take action against the employer.
The request is signed, the date of completion is indicated, and the form, together with the attached certificates, is sent to the prosecutor's office.
A subordinate of a manager must not forget that he has the right not only to demand his salary, but also compensation for each day of delay in payment.
Upon dismissal
If the boss does not pay a salary when expelling a person, the latter has the right to file a protest with the State Tax Inspectorate.
If the labor inspectorate did not help the expelled employee, then he will have to send a request to the prosecutor's office with a request to organize an inspection of the company in connection with the non-payment of wages upon expulsion. The request is made in the same order as described above. In this option, you need to correctly describe the current circumstances, referring to Article 140 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. As evidentiary arguments, attached are the materials given to him upon expulsion in accordance with the current legislative norms:
- A copy of the deduction order.
- Extract from the work book.
- Certificate of earnings.
- A copy of the employment contract.
- Statement of income tax remittance.
The head of the company, depending on the detected offenses, may be subject to criminal or administrative penalties.
What to do if your salary is not transferred?
When management delays payments, you need to act consistently in accordance with the norms of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.
Algorithm of action in case of non-payment of wages
- Contact the company management. Take advantage of the right provided by Art. 142 TK. You don’t have to go to work if your wages are delayed for more than fifteen days. Be sure to notify your manager in writing that you will not be performing your duties.
Important! If management notifies you of their readiness to pay wages, you will need to go to work the next day after receiving the notification.
Not every worker can go on strike. The categories that cannot participate in strikes are listed by the Labor Code. For example, civil servants cannot interrupt their duties, even if management has delayed payment of wages.
- File a complaint with labor inspectorate specialists. The job of labor inspectors is to protect workers' rights and check whether companies are complying with the law. Company management does not like inspections. Inspectors will come and check your documents. They will probably find other violations besides delayed wages. Fines will be issued. Delays in payment of remuneration will cost the company's management dearly. Therefore, a complaint to the labor inspectorate will not please your employer. The legislation does not establish as such a form of complaint. Therefore, indicate all the basic information about the violation: the name of the company, your position, the period of delay in remuneration.
- File a complaint with the prosecutor's office. The application can be submitted to the supervisory authority in person or sent by mail. The prosecutor authorizes an inspection to identify violations of workers' rights. The time period for consideration of appeals is thirty days in accordance with the Law “On the procedure for considering appeals and complaints of citizens.”
If an employment contract has not been concluded
In conditions of unemployment, workers often agree to any conditions when working for a company.
A number of managers take advantage of this situation in the labor market, abusing many mandatory provisions of labor standards. One of the most serious violations is the unofficial hiring of an employee by a company, without filling out an employment contract. In this case, management does not bear any obligations to the subordinate.
Often the promised wages are not accrued at all. In such a situation, it is much more difficult to seek the renewal of your rights. Of course, you need to go to the prosecutor's office with a complaint, which is formalized exactly as described above. However, the main thing that needs to be done in such circumstances is to collect materials proving that the person worked at this enterprise. The only possible evidence may be the involvement of witnesses.
Witnesses can be both clients of the enterprise and colleagues with whom the employee worked together. In addition, working documents containing the signature of the dismissed person or which he drew up in his own hand, copies of agreements, acts, invoices, as well as printouts of telephone conversations with officials of the enterprise may be useful as evidence.
Art. 67 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation regulates that an unformed contract is considered concluded if the employee, with the knowledge of the manager, began to fulfill the duties assigned to him. Therefore, a dismissed employee needs to make every effort to prove the employer’s wrongdoing.
In the video provided, you can familiarize yourself with the rules for filling out a request to the prosecutor's office.
( Video : “How to write a statement to the prosecutor’s office”)
What to write in a statement to the prosecutor's office about non-payment of wages
The request is drawn up on an A4 sheet in a custom style. The form must include all the information necessary to objectively assess the situation and take action against the employer. Despite the fact that there is no unified form for drawing up a complaint to the prosecutor's office, when drawing up a request, it is still necessary to follow the rules of execution related to business papers.
Introductory part
All requests and complaints sent to the prosecutor's office are most often addressed to the prosecutor at the head of the local office. At the same time, you need to display his position, unit name, rank and full name. (for example, “To the Prosecutor of Tomsk, State Counselor of Justice 3rd class I.I. Petrov ...”).
Here you also need to write down information about the author of the request: full name, residence address and telephone number.
Note : The request must be sent to the prosecutor at the location of the company where the author of the petition works, or to a higher authority (for example, for the Tomsk prosecutor's office, the prosecutor's office of the Tomsk region is considered a higher structure).
Descriptive part
This block displays all the information explaining the essence of the complaint:
- The applicant's full name is filled in, indicating the date when he started working for the company.
- Full name of the company with its registered address.
- Applicant's position.
- The time during which wages were not paid, starting from the initial moment of the delay and as of the time the complaint was sent.
- A certificate confirming an appeal to the head of the company for an explanation of the reason for the delay in payment and his decision.
- The total amount of non-payment of money with a mark of monthly income.
- Date of termination of employment (if this was done).
The operative part
Here you need to lay out the requirements of the employee who submitted the request to the prosecutor:
- Invite your boss to correct the violation.
- Send the inspection materials to the State Tax Inspectorate for administrative punishment under Article 5.27 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.
- Initiate criminal proceedings against the director of the institution under Article 145.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
- Submit a claim to the court.
Note : A request to the prosecutor to delay payment of wages can be sent either individually or from the company’s team - there are no restrictions in such options.
How to file a claim for payment of wages?
The judge accepts the claim when the document is drawn up in accordance with the requirements of the Civil Procedure Code. Therefore, take into account the requirements of the law when drawing up an application. The statement of claim for recovery of wages (sample document) contains three parts. The document makes an introduction, describes the essence of the violations, and lists the plaintiff’s demands.
5 main points of a wage recovery claim
- Name of the judicial authority.
- Name of the defendant. The defendant is the company that withholds employee benefits.
- Last name, first name, patronymic and passport details of the applicant.
- Evidence of the fact of labor relations. The details of the agreement, the date and number of the employment order are indicated.
- The essence of the violations committed by the employer. Specify the time of delay in wages.
- The plaintiff indicates his demands.
Important! In addition to the payment of the principal amount, penalties may be required. A fine is imposed for using someone else's money. The penalty is accrued from the next day after the delay in payment of remuneration.
4 nuances of filing a claim for recovery of wages.
- An application for recovery of wages must be submitted to the court office at the place where the organization is located. If the organization has branches, the application is sent to the location where the branch is located.
- To calculate the lost remuneration, Resolution No. 922 of December 24, 2007 is used.
- Employees are waived the cost of applying. In this case, the Tax Code exempts from paying the duty.
- The application is drawn up in accordance with the requirements of the Civil Procedure Code.
Sample application to the prosecutor's office for non-payment of wages
The complaint must be accompanied by materials certifying employment with the company:
- A copy of the employment contract
- Orders regarding employment or transfer.
- Extract from work record book, etc.
- If the issuance of copies of materials was refused, this must also be reflected in the petition.