Discrimination against workers - when is a collective complaint filed with the labor inspectorate?

Labour Inspectorate

First of all, you should understand what a labor inspection is .

Quite often, disagreements arise in labor relations between an employee and an employer, and in the vast majority of cases, priority in the dispute is given to the manager, as having an absolute majority of power.

The subordinate is faced with a choice: either accept the violation of his own rights (if they really exist), or file a specific complaint with the relevant government authorities. In this case, the appeal is sent to the state labor protection inspectorate, or simply to the labor inspectorate.

The labor inspectorate is a government body that controls a very specific branch of state law: labor relations. It is responsible for regulating this area and monitoring compliance with working conditions at all enterprises in the country.

Thus, any employee, regardless of the position he holds, has the right to contact this authority and ask for help if:

  • The employment contract was previously discussed by the parties and signed, but the specified work was never provided ;
  • At the provided workplace there are significant violations of working conditions , or it is not suitable for such at all;
  • The salary was not provided on time , or was provided in an amount less than that agreed upon in the employment contract;
  • from taking breaks from work within a specified period of time ;
  • The dismissal of an employee is carried out bypassing existing legal procedures.

Other common cases where business executives flout the law may include denying employees vacation time , wrongful deprivation of bonuses , attempts to force employees to work unpaid overtime , and other cases of arbitrariness by employers.

Such categories of violations are considered very serious in Russian law, so you should not wait for any action from management, but it is better to immediately submit a corresponding application .

Functions

Now you need to understand what the labor inspectorate does. Employees of this body work in the following categories of executive activities:

  1. Carrying out scheduled inspections. Scheduled inspections are inspections about which the labor inspectorate notifies the employer in advance, which are discussed and previously agreed upon by both parties. At the same time, an employee of the inspection authorities can at any time request any documents from the enterprise confirming or refuting possible cases of violation of labor legislation. If the declared violations are found, the enterprise will be given an order to eliminate the identified violations (this is given a specifically established period) and penalties will be issued.
  2. Conducting unscheduled inspections. Unscheduled are unscheduled inspections. Basically, they are carried out as a result of the filing of complaints against their management by employees of the institution (the employer’s appeal is not the basis for an inspection). At the same time, the authorities are not limited to only checking the area of ​​legislation that was the subject of the complaint, but conduct a complete audit of the enterprise’s activities.
  3. You can read more about unscheduled inspections at this link.

  4. Resolving conflict situations. The activities of labor inspectorates are not limited to inspections; they also resolve controversial legal issues that arise between the parties in the course of labor relations. This applies to situations such as: unlawful collection of a fine, deprivation of a bonus without explanation, dismissal in violation of legal aspects, etc.
  5. Conducting consultations. The Federal Service for Labor and Employment also advises workers and employers in the field of labor enforcement, informs them on issues of federal labor legislation and other regulations related to the application of labor law. Consulting activities are regularly carried out by inspectorate employees at reception consultation points throughout the country, by telephone hotline, and also on the Internet.

Complaint to the prosecutor's office against an employer: sample

The complaint is drawn up in free form, but the appeal must necessarily contain certain information about the applicant, without which the document may be rejected or rejected after registration of the document in the department office.

A detailed algorithm for filing a complaint to the prosecutor's office is described here. To avoid refusal to consider your application, here are the main reasons why applications are most often refused:

  • Illegible handwriting: written by hand and the secretary is unable to decipher the author’s scribbles.
  • No return address for the applicant: the government agency must send you a response within a month. For this reason, the application must indicate the applicant's address.
  • The appeal is written too emotionally and contains profanity (in other words, obscene language) or threats addressed to the employer, representatives of services, government agencies or third parties.
  • There is no signature of the applicant, which means the letter is anonymous. The Prosecutor's Office does not accept anonymous requests, except for the situations described below.
  • There is no essence of the appeal: there is no description of the specific situation of violation of rights, the offense committed, or specific proposals for improving legislation, petitions, etc.
  • The authority has already given you an answer to the essence of your appeal earlier.

Reasons for appeal

Today, labor protection is one of the most pressing issues in the field of law enforcement . This problem is faced by a huge number of people in our country, and yet only a few percent of them know their rights sufficiently to fight back against the leadership and stop injustice against themselves.

Therefore, to improve legal literacy, you need to understand in what cases you file a complaint with the labor inspectorate.

The hiring procedure has been violated

The content of the employment contract is regulated by Article 57 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, and the procedure for its execution is such that the absence of some mandatory data , such as the start date of the contract, place of work, job title, exact terms of payment, indicating all relevant payments, etc. is a violation.

If the employee has signed such a contract, he can file a complaint with the appropriate authority.

Also, when hiring, the employer could hide certain categories of the contract from the employee under signature, and after the conclusion of the contract, impose a fine for non-fulfillment. Such offenses are subject to separate proceedings.

Gross violations also include cases where pregnant women are given a probationary period when hired . In accordance with Article 70 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, this is not legal.

Personal discrimination by employer

A category of violations in which the boss exceeds his official authority in relation to the employee.

One of the most typical examples is when a manager, without motivating anything, denies a subordinate his legal leave . This also includes:

  • deduction of wages and deprivation of bonuses without specifying grounds;
  • coercion to perform unpaid overtime work;
  • failure to pay sick leave or vacation pay on time;
  • forcing an employee to go on vacation or sick leave at his own expense.

Violations upon dismissal

  1. Delay in issuing a work book to an employee on the last working day at the enterprise;
  2. Lack of compensation payments upon dismissal;
  3. If an employer, outside of formal protocol, asks an employee to resign “of his own free will,” then this is considered a violation of labor laws;
  4. If an employee is laid off without sending appropriate notice and without paying cash benefits ;
  5. The employer places employees on a probationary period, after which they dismiss them due to inadequacy for the position they occupy, and at the same time does not pay for the work they performed .

Complaint against an employer to the prosecutor's office: when can this be done?

In short, always. In fact, nothing prohibits you from submitting to the prosecutor's office a complaint about the restoration of rights, a proposal to improve laws, or an application for the protection of rights and freedoms. The agency is prohibited from prosecuting citizens for their complaints or appeals.

In relation to the topic of this article, allegations by employees against their managers are often associated with the following violations:

  • Unlawful dismissal or refusal to hire
  • Failure to pay wages or other necessary payments for two months or more
  • Violations when paying employees for work on weekends or holidays
  • Unlawful change in working hours

Compiling and submitting an application

Often, employees fired illegally do not know whether they can complain to the labor inspectorate after dismissal, and what period of time is given for this. So, the law does not limit the time for filing a complaint after dismissal , but the sooner the better.

So, it's time to take a closer look at the process of writing a complaint. An appeal to the state inspectorate is a full-fledged document, which is drawn up according to a number of rules , if you deviate from which, the authorities may not accept your complaint for consideration.

Document preparation

There is no unified sample application to government agencies; it is drawn up in a random order, indicating all existing claims, but at the same time with all the rules for preparing paper documentation:

  1. The explanation of your situation on paper should be brief enough so that the inspectorate does not have to moderate a large amount of unnecessary text, but also informative enough to outline the problems you are facing in a few paragraphs.
  2. It is necessary to check the text for spelling, punctuation and other errors. Most of the documentation today is rejected at the submission stage due to little things: an inappropriate hyphen or typo in the title. In other words, an initial review after writing is necessary.
  3. You also need to provide your own identification data : this is your full name, passport details, as well as your official place of registration. To contact inspection staff, you should provide a telephone number, email or other contact details so that you can receive an answer.

You need to fill out an application and send it to the labor inspection department at the place of registration of the enterprise.

There is also the possibility of transferring a collective complaint. A complaint from the entire team against the employer requires the signature and transcript of each employee participating in this process.

Attached documentation

To confirm your words, you will need to attach documents indicating the fact of a particular offense . The required documents vary depending on the nature of the complaint. A few examples:

  • In the event of an unmotivated refusal to provide annual paid leave, or if an employee is allowed to take a vacation, but refuses to pay for it, then an application for leave with a note of refusal .
  • If a complaint was filed in connection with the delay or lack of payment of wages, then a bank statement indicating all financial transfers will be required. In addition, you will need a copy of the employment contract , which must indicate all the conditions for remuneration (if these conditions are not there, then this is a separate, much more serious violation).
  • If the dismissal of an employee was carried out in violation of his rights, then, accordingly, a copy of the employment contract .

How to write an application for an employer?

When writing a complaint to the labor inspectorate against an employer, you need to take into account some nuances :

  • Before writing a collective complaint, you must select one representative on whose behalf the appeal will be written;
  • You need to find out which department of the GIT you should contact. As a rule, each district is assigned a separate subdivision; if the settlement is not very large, there can be only one subdivision;
  • The complaint must be written with references to the rules of law that were violated;
  • The application must be accompanied by a copy of the applicant’s passport and documents that can confirm the fact of violation of legal norms;
  • You can submit a complaint in several ways: via the Internet, by mail, in person;
  • If the application is submitted in person, it must be written in 2 copies, one of which must be certified by an employee of the State Tax Inspectorate, and remain in the hands of the applicant.

In order not to make mistakes and not to miss important points when writing a complaint, you can study the sample and write a complaint using a ready-made template.

When writing a complaint, it is necessary to exclude emotionally charged speech patterns and obscene expressions, otherwise consideration of the complaint will be refused.

The main thing is to write the appeal correctly, clearly state the essence of the claims, indicate and justify the requirements.

You can read about all the features of filing a complaint against an employer here.

Sample

Like all statements, a collective complaint to the State Tax Inspectorate has a standard structure. It should contain items such as :

  1. Document header. Information about the applicant and the department where the application is being submitted.
  2. The title of the document is a complaint.
  3. Body of the document. Information about the employer, reason for applying, requirements.
  4. List of attached documents.
  5. Signatures of the applicants (with transcript), date.

Application methods

  1. Personal transfer. You can personally hand over the package of documents to the inspection officer, or, more likely, submit it to the reception. In this case, you must keep second copies of all documents.
  2. By registered mail. Paper documentation is sent by mail. When choosing this option, you will accordingly need to attach an inventory of the attachment, since this is classified as a valuable letter.
  3. Fill out the form on the inspection website. Today this is perhaps the most common and relevant option. Its advantages over the classic “paper” one are obvious: after registering on the site, you need to fill out an electronic form and leave an application. Next, the accompanying documentation is either digitized or photographed and attached to the email.

According to the rules, the inspection undertakes to consider your application immediately after receipt, and must respond as quickly as possible, within fifteen days .

In practice, the time frame for consideration varies depending on the nature of the complaint, the circumstances of your problem and the severity of the violations. So if the situation is very serious and a massive check is required, then the review time can be extended up to thirty days.

If we are talking about simple excesses, for example, violations during dismissal, then the response to the complaint will come within 7-10 days.

Samples of writing complaints against an employer:


Click to enlarge.


Click to enlarge.

Case practice

If the application is completed correctly, then after its receipt and consideration, an unscheduled inspection is carried out at the enterprise. Based on the results of the inspection, an order is issued , a fine is imposed on the organization, and in some cases, in case of gross violations, the company’s activities may even be suspended. Let's look at specific examples of the outcome of cases after inspections due to collective complaints from workers.

After the labor inspectorate receives an application from employees. Employees complained about unpaid overtime, lack of uniforms and lack of tools necessary for work. An unscheduled inspection was initiated, as a result of which several fines were imposed on the company in a total amount of 300,000 rubles.

If, during an inspection, a violation of several points of the law was recorded at the company, a fine is imposed on each point separately.

The employees wrote a complaint against the employer -. In their appeal, they complained about a poorly functioning air conditioner, which made the office very stuffy and difficult to work with. GIT employees conducted an inspection, as a result of which they issued an order to eliminate the air conditioner malfunctions. The employer repaired the equipment. Since the violation was minor, no fine was imposed on the company.

Anonymity

A common problem that arises between employees and the inspectorate is the category of citizens who want to remain anonymous (for example, due to fear of dismissal, or loss of reputation among other employees).

The problem is that the state inspectorate does not accept such statements , since they have no legal force and do not indicate any specific legal violation.

In fact, to ensure confidentiality, it is enough to do everything according to the protocol, indicate all personal information, attach documents, etc. But at the end, add that he (the applicant) requires non-disclosure of personal information. Then all formalities will be observed, but the identity of the applicant will remain secret to the employer and others.

Collective complaint against the employer to the prosecutor's office

A complaint signed by two or more applicants is considered a collective complaint. The standard procedures for acceptance, registration and operation apply to such applications. Order of the Prosecutor General's Office of Russia dated January 30, 2013 N 45, which describes the regulations for the body's work with citizens, does not highlight collective complaints in any special way. Therefore, in general, when preparing it, you can use all the recommendations outlined above.

Such a document may be prepared at a meeting, rally or similar event and signed by the organizers or participants.

Apply online

An online complaint is considered the easiest way to complain about an employer. The procedure for contacting the labor inspectorate via the Internet:

  1. Register on the official website of government services.
  2. On the labor inspectorate website, in the information section, you need to send a message to the inspectorate. A corresponding form will appear that you will need to fill out. Personal data is entered: last name, first name and patronymic, telephone number, passport with registration, information about the company against which the complaint is being made: name in full form, work details, telephone number, legal entity. address, last name, first name, patronymic of the manager.
  3. Reason for contacting: here you need to indicate that you are filing a complaint (unless, of course, you require consultations or request an inspection).

Watch a video about the online inspection portal:

Consequences of considering a complaint under the law

If the application is properly drafted and contains sufficient information about the offense committed by the employer, it will be considered within 30 days. Upon completion of the inspection, the complainant will be notified.

During the organization of an inspection of the employer regarding the violations set out in the application, the inspector has the right to carry out any verification actions aimed at a full assessment of working conditions.

For this purpose, an inspection is carried out, employees of the organization are interviewed, and the necessary documentation is requested for verification. For example, if employees are delayed in receiving payment for their work or are not paid at all for their work, first of all, the payroll record is checked.

Upon completion of the procedure, a report is issued. This document will list all the facts indicating violations of labor law. The inspector records everything, even if the offenses affect not only individual employees, but also the entire team in general.

That is, in any case, after checking according to the rules, a report is drawn up.

Verification based on complaint

So, the inspectorate accepted the complaint, the employee received a notice of inspection. Now employees should arrive at the enterprise on a working visit any day now . What and how does the inspector check?

The inspection procedure is prescribed by the inspector himself and may vary depending on the specifics of the case:

  • On-site inspection. The most common case of inspections. The inspector simply appears at the institution and begins an audit. For employers, this is the worst option, since they do not have time to “cover their tracks” and come to an agreement with the workers. During such an inspection, the inspector inspects workplaces and documents local working conditions, asks employees of the enterprise about their working conditions, possible violations, and asks leading questions. In this case, all answers are recorded. Examines documents, both relevant and not related to the complaint received. If a service employee identifies any categories of offenses, then he can either determine a fine for the employer, the amount of which is individual in each specific situation and depends on the severity of the violations, or give the head of the enterprise an order , which indicates a list of violations that need to be corrected within a specified period.
  • Request documentation. An easier verification option, in which the service employee simply requests all relevant documents and works with them independently. Documents are sent either personally or by courier service.

What to do after submitting documents?

Now you know how to contact the labor inspectorate via the Internet. What will be the result? Main tasks of the inspection:

  • Monitor employers for compliance with labor laws;
  • Analyze working conditions;
  • Receive complaints from employees and work on them.

After accepting an application from an employee, the department inspector is obliged to conduct an inspection without warning the employer. The event is aimed at identifying violations and their facts that were described in the complaint.

Example: the manager did not provide an employee of one of the enterprises with the required annual leave, motivating his action by an acute shortage of personnel. The employee filed a complaint with the labor inspectorate about non-compliance by the head of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation with regard to the provision of leave. They were presented with documents about the period they were in the workplace, as well as a statement about going on vacation two years ago. Based on the results of the inspection, the inspector decided that the employee did not receive legal leave and ordered the employer to provide it.

The main measures of influence on unscrupulous managers by government bodies are fines. Their sizes may vary, depending on the degree of violation of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. For example, for unofficial employment, an employer can be fined 100-150 thousand rubles, and for delaying wage payments - up to 400 thousand rubles.

All the places where you can file a complaint against an employer are described in the following article.

The applicant and his complaint in the online form will be considered only if there are facts of violation. If the check confirms them, the negligent employer will be punished. By the way, in some cases liability can be reclassified from administrative to criminal.

What to do if you disagree with the test results?

In accordance with federal law, if you are dissatisfied with the result of the inspection, you have the right to appeal within 10 days. To do this, you only need to re-write the application and attach all the relevant documents.

It should be understood that the employee has the right to send an application to several authorities simultaneously, and the most important will be the decision made by the court.

If your appeal has not been answered and the allowable period has expired, then you can:

  1. Submit a second complaint. In some cases, a response is not received due to software errors or other technical problems. That is, you should contact again to exclude such a version.
  2. Contact lawyers. It was also noted that most documents of this kind are immediately rejected due to the presence of gross errors in them, not only stylistic, but also legal. So you should invite a specialist in this field to correct the text.

If a complaint is received, but there are no results, you can complain about the inaction of the labor inspectorate to the prosecutor's office in your area.

A sample complaint to the prosecutor's office can be downloaded here.

How to file a complaint

The legislation does not provide for a unified form, so the complaint is drawn up in any form in compliance with the structure characteristic of this type of document.

What needs to be indicated in a collective complaint against a manager:

  1. In the header they write the position and full name of the addressee (the head of the organization or supervisory authority), and the full name of the senders. If there are a lot of employees, then it is better to simply write that this is a team of employees of some department, and present a list of employees with positions and names at the end of the complaint or attach it to it as a separate document. Also in the header indicate the telephone number of the person responsible for writing the complaint (representative of the workforce).
  2. Title of the document.
  3. Circumstances that prompted employees to file a complaint. It must be described in detail, without including colloquial or obscene words. You need to restrain the expression of emotions. If possible, the text should be supported by references to legislation.
  4. Request from the workforce. As a rule, they are asked to understand the situation and take action. In critical situations, you can ask to fire the manager.
  5. Attachments to the document. If there is evidence: video, official correspondence, photos, then this fact is reflected in the complaint, and documents are attached to it.
  6. At the end of the complaint, employees put their signatures. Or, if there are many dissatisfied with the management, only a representative of the team can sign, and the rest will sign on a separate sheet, which also needs to be attached to the document.

For your information! The document must be printed in 2 copies. One is sent to management, the prosecutor’s office or labor inspectorate, etc., and the team representative keeps the second.

We have compiled a sample of a collective complaint against the immediate superior, addressed to the head of the organization.

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