Many people are familiar with the concept of time off, although it is not found in the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. Carrying out professional activities during a period outside the work schedule gives workers the right to compensation in the form of additional free days, for which a document with legal force is required - an order for time off.
Procedure for granting time off for previously worked time
Calling upon employees to perform official duties outside of working hours is permitted only after obtaining the written consent of each of them.
For the unrealized right to rest, the manager can offer his subordinates:
- increased wages;
- additional day off.
The employee has the right to independently choose the compensation option that suits him. In this case, the so-called time off - additional days of rest - will be provided at the most convenient time for him. Registration of time off begins with the employee drawing up an application in which he must write the desired number of days of rest and indicate the dates.
Preliminary agreement on the possibility of choosing this period with the manager will help to avoid disagreements, since changes will need to be made to the organization’s work schedule. The decision to grant time off is confirmed by an order from the employer. Then HR specialists make the necessary entries in the time sheet.
It is worth noting that an employee has the right to take time off not only for the day previously worked, but also:
- towards the upcoming paid vacation;
- without maintaining salary.
Regarding the possibility of providing an employee with additional free days at his own expense, the employer has the right to make a decision at his own discretion, with the exception of the following grounds:
- birth of a child;
- celebration of marriage registration;
- death of a relative.
These events, confirmed by documents, unconditionally allow the employee to be temporarily released from work duties.
The law also identifies the following categories of workers to whom the organization must provide an additional day off, even if this day has not previously been worked:
- blood donors;
- operating in conditions of accidents, emergencies or natural disasters;
- performing official duties on weekends or holidays due to production needs;
- rotational mercenaries who have already exceeded the norm of days worked.
It is also important to know that time off must be granted regardless of the number of overtime hours worked. This principle also applies to employees traveling on business during holidays or weekends.
Expert opinion
Irina Vasilyeva
Civil law expert
Accumulated additional days of rest for previously worked time can be added to vacation, thereby increasing its duration.
Grounds for taking time off
An employee has the right to receive an additional day of rest in 3 cases:
- when an employee goes to work on a day that is a day off for him (Article 153 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation);
- when going to work coincides with the day of blood donation or the day of blood donation falls on the period of the next vacation or on a general day off or a non-working holiday (Article 186 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation);
- when the donor does not immediately use the day allotted to him for rest following the day of blood donation (Article 186 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).
In the first case, time off occurs if the employee decides to refuse the double amount of payment for work on a day off, choosing a single amount of this payment and providing an additional unpaid day of rest.
Rest days provided to donors (as well as days of blood donation) are paid. The amount of this fee is determined by the employee’s average earnings.
The right to choose the day to which the rest day will be transferred remains with the employee. But he cannot always make such a choice immediately at the moment the right to time off arises. Therefore, the employer needs to organize a record of the facts:
- the appearance of time off;
- their use by employees.
The employee will have to indicate his intention to use the available time off on a specific date in an application submitted to the employer. And the employer, based on this document, will issue an order to grant time off. If before the day off, which becomes a working day for the employee, he already knows when he will need a day of rest in place of this day, the decision to grant time off with an indication of its date can be reflected in the order to hire him to work on a day off.
Useful information from Consultant+ about the possible risks of violating the procedure for granting an employee time off
In this case, in particular, there is a risk of administrative liability under Parts 1 and 2 of Art. 5.27 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation - for example, if you refuse to provide an employee with time off, which he is entitled to by law.
But there may be other risks associated with a specific time off (read more).
How to place an order correctly?
So, obtaining additional days of rest for workers requires a written order from the director. An order to grant time off for previously worked time is drawn up in any form, since there is no uniform form for it.
The document must contain:
- number, date and name;
- name and details of the organization;
- the essence of the issue indicating the name and position of the employee;
- the basis for granting and date of leave;
- manager's signature;
- Full name of the person responsible for familiarizing the employee with the order.
If additional days off are provided at the request of several team members at once, it is allowed to issue one order for all employees, indicating their data in the form of a table. It is necessary for the employer to issue an order, since the oral agreement between the parties is contrary to labor law. In the future, this document will serve as the legal basis for the actions of the accounting and personnel departments.
The manager’s risk in case of an unformed agreement with an employee on time off is as follows: if a subordinate gets injured on his free day, it can be regarded as work-related. After all, at that time the citizen, according to his documents, was at his workplace, and the organization was responsible for his safety.
The manager’s order for time off relates to documentation related to personnel issues; it must be stored in the archives of the enterprise for 5 years. If the order for an employee to leave on a non-working day contained a clause on the date of granting him time off, a new document is not required to be issued.
Let's sum it up
- The right to time off (an additional day of rest) arises for an employee if he is involved in work on a day off with a single pay for it or does not timely use the days off from work provided to donors.
- The employee chooses the date for using the time off himself, indicating it in the application for a day of rest, if such a date is not immediately determined by him at the time of drawing up the order to be hired to work on a day off.
- The employee’s application serves as the basis for issuing an order to grant time off. Such an order does not have a legally approved form, and it is drawn up according to the standard rules used by the employer when creating organizational and administrative documents. The main part of the order must state the reasons for granting time off, indicate to whom and when it will be granted, and whether this day should be paid for.
Example of filling out the form
The content of the manager’s order to provide an employee with an additional day of rest for previously worked time is discussed in the previous section. So, a sample order for time off for working on a weekend may look like this:
Limited Liability Company "Resurs"
INN 01234567890, KPP 123456789, OKPO 12345678
ORDER No. 25
on providing an employee with another day of rest for working on a day off
Moscow 08/07/2019
In connection with the involvement of cashier A.I. Petrova to work on a day off (August 03, 2021)
I ORDER:
Provide A.I. Petrova with another day of rest - August 8, 2019 (without additional payment).
Base:
– order “On employment on days off” dated August 2, 2019 No. 1;
– statement by A.I. Petrova dated August 6, 2021
General Director ______________ V. G. Aksenov
I have read the order:
cashier ______________ A. I. Petrova
07.08.2019
The presence of signatures of the parties in the documents will serve as necessary evidence when applying to the labor inspectorate or resolving disputes in court.
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To prevent time off from becoming absenteeism: how to use a day of rest for working on a day off
Labor legislation provides the employee with the right to rest: with a 5-day working week, everyone is guaranteed 2 days off, with a 6-day week - one. However, in case of production necessity, the employer has the right to involve a specialist to work on a day off. And in such a situation, labor relations are regulated by law, which cannot be ignored.
Electrician Nikolai sent an angry letter. The object of his dissatisfaction was the employer of one of the housing and communal services organizations in the Brest region, where Nikolai had worked until recently. “Recently I have had to go to work on weekends too often. According to the results of last year, I had more than the number of working days off required by law – 14,” writes an electrician from the housing and communal services sector of the Brest region. - Yes, I gave my consent to this myself, putting myself in the position of others: some have small children, some have a pregnant wife or sick parents... But everything is fine with me. And not only colleagues, but also the employer began to take advantage of this - they were constantly required to work on Saturdays. I have accumulated a lot of time off, and a month ago I used three of them at my own discretion. The management raised a scandal - they had no right. In response, I quit.”
In addition to the employer, Nikolai is also offended by the trade union committee, which allegedly did not support him. Chief Legal Labor Inspector of the Brest Regional Association of Trade Unions Irina Mikhnovich
brings clarity.
- Let's start with a small educational program,
- suggests the trade union lawyer.
– According to Article 142 of the Labor Code, work on weekends is allowed at the suggestion of the employer and with the consent of the employee, minus exceptional cases - prevention of disasters, industrial accidents, accidents, when the employer has the right to involve the employee in the performance of official duties without his consent.
Current legislation allows for the use of no more than 12 days off per year for work. In the case of the electrician, there were 14 used days off (this was confirmed by the organization).
However, we will not rush to convict the employer of violating the Labor Code. As Irina Mikhnovich explained, the maximum number of days off on which one has to work does not include those days when a person was involved in work due to emergency circumstances (Article 143 of the Labor Code).
It remains to deal with one more problem of Nikolai, because of which he even quit in the heat of the moment - the use of time off.
– Actually, in the Labor Code of our country there is no such concept as “time off”,
– Irina Mikhnovich clarifies.
– In accordance with Article 142 of the Labor Code, work on weekends is compensated by agreement of the parties with increased pay or the provision of another day of rest, which is called time off.
Workers should always remember that it can easily turn into absenteeism if it is not used skillfully. The case with Nikolai is proof of this. To use a day off from work granted for work on weekends, you must obtain the consent of the employer. Only after this will absence from work be considered legal.
According to
the official website of the Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus
