The work book is lost: what to do and how to restore it if there is a photocopy?

A work book is an official document that displays all the work activities of a citizen. If you lose your book, you should definitely restore it, since otherwise it will be impossible to prove information about your work experience.

It is believed that this is a rather lengthy procedure associated with the collection of many documents. Some citizens who do not have much work experience even create a new document. However, if the length of service is impressive, then you cannot do without restoring your work record. The features of this procedure are discussed in detail in this article.

How to restore a work book if lost?

A work book is an important personnel document. It is required to immediately make a duplicate in case of loss. According to Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 255 of April 16, 2003, this important document cannot be issued again. If the book is lost and it is restored, then the duplicate version is marked “duplicate”.

It is necessary to find out at the very beginning who is to blame for the fact that the book was lost.

Determining who is at fault affects who should be responsible for creating the second version of the document.

There can only be two clear answers to the question, because the work book can be either with the employer or with the citizen himself, who was not working anywhere at the time of the disappearance. This means that either the organization’s HR department or the citizen himself may be to blame for the loss.

If the owner has lost the book, then he will have to deal with the new book himself. To solve the problem yourself, you need to prepare all the necessary documents that prove actual work at the enterprises.

Such documents include certificates of total length of service, employment contracts, personal accounts, receipts for receiving payments. It must be remembered that a photocopy of the book is not the main document in this case, even if it was certified by the personnel of the enterprise.

Employer's liability for loss of employment

Chapter VIII of Government Resolution No. 225 “On Work Books” states that the legal obligation to keep a work book during the period of work rests entirely with the employer. He is legally liable for failure to comply with this regulation.

To restore justice, an employee can resort to the help of the Labor Inspectorate or go to court:

1. If the employer, for various reasons, delays issuing the work book (by law he is obliged to give it back on the day of dismissal) and the victim does not have the opportunity to work in the new organization, then in accordance with Art. 234 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the former employer must finance all the hours of work missed due to this situation.
2. If an employee was forced to independently restore a lost book due to the fault of the employer, then he has reason to claim full compensation for all monetary expenses (travel to another city, costs of purchasing forms, photocopies of papers, consultation with a lawyer, collection of certificates, etc.) .
3. In the case where the employee also suffered moral damage, then, according to Art. 237 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, he has the opportunity to receive monetary compensation if he can confirm the fact of these episodes.

The law provides for quite effective administrative penalties:

• According to paragraph 1. Art. 5.27 of the Code of Administrative Offenses “Violation of labor legislation”, a fine of 1 thousand to 5 thousand rubles is imposed on a small company (without the formation of a legal entity), and on a legal entity - from 30,000 to 50,000 rubles.
• If an employer or his authorized person repeatedly fails to comply with labor legislation, then, in accordance with paragraph 2 of Article 5.27 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, an official of a small company (without forming a legal entity) is subject to a fine of 10,000 to 20,000 rubles, or the authorized person is disqualified for a period of 1 up to 3 years. For a legal entity - from 50,000 to 70,000 rubles or disqualification of an authorized person for a period of 1 to 3 years.

Important! Violation of standards for storing work records in accordance with Art. 13.20. “Violation of the rules for storing archival documents” entails a penalty in the amount of 300 to 500 rubles.

Of course, the employer or his authorized person is unlikely to go to prison for losing a work book, but in case of gross and flagrant violations, he can be brought to criminal liability:

• if the employer intentionally tore, threw out or damaged the work book (Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, Article 325 “Theft or damage to documents...”);
• the employer did not try to prevent a situation that resulted in a massive loss of documents or created unsuitable conditions for their safety (Article 293 “Negligence” of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation);
• the employer stated rudely that he did not intend to give the employee his document (Article 140 “Refusal to provide information to a citizen”).

Who can help?

If the document is lost by the manager, then he must arrange for a duplicate and restore the records. The book may be lost due to the inattention of the manager or his employees.

The head of the enterprise (or individual entrepreneur) is responsible for the safety of all important documents in the workplace from the day the citizen gets a job.

In addition, the books of many employees may disappear if, for example, an emergency occurs. You also need to know the following: if an organization has been subjected to theft, or it has burned down, then in order to confirm the length of service of any employee, a group of people from the trade union, government agencies and the manager gathers.

If important papers confirming a person’s work at a particular enterprise are missing, then it is necessary to go to court . During the trial, the general length of service will be renewed based on the evidence of the employee’s colleagues.

In addition, it is possible to restore the document by contacting the Pension Fund of the organization where the person recently worked.

A citizen has the right to immediately seek help from the head of the organization as soon as a loss is discovered. The employer will have to issue a duplicate of the book and this obligation is not affected by the fact that the employee may not have worked for him for a long time. How long ago a person left the organization does not matter either.

When dismissing, you need to make sure that the necessary entry and relevant details are present in the work book, otherwise the work experience cannot be taken into account.

The HR department can restore the work book after its owner writes the necessary application.

The organization must restore the document within two weeks . To do this, the citizen submits documentary facts proving the existence of work experience; they are taken as a basis by the personnel department in order to make the necessary entries in a duplicate of the book.

The manager has the right to ask the citizen to submit the necessary documents (certificates) from previous places of work (paragraph 7, clause 7.2 of the resolution of the Ministry of Labor of the Russian Federation) if the loss occurred due to the fault of the owner of the book.

If there are no documents confirming the citizen’s length of service, then the HR department will not be able to record data on the length of service on a duplicate. If such a circumstance exists, you will need to contact the Pension Fund.

Situations when recovery is required

Situations in which it may be necessary to restore a document confirming experience are varied.

Among them may be:

• loss of the book by the employee himself;
• loss by employer;
• damage to the work record form (for example, as a result of mechanical damage).

Separately, the law indicates situations when it is lost as a result of an unforeseen, force majeure event.

In all of the above cases, it is important to begin document recovery in a timely manner, since its availability is necessary for:

1. Employment. A work book is a mandatory document when registering an employment relationship.

1. Proof of work experience. Many employers, when recruiting personnel for certain positions, require potential employees to have certain experience in their specialty.

1. Confirmation of work experience. When contacting a number of government bodies, in particular the Pension Fund of Russia, the work book is the only confirmation that contains the necessary information about the periods of work activity.

Important! The term “recovery of work record” is not entirely correct. The regulations that regulate this procedure indicate the possibility of issuing only a duplicate of the original.

Procedure

In order to restore a lost work book, there is a certain action plan :

1. The first step, as discussed above, is to determine who is to blame for the loss of the document.
2. After this, you need to contact the HR department at your last place of work and provide them with an application for a duplicate.

The organization is given fifteen days to restore the work record.
It is necessary to remember that you must submit the application in person, and also check for the presence of a signature on acceptance. Control is also possible through registered mail, which includes a notification of delivery. If the loss of employment occurred due to the fault of a citizen, then the restoration of the document is the direct responsibility of the person, and the head of the enterprise can only contribute.

This document is restored the same way everywhere. To do this, you need to send a corresponding request to the managers, and they, in turn, will issue documents about the length of work, length of service and position held by the citizen.

Duplicate

Such a document is issued in cases of loss or unsuitability of the original book, for example, after floods, fires, or careless handling that led to mechanical damage. If the cause was damage, on the first page of the document there is the inscription “a duplicate was issued instead.” In case of loss, there will only be a “duplicate” mark.

Conditions that allow you to obtain a duplicate work book:

• Loss of both the book itself and the insert. The owner is obliged to notify the administration about the incident. The period for making and issuing a copy is 15 calendar days.
• The book is unusable due to time, accident, or careless handling.
• Invalidation of entries in a document.
• In cases of employees who were charged with criminal charges but were acquitted.
• If the cause of unsuitability or loss was natural disasters and factors beyond human control.

Filling out a duplicate

The HR department is aware of how to correctly make entries in a duplicate:

• Calendar numbers are entered in Arabic numerals.
• You cannot resort to cuts and corrections.
• To enter data, use a blue or black pen.
• The word “Duplicate” is written in the top corner.

Read our article for instructions on filling out work books.

Start filling out from the first sheet, on which you enter the necessary information:

• First name, last name and patronymic of the citizen.
• What date was he born?
• What specialty does he have?
• Information about activities.
• After this, the citizen confirms the data with his signature, and the HR department employee puts a stamp.

Storage order

Since work books belong to the documentation of strict accounting records, Russian legislation provides imperative regulation for the maintenance and storage of these documents.

Legal basis:

• Law 125-FZ on archival affairs;
• Government Resolution 225, which reveals the rules for the production of work books, issuance of them to employers, maintenance and storage;
• Order of the Ministry of Culture 558, which contains a list of formal administrative archival documents created during the management of government bodies, municipalities and independent enterprises, as well as instructions on the period of their storage.

So, based on these grounds, in the matter of storage it is necessary to be guided by the 43rd paragraph of the government decree, which states that if upon dismissal an employee is not given his book, and upon death, close relatives do not request it, this document is stored in the archives of the employer - the enterprise or physical entrepreneur.

In paragraph 40 of this act it is stated that in order to store work books, the employer is obliged to keep records of them as follows:

• in the book of accounting of forms and inserts of work books, keep income and expense events;
• keep a book of records of the movement of forms and inserts of work books.

Thus, if the employee is not given his book, the employer is charged with keeping it. Moreover, such books must be kept in a separate archive, not connected with the books of working employees.

As a rule, the head of the enterprise assigns the functions of storing such an archive to a certain responsible person - a specialist from the accounting department or the human resources department.

The above-mentioned order of the Ministry of Culture approved the storage period for unclaimed books in the archive - 75 years. If a document is requested by its owner or legal successor, the booklet is issued to the person, and the employer is relieved of the obligation.

Do the books continue to be stored when the enterprise ceases to operate and where is the archive of work books sent? If a company undergoes liquidation or reorganization, then, according to Law 125, work books are sent to the state or local archive, where they continue to be preserved for a regulated period of 75 years.

If there is a photocopy

If a person has taken care in advance to photocopy the book and have it certified, then making a duplicate will become faster and easier . A photocopy of the book can be certified by HR or by an accountant.

If a citizen at the time of losing the book has a copy of it, then he needs to submit a statement of loss to the organization in which he recently worked. A photocopy of an important document must be attached to the application.

After the HR employee is provided with an application and a copy, he will be able to begin restoring the work record. At the same time, entries that were marked as invalid will not be included in the second version of the book.

To restore the length of service , it is necessary to take as evidence documents from previous organizations in which the citizen worked. These documents must be given to the current manager. Based on them, records are made about the number of hires, the date and reason for dismissal, and the name of the document.

From this we can conclude that the easiest way to restore a book is to have a photocopy of it and provide it at the right time.
Thus, information about the owner will be renewed in the first days after submitting the application, along with proof of the accumulated experience.
For this reason, it is recommended to always make a photocopy and have the document certified.

Was the book lost?

There are situations when an employee of the HR department looks for a work book for a long time and worries about it, but it is found after some time.

This is not always the fault of the HR manager or another company employee. The book is quite likely to end up in the employee’s home, and the personnel officer may not even think about checking the employee’s personal file, where there is a receipt stating that he temporarily took it, for example, in order to apply for a pension.

First of all, it is recommended to give the HR department a few days to search for:

• You need to collect as much information about the book as possible. In the book of accounting and movements of work books, you can see the date and its number upon admission, and look at the books of other employees who got a job on that day.
• It is also recommended to look into the employee’s personal file; perhaps there is his receipt stating that he temporarily took the document or did not have it in his hands at the time of hiring (if it was lost or the first appointment, the personnel officer could simply forget to draw up the document), etc. d.
• It is necessary to find out whether the employee changed his last name before joining the company or already while working in it, and check whether the work book is in the safe under the old last name.

Restoration of work record

In case of liquidation of the enterprise

First you need to make sure that the company has been liquidated. The possibility of transforming the organization should be excluded. If a new enterprise has been formed, which is the successor of the previous one, then the documents can be obtained there.

If the organization was actually liquidated, it is recommended to contact the archive to obtain the necessary certificate. All organizations during their liquidation move their main documents to the archive. There you need to pick up a certain document, which is an archival certificate.

Through the Pension Fund

Before contacting this authority, it is recommended to develop an action plan, as well as prepare the necessary documents to prove work experience . To restore a book through PF, you must:

1. Find out who is to blame for the loss.
2. Find a photocopy of the main document.
3. Prepare a folder with basic papers that relate to work activities.
4. Come to the Pension Fund to obtain information about all previous organizations in which the citizen worked (such information is stored in a special Pension Fund archive).
5. Submit an application to the head of the organization to restore the document.

If the work book is lost in the HR department, then the manager is obliged to leave a request to previous places of work, to the Pension Fund and its archive.

Statement

As already mentioned, no one will issue a duplicate without a prior application. This is an official document that must be drawn up in accordance with regulations. In order to hurry up HR officers, it is better to follow the unwritten rules for drawing up and directly delivering an application:

• Since, according to the law (in theory), a duplicate is issued at the last place of work, the name of the organization or enterprise must appear in the first paragraph of the document.
• A new line should indicate the reason for the lack of a work record, ranging from theft and fires to banal inattention. Advice: if the document was lost due to the fault of the employee, then it is better to indicate a reason that is more compelling than “just lost.”
• If the document was damaged, but is available, it is better to attach it as evidence.
• If there is a reference to theft, it is necessary to submit a copy of the statement to the police.
• The third paragraph is meant to remind HR that no matter how busy they are, they are still required to provide you with a duplicate after the 15 day period.
• To ensure that the application does not get lost, immediately make a copy of it, which will come to your defense in the event that the employer fails to comply with the current legislation and its obligations.
• It is very important to know that the 15-day rule does not apply if the current employer is issuing a duplicate.

What entries are made in the duplicate work book?

Ideally, the same entries are made in the duplicate as in the original document. But it is very difficult to put this into practice, so there are rules regulating the required minimum of entries in the labor record:

• Statements of general and/or continuous work experience that were recorded before joining a new place of work. In this case, there is no need to clarify the periods of work at each of the previous places. The full amount in the format: “number of years-months-days” is sufficient.
• Incentives from your last job (if any).
• Hiring data.
• Name of the enterprise, name of the workshop/division, position, profession and specialty and qualifications.
• If there was a transfer to another position, this must be indicated.
• Information about dismissal (date, reason, order number).
• Next, indicate the number of the document that served as the reason for issuing a duplicate (application and corresponding decision).