Claim for reclaiming a work record book: sample, assistance from a lawyer

The loss of a work book threatens to result in long efforts to restore it. To speed up the process of obtaining a duplicate work permit, you need to know some legal subtleties.

Loss of a work book occurs:

through the fault of a company employee;
due to the negligence of the employer;
due to damage to the work book (LC);
mass loss under extreme circumstances.

Restoring a work book in case of loss by an employee

A worker, having lost this document, often simply starts a new book when the entries in the lost one are few. However, it is better to restore all records of places of work, since without this data, years credited to the length of service are lost.

The employee's procedure is as follows:

Submitting an application to the employer to issue a duplicate Labor Code;
Independent collection of certificates of employment in previous companies or ordering a certificate from the Pension Fund of Russia.

An application for reinstatement of a work book is written in free form to the current or former employer. The latter, within 15 days from the date of submission of the application by the former subordinate, draws up a duplicate Labor Code, entering into it information about hiring, dismissals, bonuses and other remunerations of the worker.

Duplicate work book: let's break it down

A new work book may be required in three cases: the document is lost or hopelessly damaged by the employee himself, lost by the employer as a result of some natural disaster, or the record of dismissal / transfer to another position is declared invalid.

In any of these options, issuing a duplicate work book in case of loss or by court decision falls on the shoulders of the last employer. If a specialist leaves you and irreparably spoils a document without having time to get a new job, you will be in charge of restoring it. If the employee has already concluded an employment contract with you and only after that reported the loss, now this is also your concern.

You can easily find a sample of filling out a duplicate work book on any specialized website. After opening a new form, make the entry “Duplicate” on the title page. Remember: the general requirements for its design are exactly the same as for the original document. They can be found in the Rules for maintaining and storing work books approved by the Government of the Russian Federation (Resolution No. 225 of April 16, 2003).

The employer must issue a duplicate work book no later than 15 days from the date the employee submits the application (clause 31 of the Rules).

The main differences concern the “Job Information” section: the first in the duplicate should be a record of the employee’s total length of service - the number of years, months and even days that the person worked before entering the last position. And below, enter the individual periods of his employment, indicating the serial number of the entry, date of admission, position held, etc.

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Remember that any entry must be supported by relevant document or testimony. If the books are lost at the enterprise due to force majeure, the employee’s length of service at this place is approved by a special commission. Also, based on her decision, inquiries are made to previous employers. If an employee is to blame for the loss of employment, he must independently request the necessary certificates from all places of work, however, the Rules strongly recommend that the employer provide him with assistance. The request form is free. How many organizations - so many requests.

Difficulties begin if the enterprise where the person was once employed no longer exists or has been reorganized. Then requests should be addressed to the territorial archive or successor company. Supporting documents can be certificates, extracts from orders, personal files or personal cards, personal accounts, payroll statements, etc.

Before asking a previous employer for an employee's personal information, you must obtain their permission in writing.

If the submitted documents do not contain all the necessary information, then the duplicate records only those facts that are in these documents.

Many personnel officers make a serious mistake: they indicate the original document as the basis - the order of admission / dismissal / transfer. However, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that only a document that you have personally seen can be entered, for example, a certificate or an extract from an order received from the employee’s previous place of work. Only the latest entry can be certified with stamps; earlier entries are simply entered in accordance with the Rules.

If it is necessary to issue a new document because one of the entries was declared invalid - entered by mistake or declared illegal by the court, a specialist from the personnel service prepares a duplicate work book based on the original.

No one is immune from the loss of documents, so you can make photocopies of your work documents in advance and have them certified. This won't take much time, but will make it much easier to restore them if necessary.

Restoring a work book in case of loss by the employer

The work record book of an employee working in an organization is kept by his employer. The employer is responsible for the safety of the work books of his subordinates, therefore, in the event of their loss or loss due to an emergency, the director of the enterprise or an individual entrepreneur as a responsible person is responsible for the restoration.

The procedure for restoring the book by the employer:

Receiving an application from an employee to restore the Labor Code;
Obtaining information from a subordinate about previous places of work;
Sending requests to the employee’s former employers and receiving certificates from them indicating the terms of work in the organization, position held, incentives, etc.;
Issuance of a duplicate TC based on the received data.

Reasons for obtaining a duplicate work record book

The grounds for issuing a duplicate are listed in the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation “On work books” dated April 16, 2003 No. 225 (clauses 31, 33). There is also a procedure that must be followed.

The reasons for obtaining a duplicate are as follows:

Damage to a book, for example, due to exposure to moisture, fire, or due to the fact that the book has become dilapidated from old age.
Loss of a book or its theft.
Loss of books by the employer, for example, due to emergency circumstances - explosion, flood, etc.
The presence in the book of a record of dismissal or transfer, which was declared invalid by a court decision.

To issue a duplicate, you need to write a statement about it. It is submitted to the employer in any way - personally; by mail.

If an employee worked in several organizations, the application must be submitted at the last place of employment, even if he has already quit and is no longer working there.

If the document is handed over personally to the employer, or to the human resources department or other department, it is necessary for the person who accepted the document to sign the acceptance. For this purpose, the application is drawn up in 2 copies, one of which remains with the employee. The signature of the person who accepted the document is placed on it.

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If the application is sent by mail, it is sufficient to send it by registered mail with acknowledgment of receipt and a list of the contents.

After receiving the application, the employer is obliged to review it and make a decision on issuing a duplicate or refusing to issue it within 15 days. Calendar days.

Restoration of work records in case of mass loss

If an organization, due to an emergency situation, has lost the work books of its employees in large numbers, then the restoration of the labor code is carried out by a commission, which includes the employer, trade union workers, and representatives of the executive branch.

In the absence of supporting documents, the commission takes into account the testimony of two or more people from the citizen’s previous places of work.

Difficulties in restoring a work record

Liquidation of the company to which the request was sent by the employee/employer

When the enterprise where the employee previously worked is transformed, you can request the necessary data from the successor organization where the archive of the previous legal entity is stored.

The liquidation of the enterprise to which a request regarding the employee’s length of service is sent forces the person responsible for the loss of the Labor Code to contact government agencies.

If the information required for entering into a duplicate labor record is limited to five years, you need to contact the Pension Fund of Russia.

Procedure for applying to the Pension Fund:

Submitting an application for restoration of the work book (by registered mail, in person);
Receiving a certificate of work experience from the employer 10 days from the date of contacting the Pension Fund.

Important! The Pension Fund service is free.

If the employee’s work experience is more than five years, then this information is not available in the Pension Fund and you must contact the state archive.

Procedure for contacting the state archive:

Sending a request to the archive at the location of the organization;
Obtaining an archival certificate of work experience.

Employer's refusal to issue a duplicate

It happens that the employer, for some reason, refuses to issue a duplicate to the employee or denies the fact of his work in the company. In this case, the employee must contact the labor inspectorate or court to confirm the fact of working for this employer.

The procedure for going to court when restoring the Labor Code:

Drawing up a statement of claim;
Providing the necessary information about labor activity (employment contracts, a copy of the Labor Code, extracts from orders, etc.);
If necessary, collect testimony from former colleagues.

If a citizen’s last place of work is liquidated, then the restoration of the labor code must also be applied to the court at the place of residence. You can also demand compensation through the court if the company does not issue a Labor Code or its duplicate to the resigned employee.

Other cases that require obtaining a duplicate work book

The work book is damaged

It happens that the work book is somehow damaged: dirty, torn, wet, etc. In this situation, responsibility for restoring the labor code falls on the person who is guilty of causing harm - the employee or the employer. The recovery procedure in both cases is standard, described above.

Readable records in this case are transferred to a duplicate without supporting documents. Destroyed records as a result of mechanical impact (water, fire, etc.) require documentary confirmation.

An incorrect entry was made in the work book

When a duplicate is issued by the employer, the incorrect entry in the work book is not included in its duplicate. The remaining data is transferred completely.

In any case, there is no need to despair if you lose your job. As practice shows, all documents can be restored in one way or another, if desired.

The employer has lost the employee's work record book

As a general rule, it is the employee who will have to collect information about previous places of work, if available (clause 32 of the Rules). Moreover, the employer is obliged to assist the employee in obtaining the specified documents4 (clause 7.2 of the Instructions for filling out work books, approved by Resolution of the Ministry of Labor of Russia dated October 10, 2003 No. 69, hereinafter referred to as the Instructions, Resolution of the Ministry of Labor of the Russian Federation No. 69). The procedure for collecting information from previous places of work is not established by law. In the explanation given on the website onlineinspektsiya.rf, Rostrud admits that not only the employee, but also the employer (HR department employee) can request certificates from previous places of work to restore the employee’s work experience.5.

The legislation does not contain a specific list of documents confirming work experience6, on the basis of which entries can be made in the work book7.

To confirm your experience, you can submit, in particular, the following documents8:

employment contracts;
certificates from previous places of work;
certificates from the state or municipal archives;
extracts from employment (dismissal) orders or copies thereof;
personal accounts and payroll statements;
court decision on establishing length of service.

One of the most convincing evidence of an employee’s work experience is documents from the Pension Fund:

for the period before registration in the compulsory pension insurance system, for example, a certificate of work experience of the insured person in the SZV-K form and other forms9;
from the moment of registration in the compulsory pension insurance system of the Russian Federation, for example, personalized accounting information10.

When a former employer is reorganized, a document confirming the employee’s work experience is issued by his legal successor11. If the employer is liquidated, then you should apply for a certificate from the state or municipal archive.

The original documents, after making copies of them and proper certification by the personnel service, are returned to the employee (clause 7.2 of the Instructions).

Please note: a photocopy of the work book held by the employee is not a document on the basis of which entries are made in the duplicate work book12 (even if this copy is certified by the employer and his seal13). In this case, a preserved copy of the book can be presented in court as evidence of work experience14. By the way, Rostrud treats a notarized copy favorably, believing that it can serve as a basis for restoring records in a duplicate15.