Assigning additional responsibilities to the employee

All employers, when hiring employees and putting forward requirements for the performance of work duties, count on a responsible attitude to work in their companies. But after the conclusion of employment contracts, the needs of companies may change, and then it is necessary to make changes to the list of employee responsibilities. Often, employees have to take on additional work, which is not always even related to their specialization. Let's figure out how additional responsibilities are assigned to an employee, whether it is necessary to first obtain consent from a subordinate, and how to draw up documents.

In what cases is it necessary to assign additional responsibilities to an employee?

It rarely happens that the scope of responsibilities of a subordinate, determined at the time of concluding an employment contract when hiring, remains unchanged until dismissal, if the employee, when hired, was counting on long-term cooperation with the employer. At any time, when various circumstances arise, production may require solving new problems or overcoming difficulties, including adjusting the list of responsibilities of subordinates.

The only task facing the management of an enterprise in which some or all employees have been informed of a change in the list of job responsibilities is to increase the efficiency of the company, increase income and minimize costs.

Most often, the assignment of additional responsibilities to an employee is carried out by company employers in the following cases:

• when there is a need to distribute responsibilities between subordinates;
• when changing the organization of work in production;
• when changes occur in the production process (the appearance of new equipment, processes, new technologies, etc.);
• when the Government of the Russian Federation adopts new regulations related to the responsibilities of certain employees.

How to assign responsibilities to a temporarily absent employee under the Labor Code of the Russian Federation

The company's management uses a choice of one of the most convenient methods to replace employees who have gone on vacation.

Here is a list of possible methods for replacing employees during their annual leave:

• two positions are combined. The replacement employee acquires an additional workload - in addition to the duties provided for by his position, he also performs the work of his colleague who is on vacation;
• the use of part-time work. A person is obliged to devote additional, outside of the main schedule, free time to complete the tasks of a vacationer. Usually the employee does this after finishing his work day or on the weekend. Additional payment is provided for such work;
• translation on time. The employee is temporarily transferred to the position of a person who has gone on vacation, the performance of whose work tasks is of primary importance. The employee is temporarily relieved of duties in his main position;
• temporary engagement of an outside specialist. During the period that the employee is on vacation, the employer engages another specialist (freelance) to perform his duties, with whom he signs a fixed-term contract.

Expert opinion

Gusev Vladislav Semenovich

Lawyer with 10 years of experience. Specializes in criminal law. Member of the Bar Association.

Remember! Whatever method of exiting the situation is chosen in the organization, the fact of replacement is officially documented in accordance with all the rules provided for by law.

For this purpose, special preparation is required. documents, they will be discussed further.

Is it possible to resign of your own free will during vacation? Read here.

Assigning additional responsibilities to an employee within one position

Not a single legislative or other regulatory act contains instructions on how to draw up a job description; there are only recommendations from the labor inspectorate. In this regard, the employer can draw up a job description only if the enterprise needs such a document, and its form can be arbitrary

. In most cases, a decision is made to approve the instructions because this document:

• significantly simplifies the organization of labor in production;
• is registered “for the position”, and not subjectively “for the employee”;
• prevents disagreements regarding the work being performed;
• eliminates duplication of similar functions;
• delineates responsibility.

The director of the company or its owner has the right to independently develop the content of the job description, and therefore additional responsibilities may be added within the same position if they:

• caused by changes in working conditions;
• fit into the qualification characteristics;
• due to the technical reorganization of the enterprise.

Assigning additional responsibilities to an employee - 2 ways

Labor legislation provides for 2 options for legally registering the fact of assigning new responsibilities to an employee. We are talking about combination and internal part-time work:

Replacing an absent employee

According to the law, the appointment of an existing employee to the position of an employee who is on a business trip, on vacation, for treatment, etc., is a transfer. Replacing an absent employee is due to production needs. The law allows for transfer to another job without the employee’s consent.

Since this is not a vacant position, the period of temporary performance of duties for it is strictly limited. It cannot exceed a month during a (calendar) year.

Assigning additional responsibilities to an employee - step-by-step guidance

To formalize the assignment of additional responsibilities to an employee in the manner prescribed by law, you should adhere to the following scheme:

1. Send written notice to the employee 2 months before the planned changes in working conditions.
2. Issue an order on internal part-time work or combination (at the employer’s choice).
3. Draw up an additional agreement to the employment contract or conclude an additional employment contract (depending on whether internal or part-time work was chosen).
4. Make adjustments to the job description and submit it to the employee for signature.

Let's sum it up

• To transfer the duties of an absent employee to another employee, it is necessary to prepare a replacement order.
• The order does not have a unified form and is developed by the employer independently.
• The order must indicate the reason for its issuance, the full name of the absent and replacement employee, the timing of temporary replacement and the amount of additional payment.
• Data on temporary replacement are not entered into the employee’s work book, personal card or time sheet.

Home » Documents » Agreements » Sample order on assigning duties during vacation

Assigning additional responsibilities to an employee who has objections

Important!

If an employee is assigned new responsibilities within the scope of his qualifications, the employee’s consent to amend the job description is not required. Salaries are also usually not revised.

If, in response to a notice of upcoming changes, the employer receives from the employee a refusal of new working conditions, the employer must, in writing, offer the subordinate another position in accordance with his qualifications and state of health (including a lower position and less paid), if there is an open position job vacancy. According to clause 7, part 1, art. 77 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, if there are no vacancies at the enterprise or upon receiving a repeated refusal from an employee, the employer has the right to dismiss a subordinate

.

If an employer tries to unilaterally change the terms of an employment contract (and in accordance with Part 1 of Article 72 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, this can be considered a transfer to a new job, which requires the employee’s consent), the employee has the right to take the following measures:

• ask management in writing for an increase in salary for performing new duties;
• contact the trade union or Rostrud with a complaint, attaching a copy of the main documents and the order to impose new duties;
• file a lawsuit for illegal dismissal.

Performing duties for a vacant position

It has already been said above that the appointment of an employee to replace an absent employee is a transfer. This situation is possible if the employee is absent temporarily, i.e. he is not dismissed from the enterprise. The courts adhere to the same position.

In particular, you can pay attention to Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court No. 16 of 1992. Paragraph 12 of this document provides an interpretation of the provisions of Article 26 of the Labor Code of the RSFSR. Despite the fact that this Code has not been in force for a long time, many of its rules can be applied today. Moreover, the wording of Articles 26 of the Labor Code and 74 of the Labor Code in the part regulating the transfer of an employee to the place of a temporarily absent employee at the initiative of the employer is the same. Accordingly, there is no doubt that the judicial authorities, when considering labor disputes, will take into account the explanations given in the said Resolution.

Paragraph 12 of the document stipulates that the performance of duties in a vacant position for a certain period is possible with the written consent of the employee. It follows from this that the Supreme Court, in fact, introduced a new type of transfer of employees to another job. Meanwhile, according to labor legislation, performing duties in a vacant position is not allowed. Consequently, the provision present in the Resolution of the Plenum cannot be applied.

The above means that the order to perform duties for a vacant position can be considered invalid. The local document must use completely different wording. Many leaders, taking advantage of citizens' ignorance and their legal illiteracy, issue clearly illegal orders. It should be remembered that any decision of the employer can be challenged.

Common mistakes

Error:

The company's management had to save on wages, and therefore it was necessary to assign additional responsibilities to workers. The changes were approved without notifying the employees and without drawing up an additional agreement to the employment contract.

A comment:

When making changes to the job description and assigning additional responsibilities to employees, it is required to draw up an additional agreement to the employment contract, but it is drawn up only after obtaining consent from the employee. The only case that does not require the employee’s consent is adjustments related to changes in technical and organizational working conditions (Part 2 of Article 74 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

Error:

The employer, at his own discretion, changed the terms of the employment contract without obtaining the employee’s consent and threatening him with dismissal.

A comment:

In case of illegal dismissal, the employee has the right to file a complaint with the trade union organization, the labor inspectorate and the court.

How to expand responsibilities through LNA

From 01/01/2017, according to the Federal Law of 07/03/2016 No. 348-FZ, Chapter 48.1 was introduced into the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, according to which micro-enterprises have the right to completely or partially refuse to create local regulations and maintain personnel records in a simplified manner. The new chapter is an excellent reason to review the company’s HR document flow system.

If you refuse to apply local regulations, the scope of responsibilities and scope of work performed, the job function, and the list of job responsibilities of each employee must be carefully described directly in the text of the additional agreement to the existing micro-enterprise employee contract.

If the employing company does not belong to the category of microenterprises, then local regulations are an effective and efficient regulator of intracorporate relations.

We are talking about the following documents:

1. An employee’s job description is an effective mechanism for changing the list of responsibilities, specifying and clarifying them.
2. Regulations on a structural unit - a general document about the goals and objectives of a group of employees, the distribution of responsibilities, including between employees of various categories and levels, a process map, interaction with other departments, subordination within and outside the group.
3. Rules for using a personal computer (optionally, office equipment, e-mail, the Internet). The rules are an applied tool for regulating the activities of an employee with the possibility of introducing new restrictions, responsibilities, and the frequency of their implementation.
4. Various regulations, instructions on the company’s areas of activity. For example, rules for working with personal data (employees, clients), confidential information, trade secrets; regulations on documentation support for the functioning of the company (submission of the annual report, internal audit, access to documents, etc.), frequency of provision of information and certificates.

By creating these documents in full accordance with the interests of the company, including changes, the employer has a unique opportunity to clarify the procedure for performing official duties and update, expand, and introduce new rules.

Examples of application of the listed documents:

• change the order of interaction between structural divisions, preventing unconstructive disputes between employees of different departments;
• limit certain activities by the number of hours (limit the amount of time spent on the Internet for personal purposes, or, conversely, by setting the employee a percentage distribution of working time to perform specific duties);
• change the chain of command and responsible persons in specific areas (special attention is usually paid to deputies, since the issue of replacement becomes key in cases of disagreement about additional pay during the main employee’s vacation).

Do not forget that the employee should be familiarized with all innovations (Articles 22 and 68 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). The document must contain all the necessary details (signature, date, consent). In addition, the employer is obliged to take into account the labor function specified in the contract. The job description, regulations, rules only clarify, explain and specify the employee’s job responsibilities, but do not go beyond the scope of his job function specified in the employment contract. It would be useful to refer to specific clauses of the employment contract that define the employee’s responsibilities.

The creator of a local regulatory act should approach the wording used with caution and not change the name of the employee’s position. But it is not prohibited to include duties provided for other positions that are similar in complexity and content of work, the performance of which does not require other qualifications or specialization.

IMPORTANT!

When changing job descriptions and other documents, it is worth paying close attention to the definitions of “job function” and “job responsibilities” - they are different. The performance of job duties is possible by an employee who has a specific profession, specialty and qualifications.

Most often, the provisions on the procedure for remuneration (provisions on bonuses, allowances, etc.) are disputed. When making changes regarding remuneration, you should make sure that the employees are loyal and that there are all legal grounds for this.

Answers to common questions about assigning additional responsibilities to an employee

Question #1:

Is it possible to force an employee to perform additional duties by threatening dismissal if the employer has previously changed the terms of the employment contract?

Answer:

If any duties are not provided for in the employment contract, the employer does not have the right to force the employee to perform such work. To change the terms of an employment contract, it is necessary to obtain the written consent of the worker himself - notification of the need to make changes to the document is sent to the employee 2 months before the planned changes.

Question #2:

How can the management of a company determine the responsibilities of a particular position when drawing up a job description?

Answer:

You can take the Unified Tariff and Qualification Directory of Works and Professions as a basis. If the employer needs modern positions not mentioned in the directory, local executive authorities can adopt regulations on the requirements of new positions.