Can an employee have two work books at the same time?

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Published: 06/20/2018

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A work book is the main document containing information about a citizen’s work activity. According to the legislation of the Russian Federation, the main functions of this document are limited to reflecting the actual length of service, reasons for dismissal from each place of work, as well as information about education, qualifications and the presence of labor incentives or penalties.

• Work book: practical purpose and maintenance procedure
• The employee has two work books. Deliberate concealment of the fact of having a valid work book.
• Loss of work record
• Work abroad

A work book is created when a citizen is first officially employed, after which it accompanies him throughout his working career. All operations for maintaining and storing these documents are carried out by employees of the personnel services of employing organizations in accordance with the legally approved Rules for maintaining and storing work books.

Why do you need a work book?

The nuances of creating two books at the same time are justified by the legal significance of this document. Based on it, it is determined:

• Total length of service for calculating compensation for sick leave.
• Experience in a specific position.
• Maternity benefit.
• The right to early accrual of a pension due to harmful working conditions.
• Calculation of pensions in connection with reaching a certain age.
• Coefficient for increasing the pension amount.
• Assignment of an increased pension in connection with work in the Far North.

A work book is an important document, and therefore fraud with it is not uncommon.

Registration of a second work permit for a foreigner

Taking into account the immigration of foreigners, the question of whether it is possible for a citizen of another state to have two work books is especially acute. The main document, which was issued in a foreign country, is often not accepted by the personnel service. The rules for filling out are significantly different, so it is much easier to create a new version of the standard established in the Russian Federation.

Attention! The exception is books issued by enterprises to residents of Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Belarus and other republics of the former USSR. Then you can make entries directly into them. The rules for their maintenance and storage are practically no different from those adopted in Russia. Therefore, there is no need to start a second one.

Is it possible to have two work books?

Possessing two work books is illegal in most cases. However, in practice a similar situation happens. As a rule, two work books appear in the following circumstances:

• Dismissal of an employee “under article”, due to which he cannot find a job. For example, an employee was fired due to absenteeism. There is a corresponding entry in the book. Employers pay attention to this record during interviews, since no one wants a careless employee. For this reason, a person decides to create a second document in which there is no interfering entry.
• The person has no experience in the position of interest. For example, a person is trying to get a job as a director, but he does not have the relevant experience. Accordingly, the person is not hired. In this case, the person decides to purchase a book with false data in order to convince the employer of his experience.
• A person works in two companies at once and tries to receive compensation and benefits from both places. The creation of a second document is due to the fact that employment in two organizations has some restrictions.
• The need to receive unemployment benefits. For example, a person is employed by a company, but wants to continue receiving benefits.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION! Another reason for creating a second work book is its loss. In this case, receiving the document will be completely legal. The employee, according to the instructions, is given a duplicate. Reinstatement occurs at the expense of the employee, but the employer must assist in this procedure. Entries in the document are made on the basis of either a copy of the work book, or copies of orders for appointment and dismissal.

When might a second copy be needed?

In practice, possession of two pieces of paper is not uncommon, although this is an illegal act. Let's consider current cases.

When applying for several jobs

Every citizen has the right to work in several organizations at the same time. However, the personnel document must be stored only at the main place of work. Since work in other organizations is part-time work.

Based on the employee’s request, data about such organizations can also be recorded in the work book based on the order of the enterprise.

If the main document is lost

Cases of paper loss cannot be excluded. In this situation, the employee should submit a written application to the HR department to obtain a duplicate.

In this case, the employee must independently restore all the records that were present in the lost document, preparing evidence from all places of work where he worked:

• copies of orders;
• certificates;
• copies of the old work report and others.

This method of obtaining a work book will be completely legal.

Responsibility for creating a second work book

Having two books is not legal. However, in most cases there is no liability for this. There will be no punishment if the new document reflects truthful information in full. A person bears responsibility only when the information has been falsified. In this case, punishment can be imposed on the basis of Article 327 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. It entails the following responsibilities:

• Imprisonment from 2 to 4 years.
• A fine of 80,000 rubles.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION! As a rule, there is no punishment even for a work book with false information. This is considered a minor violation.

Punishment is more likely if the employed person continues to receive unemployment benefits on the basis of a false book. Receiving social benefits based on forgery implies the following liability:

• Article 7.27 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. Involves liability for petty theft. If the amount of damage is less than 1,000 rubles, it is returned five times. Alternative liability - arrest for 15 days.
• Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Involves punishment for fraud. The guilty person is either fined in the amount of 120,000 rubles or given corrective labor. Alternative liability under the same article is arrest for several months or imprisonment for up to 2 years.
• Article 327 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Involves liability for forgery or forgery of documents. The guilty person may be sentenced to imprisonment.
• Article 395 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. Involves liability for unlawful receipt of funds. The person will have to return the entire amount received in full, as well as pay interest.

If a person has received benefits illegally for a long time, liability will most likely arise.

What to do if a forgery is detected?

If the fraud is related to work in two companies, the employer will most likely fire the employee. This is due to the fact that the employment of such an employee violates the provisions of Article 282 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. This is a law on part-time work that limits a person’s employment in two companies. For this reason, fines may be imposed on the company. The employee quits to avoid liability.

If, upon employment, an employee presented the employer with a work book with falsified information, he can also be dismissed in accordance with paragraph 11 of Article 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. It introduces appropriate penalties for data falsification.

There is no formal ban

Let’s say right away that the legislation does not provide for any sanctions for an employee having two work books. Rather, this can be regarded as an abuse of right rather than a violation of the law.

The rather ancient, but still valid Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions of September 6, 1973 No. 656 “On work books of workers and employees” does not pose any particular danger. In accordance with paragraph 17 of this document, those responsible for falsifying or using a knowingly false work book will be held accountable in the manner prescribed by law. And, as we have already found out, a second work record, correctly completed and containing reliable information, can hardly be considered fraudulent (the resolution itself does not say whether the second work record will be considered a fake).

Well, upon retirement, everyone will be able to independently decide which work record book to present to confirm their work experience. After all, if several periods of work coincide in time, only one of such periods is taken into account for calculating a pension at the choice of the citizen (Clause 1, Article 12 of the Law of December 17, 2001 No. 173-FZ “On Labor Pensions in the Russian Federation”).

So, if we follow the law, we were not able to find any violations that would entail liability for having two work books. It’s a completely different matter when internal local acts of an enterprise (collective agreement, regulations, etc.) may provide for a preferential position for main employees over part-time workers, which an employee with two employees can take advantage of. But then liability for deceivers should be provided for in these same local documents.

Anna Mishina

How is length of service calculated for two work books?

What should an accountant do if an employee brings two work books? According to the laws, the presentation of two documents cannot be grounds for refusal to accept them. If the periods in the work books coincide in time, then one of them is selected at the employee’s choice. If an on-site inspection is carried out, the employer must present the originals of both documents. If a desk audit is carried out, you must provide copies of work records.

How to calculate experience? The accountant may ask the employee to provide additional documents confirming his work activity:

• Employment contracts.
• Certificates from previous places of work.
• Copies of orders for hiring and dismissal.

It is recommended to do exactly this way. If additional documents are not provided, errors in the calculation of length of service may occur. Is it possible to take into account, when calculating the length of service, data from the work record book, which was shown to the employer after employment? The legislation does not provide a precise answer to this question. In practice, the length of service indicated in both work books is counted.

Tax deduction: not divisible by two

Next, you should understand the tax deductions that employees usually receive at their main place of work. Let us note right away that nowhere is it stated that deductions are provided specifically at the main place of work. Thus, the deduction can be made by any tax agent of the employee’s choice (Article 218 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). To do this, you just need to write the appropriate application and attach to it documents confirming the right to the deduction - the child’s birth certificate, a certificate of his residence with his parents, and if they are divorced, then an agreement on the payment of alimony or a writ of execution on the transfer of child support. .

You should not claim tax deductions for two jobs at the same time. The second employer, if information about him comes to light, will be able to recover the amount of the deduction and accuse the employee of abuse of rights.

By the way, the issue of providing deductions is important not only for owners of several jobs, but also for the enterprises where they were employed. After all, the employer, being sure that the employee is registered with him as his main place of work, will, after the taxpayer submits an application, in good faith provide deductions, thereby reducing the amount of tax to be collected.

That is why owners of several work books, in order to avoid additional complications, should not claim tax deductions in two places of work at the same time. Otherwise, the second employer (if information about another employer comes to light) will be able to recover the deduction amount from you and accuse you of abuse of right. He most likely will not go to court, but the situation as a whole will be extremely unpleasant.

The situation is the same with the use of other guarantees provided exclusively at the main place of work. For example, if you are already taking study leave, let it be paid for only from one employer, and take the leave “at your own expense” from the second.

Is it possible to check the authenticity of a work book?

So, the document is often falsified. What should an employer do? If there are doubts about the veracity of the information provided, the work book can be checked for authenticity. This is done in one of three ways:

1. Verification of the production date with the serial number. Each year documents are issued with different numbers.
2. Call the employee's previous employers.
3. Comparison of the appearance of a document with a genuine book.

The easiest way is to call your employer. You can also learn additional information about the employee from the conversation.

How many “labors” are allowed?

Labor legislation regulates this kind of relationship through a significant number of regulations. The content of such acts regulates the relationships that arise between the state, employers and employees. At the same time, they in no way inform about how many “labor” documents a particular citizen can apply for.

This is not mentioned either in Article 66 of the Labor Code or in other legal acts.

But everywhere they will confirm to you that an employee can only have one work book

The Labor Code of the Russian Federation does not strictly prohibit an employee from having more than one work book. But if at your new place of work they find out that you deliberately hid your old work record book, then this will be regarded as the fact that you provided the employer with knowingly false information when registering the employment relationship. And this is a reason for dismissal under clause 11 of Art. 81 Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

Subtleties

Monitoring the accuracy of the data reflected in work books is used for a reason, in connection with the good faith of employers, but because, based on the total length of service, the employee has the right to receive certain guarantees and compensation.

Thus, the amount of disability benefits or maternity benefits depends on the total length of service, not to mention early retirement.

Calculation of experience

It should be noted that length of service is not simply the totality of an employee’s work activity; on the contrary, this concept is much broader.

In particular, Article 3 of Law No. 400 states that the insurance period is the periods during which contributions were made to the Pension Fund.

Also, Article 12 of Federal Law No. 400 provides a list of periods that are included in the total length of service:

• work activity;
• period of child care up to one and a half years, but not more than 6 years in total;
• period of military service;
• periods of sick leave;
• the period of being registered with the employment service as unemployed;
• period of care for a disabled person of group 1.

As can be seen from the list above, length of service is a component of the total length of service when calculating pensions and disability benefits, taking into account the norm of Federal Law No. 255.

Accordingly, when calculating length of service, it is necessary to take into account all entries made in the work book, except for the period related to obtaining an education, which is currently not included in the total length of service.

There is a special program for electronic calculation, but for manual calculation you only need to use a calculator and entries from the work book, remembering that a month is 30 days, and a year is 12 months.

To begin with, you should write out all the entries from the book about admission and dismissal, and then add them up, remembering that at the moment the concept of continuous service no longer exists and only specifically worked periods are taken into account.

Owners of two work books need to remember that their work experience will be less than the actual one (after all, periods of work from only one document will be taken into account), which will affect the amount of pensions and benefits.

How are tax deductions processed?

It should be noted that having two work books has another significant drawback, namely the penalty for applying a tax deduction for two jobs.

By taking advantage of the right to this type of compensation at two enterprises, the employee risks being punished under Article 122 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

Of course, everyone knows that it is illegal to have two work books, but not everyone understands why it is not possible, since there is still no punishment provided for.

Based on the results of my own work and colleagues from kadriruem.ru, nalog-nalog.ru

Benefits if you have two jobs

Dividing working time into parts - . Breaks for workers during the working day - .

Providing study leave - .

According to Russian legislation, a citizen has the right to receive various benefits (for example, for illness or pregnancy and childbirth) under only one Labor Code. It is unacceptable to use two labor records for these purposes; such actions by an employee are illegal.

The amount of benefits directly depends on the citizen’s insurance experience, information about which is displayed in the relevant Labor Code. When trying to receive benefits at several places of work, a manager may perceive such behavior as an attempt to illegally enrich himself.

In such a situation, the boss has the right to go to court to hold the employee accountable.

To receive benefits, a citizen must independently choose the Labor Code under which it will be issued. The doctor cannot issue additional sick leave certificates for transfer to several organizations. At the same time, the document itself indicates the name and address of the enterprise where the employee is employed.