Timing of internal investigation
The time frame for conducting an internal investigation according to the Labor Code (Article 193 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation) should not exceed 1 month from the discovery of the event that served as its cause. Usually the deadline is specified in the order itself. It should be noted that there is a statute of limitations for holding an employee liable, which does not include:
- employee's sick time;
- the length of time the employee is on vacation;
- the time required to take into account the opinion of a trade union or other representative body of workers.
In total, it is possible to bring the culprit to disciplinary liability no later than six months (and in cases related to corruption - three years). After this period, it will no longer be possible to prosecute. Based on the results of an audit, inspection of financial and economic activities or an audit, this period is no more than two years from the date of commission or discovery of the offense. These periods do not include the period of criminal proceedings (if it has been opened).
Sample act of internal investigation at an enterprise
Sample request for explanations
What does the Service Act include?
In our example, the approved form of the destruction act is used. Nevertheless, based on it and knowledge of the nuances outlined below, you can prepare any official document to record events or actions.
An official act can be drawn up on the official letterhead of the organization . It can be drawn up on a simple sheet of A4 format, but contain the column: approve, agreed (signed by the manager). Some types of acts (on financial issues) acquire legal force only after certification of the “I approve” stamp.
Mandatory details of the official act, in addition to indicating the organization, include:
- name of the document (Act), number (if available) and date
- place of composition
- basis (verification, fact, event, instructions from the boss, reference to a rule of law)
- essence of established facts, results and conclusions, proposals
- signatures of the parties (chairman and members of the commission or employees of the organization present when drawing up the document).
When one of the obligatory members of the commission, when drawing up an official act, does not agree with some conclusions, he has the right to attach a special opinion in writing to the document as an appendix.
The number of copies (when it is not approved by law) is determined by practical necessity. Please note that the official act, as a rule, is not stored separately, but is attached to the materials of the case with which the recorded fact is associated.
What is the order of investigation?
The first stage is identifying the offense itself that violates the law. The day of detection is equated to the moment when the official learned about the crime. Usually this person is the immediate superior.
The investigation involves going through the following stages:
Issuance of an order according to which a commission is formed.
The minimum required number of members is 3 people. This applies to cases of material damage. In other situations, the issue is regulated by the employer when issuing various regulations. The commission must include the citizen's immediate superior and an employee who makes the final decision.
The commission is responsible for solving several tasks:
- Determining preventive measures to protect against similar violations in the future.
- Bringing to justice the person found guilty.
- Identification of the reasons that led to the offense.
- An indication of the cost of damage, the specific amount.
- Determining what the violation is.
- Identification of the specific person who committed the offense.
Regression procedure for bringing to financial liability (using the example of medical workers)
In connection with the decision of the N court dated November 20, 2021 No. 12-2021, which decided to recover from UZ “N” in favor of citizen Ivanova I.I. 10,000,000 rub. for monetary compensation for moral damage and 500,000 rubles. – for legal expenses, a commission consisting of:
This is interesting: Are the external walls of non-residential premises common property?
● Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Belarus dated March 26, 2021 No. 2 “On the application by courts of legislation on the financial liability of employees for damage caused to the employer in the performance of labor duties” (as amended on December 22, 2021; hereinafter referred to as the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court on financial liability);
Contents of the act
Expert opinion
Mikhailov Vladislav Ivanovich
Lawyer with 6 years of experience. Specializes in family law. Knows everything about the law.
The act, as a result of the work of the internal investigation commission, must give a clear and unambiguous answer to the following questions (depending on the reasons for ordering the internal investigation):
- when and under what circumstances the event took place;
- what are the consequences of this event;
- whose fault is in the occurrence of negative consequences of the event;
- what is the amount of damage caused to the company by the event;
- whether there was a violation of labor discipline, and if there was, whether it was not explained by valid reasons.
In accordance with the answers to the questions posed, the report must contain the commission’s conclusion regarding the circumstances of the event under investigation. It is entirely acceptable to include in the act recommendations regarding whether or not to hold the employee accountable.
Components of a document
The wording in the body of the document will depend on the specifics of the enterprise’s area of operation, as well as on the type of violation. In any case, the person filling out the form must adhere to a businesslike tone and not be unfounded. In order for a paper to have weight, it must contain accurate and reliable data.
The act begins in the standard way: by indicating the details of the enterprise. It is usually printed on the organization's letterhead. In the middle is the name of the document, below is the city and date of preparation.
The main part of the attached example of filling out the act contains:
- Base. This column should contain a link to the order on the formation of the commission.
- Listing of positions and full names of the chairman and members of the commission in the columns “compiled by the commission.”
- The date when the described action (violation) began.
- What is the essence of the claims being made?
- What actions were taken by the accused.
- Who else could have taken part in the described actions?
- Conclusions of the commission. Most often they are formulated as the guilt of a particular person in truancy, embezzlement or other misconduct. In this case, the penalties are not listed in the act. Making this kind of decision rests with the head of the organization. In particularly difficult situations, all papers are transferred to the courts.
A fundamentally important and mandatory point in the act is the presence of annexes. It is this documentation that the commission refers to in the text of the act. Copies of documents must be attached to it and serve as the basis on which the commission formed its conclusions.
At the end of the act, all members of the commission, as well as the employee against whom the investigation was carried out, sign. The latter has the right to be familiar with all attached and relevant documentation.
Country of Soviets
In addition to the collegial body formed by a special order, other specialists may be involved in participation in the internal investigation. The presence of experts is indicated in the report by an additional note, and the research results are attached. Individual opinions of participants in the internal investigation are also important; they are included at the end of the text. A thorough study of the facts will allow you to get as close as possible to the event that occurred, to establish the reasons and the guilt of persons. An example of an official investigation report can be downloaded for free from this link. 1. The reason for calling a trial may be reports from citizens, commercial organizations, regulatory and law enforcement agencies about facts indicating a leak of the Company’s protected information. Thus, customs authorities can report an attempt to illegally (undeclared) export abroad a document (or other media) under circumstances indicating their departure from legal possession (for example, finding a document (or other media) without being reflected in the Customs Declaration and other necessary legal grounds in the luggage of a person traveling abroad).
Step 3. Gather information and evidence
The procedure for conducting an internal investigation is not directly defined in labor legislation, therefore in each organization it must be regulated by internal rules and internal regulations (orders, instructions, regulations). That is, the commission may receive the right to interview employees and study any accounting documents if the management of the enterprise decides so.
Although such an event is a purely internal matter of each organization and only its employees and management can take part in it, third-party specialists can be brought in to help if this is necessary to clarify the facts related to the incident. For example, to determine the degree of intoxication and the severity of the error made by the employee when making calculations according to the estimate.
- auditors;
- appraisers;
- medical workers;
- engineers;
- lawyers;
- other specialists.
In addition, inquiries may be made to government agencies and third parties as part of the investigation. They are obliged to provide the necessary information if it is not secret. All collected materials must be attached to the case as evidence in the same way as acts, certificates and memos drawn up by members of the commission during the investigation.
About disputes resulting from investigations
Holding employees accountable for the results of an event is the manager’s right, not his responsibility. Therefore, it is necessary to decide from the very beginning whether to organize a judicial investigation. In some cases, various psychological measures help to cope.
Disciplinary measures are considered legal if the following conditions are met:
- Proportionality of the gravity of the offense.
- All procedures are carried out without violations of labor laws. It is also unacceptable to change the time allocated for resolving issues.
- Application only by persons officially vested with appropriate authority.
- In court, the decision will be canceled if at least one of the conditions is violated.
- Information from technical means of the security system
- Security and access control at the enterprise are provided by a large number of technical means. This applies to video cameras installed almost throughout the territory.
- It is these devices that record. Information is stored using special video recorders. The main thing is that the equipment is placed indoors, into which unauthorized persons cannot enter. The internal standards of the enterprise determine specific periods during which information is stored. Typically this period is up to 30–45 calendar days.
When initiating internal investigations, it is recommended to transfer certain types of data to other storage media that are easiest to work with. The greater the delay during such operations, the greater the likelihood that records from the archive will be deleted.
Enter the site
You, as a lawyer, will set out the procedure in the order: - let the commander list the work for which he used materials, and opposite each work indicate what materials he used for it. - if there is an estimator, let this text be presented in the form of a work acceptance certificate and in the form of a report on the consumption of materials, and compare it with the estimated standards (sign “checked by Ivanov”) - the boss will sign the acceptance certificate, approve the report (impose a resolution “ accountant, write off everything except the formwork” for example).
this is to bring the commandant to disciplinary liability and deprive him of any bonuses, allowances, etc., but in this case the employee’s guilt must be proven, see the job description, explanatory, raise orders for the appointment of responsible persons (if any), in a word, look for a clue that would make it possible to determine that the responsibility for submitting acts and maintaining records of inventory items is assigned to the commandant... then the act of the commission and on the basis of the act, memo, explanatory note - an order. and also, look at the deadlines (Article 200 of the Labor Code of the Republic of Belarus, Article 408 of the Labor Code of the Republic of Belarus)