Electronic work books: what employers should do in 2020

The work book is the main document containing information about the employee’s work activity and his length of service. By applying for a work book, the employee’s right to receive this document for personal purposes is exercised. Files in .DOC: Application form for the issuance of a work bookSample application for the issuance of a work book

Law on the transition to digital format of information about experience

The law on the introduction of electronic work books in Russia has already been adopted (Law dated December 16, 2019 No. 439-FZ). It came into force on January 1, 2021.

During 2021, there will be a gradual transition to electronic work books.

But is it necessary to switch to electronic work books? Yes, employers are now required to submit information about all their employees to the Pension Fund to generate information about their work activities in electronic form (Article 66.1 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). But workers are not required to switch to electronic work books. They have the right to inform the employer that they want the work record to be kept on paper, as before.

How will the process of maintaining electronic work books take place?

Accounting for the labor activities of employees will be carried out by the pension fund. Employers are required to provide information about it. For this purpose, a special form SZV-TD is provided.

It has been established that employers will be required to submit it to the Pension Fund when hiring or dismissing employees. Moreover, this must be done no later than one business day following the date of issue of the order.

Small organizations (up to 25 people on staff) have the right to provide reporting both on paper and in the form of an electronic document. Larger enterprises must submit information only via the Internet through a special program provided by the Pension Fund free of charge. In this case, the use of third-party programs is allowed. Electronic reports with enhanced digital signature are signed.

Notice of the transition to electronic work books in 2021

It is the responsibility of all employers to notify employees about the introduction of electronic work books. You also need to notify about the need to make a choice in what form the employee’s work record book will be kept.

KEEP IN MIND!
Written notifications must be issued to employees no later than October 31, 2020 (Resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation dated June 19, 2020 No. 887).

If an employee is on a long vacation, business trip, maternity leave or parental leave, you can send him such a notice by mail.

In response, the employee must convey to the employer one of two things:

application for transition to an electronic work book;
an application with a request to continue keeping a work book on paper.

Until December 31, 2021 inclusive, it is necessary to collect statements from employees about their choice of work book form. The specified information is included in the SZV-TD report submitted based on the results of the past month .

If the employer refuses to keep a work record book on paper, it must be handed over to the employee. does not provide for the possibility of subsequently returning to maintaining a work book on paper .

Is it possible to leave a paper version at the employee’s request?

When preparing the changes discussed in the article, their initiators emphasized that the transition would be carried out exclusively on a voluntary basis. In practice, this means that those employees who want to leave a document on paper can independently submit a corresponding application to the personnel department of the organization where they work.

This must be done before December 31, 2021. If an application is not received from the employee, then after the expiration of the specified period his work book will be handed over to him, and all accounting of his activities as an employee will be carried out in the future according to the new rules.

Forms and samples of notifications and applications

The forms of notification and statements are not established . Each employer must approve them independently.

We offer possible forms for applications from employees and notifications about the transition to electronic (digital) work books in 2020:

Notifying an employee about the transition to electronic work books

To notify each employee in writing about the transition to electronic work books no later than October 31, 2020 , you can use the following notification:

Employee's application for maintaining a paper work record book

If an employee wants to continue to keep a paper work record book, he submits the following application:

Employee's application for switching to an electronic work book

To start generating information about work activities in electronic form and abandon the paper work book, you need to receive a special application from the employee about switching to digital. Here's a possible example:

ConsultantPlus has detailed step-by-step instructions on how an employer can prepare for the transition to electronic work books in 2021. Free 2 days when registering access to the K+ system.

Employees must submit applications by December 31, 2021. However, according to the law, you can submit an application after 2021 (Article 2 of Law No. 439-FZ dated December 16, 2019).

Electronic work books

Today, electronic document management is becoming increasingly popular and is used in many areas of activity. Discussions about whether to convert work records into electronic format or not have been going on for quite some time.

Opponents of the transfer claim that most employers are not ready to give up the traditional use of paper documents. In addition, the electronic format will inevitably require special reporting, which will place an additional burden on enterprises and businesses.

Supporters of the introduction of electronic books talk about simplifying document flow, the positive aspects of which will be felt, first of all, by citizens. In addition, data on labor activity stored electronically has a greater degree of safety compared to paper documents.

In general, the state took these facts into account and adopted a corresponding resolution on the transition to a different format, which will begin in 2020.

The work book form looks like this:

The employee does not return the work book - what to do?

Unfortunately, unscrupulous employees often come across. They do everything possible to frame the employer or, on the contrary, they do it unconsciously. One way or another, the employee did not return the work book - what to do in such a situation.

The first measure of influence is the request of the employee to fulfill the promise . If an employee does not provide labor on site within a week, then do not be upset. The employer can go to court and, by presenting a receipt or entry in the work record book, will win the case, but the unfortunate employee will be fined and possibly fired.

Therefore, if you are going to commit a similar act as an employee, think ten times whether you need court hearings.

Storing the document and issuing it to the employee

A work record book stored in an organization cannot be handed over to an employee during the period when they are in an employment relationship with the employer. If an employee needs this document to be submitted to one or another authority, the citizen must contact the employer with an application for a copy of the work record book or an extract from it.

The employer is obliged to satisfy this application, and the authorities do not have the right to demand the original document from the person whose work book is kept at the main place of work.

General provisions

1.1. This provision is a local legal act of LLC “_____________” (hereinafter referred to as the Company, Employer), regulating the procedure for generating electronic work books for the Company’s employees.

1.2. This provision has been developed for the purposes of:

- streamlining the recording and transfer to a division of the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation of information on the admission, transfer and dismissal of Employees for the formation of electronic work books;

- ensuring the requirements of the Federal Law of December 16, 2019 No. 439-FZ “On amendments to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation regarding the generation of information about labor activities in electronic form”, the Labor Code of the Russian Federation and the Federal Law of April 1, 1996 No. 27-FZ “On individual (personalized) registration in the compulsory pension insurance system”;

- establishing the rights and obligations of the Company in terms of recording and transferring to a division of the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation information on the admission, transfer and dismissal of the Company’s Employees;

- establishing mechanisms for liability of the Company’s employees for failure to submit or untimely submission to a division of the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation of information on the admission, transfer and dismissal of the Company’s Employees.

1.3. This provision comes into force upon its approval by the order of the General Director of ____________ LLC and is valid indefinitely until replaced by a new local legal act of a similar purpose.

1.4. Changes and additions to this provision are made in accordance with separate orders of the General Director of the Company.

1.5. All employees of the Company must be familiarized with these regulations by personally signing the familiarization sheet.

What data includes ETC?

As specified in Federal Law No. 436-FZ of December 16, 2019 “On Amendments to the Federal Law on Individual (Personalized) Accounting in the Compulsory Pension Insurance System,” the electronic work book in the Pension Fund contains the following information:

Place of work:
information about its renaming;
the basis for the renaming and the data of the corresponding document on the renaming;
registration number of the policyholder.
Work performed and periods:
name of the position (work), specialty, profession indicating qualifications (rank, class, category, skill level) (if any);
data on transfers to another job;
information about dismissal and grounds for termination of the contract;
data of the relevant order (instruction), other decision or document of the policyholder, which is the basis for entering information into the ETC.

IMPORTANT!

Data is generated and transmitted only if there have been any changes: the employee has been transferred, awarded, fired or a new one hired. If nothing happened, the person works in the same place in the same position, the report on him is not transmitted.

Reporting is submitted in the form SZV-TD.

The report is submitted for each employee who was hired, fired, transferred to another job, and for the one who submitted an application to switch to the ETC or to retain the paper version (Article 11 of Law No. 27-FZ).

Arbitrage practice

Judicial practice in this area is contradictory. According to the Appeal ruling of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Mari El dated July 24, 2018 in case No. 33-1207/2018, an employee can claim compensation only if he proves that:

tried to find a job without a book;
potential employers refused him due to the lack of a document on work experience.

Similar conclusions are contained in the Appeal Ruling of the Voronezh Regional Court dated 02/08/2018 in case No. 33-988/2018, the Appeal Ruling of the St. Petersburg City Court dated 04/04/2017 No. 33-6200/2017 in case No. 2-4428/2016, the Appeal determination of the Nizhny Novgorod Regional Court dated 02/06/2018 in case No. 33-771/2018, other decisions.

But there is another position. For example, in the Appeal ruling of the Sverdlovsk Regional Court dated November 9, 2017 in case No. 33-19615/2017, it is stated that failure to issue a book in a timely manner is a circumstance that deprives an employee of the opportunity to find a job. And no other evidence, including notification of receipt of the work book by mail and a response to it, is required to receive compensation for the delay of the document. This approach is in the Appeal ruling of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Bashkortostan dated September 27, 2016 in case No. 33-19280/2016, the Appeal ruling of the Samara Regional Court dated March 15, 2016 in case No. 33-2471/2016, and other decisions.

TO WHOM TO GIVE NOTICES TO

The notice must be given to each employee . This is exactly the wording proposed in the law. Although on the Rostrud portal “Onlineinspection.rf” you can find a different opinion.

Everything seems logical, right? But let's look at the situation from a legal point of view. The norm of the federal law takes precedence over the answer of a certain official on the website, and in the event of a dispute with the inspector, we can only rely on the norm of the law. But the law says that “to every employee,” and there is no clause that part-time workers and other persons for whom work books are not kept do not need to be notified. Therefore, it is safer to notify ALL employees with whom you have employment contracts, including part-time workers. After all, the main purpose of the notification is to tell about changes in labor legislation.

Notices must also be given to employees who will be hired until June 30, 2021:

if from January to June 2021 they did not work under an employment contract;
they worked, but did not receive notice at their previous place of work;
at their previous place of work they received a notice, but decided to continue maintaining a paper work record book (such an employee has the right to change his choice).

Labor document of a foreign citizen: send by mail or not

The rules for issuing a work book upon dismissal, approved by law, require that the book be given to the employee for signature on the last working day. If a person does not come for the document himself, the employer prepares a notice of the need to obtain it and at the same time offers to send it by mail. With the consent of the owner, the papers are sent by valuable mail. But if the employee lives outside the country, does he need to send them by mail?

The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Russian Federation believes that this is not only not necessary, but also prohibited by law. In a letter dated September 17, 2019 No. 19-1/OOG-210, officials recalled that there is now a procedure for the export, transfer and request of personal documents of Soviet and foreign citizens and stateless persons from the USSR abroad, which was approved by USSR Law No. dated June 24, 1991 2261-1. It follows from it that neither work books, nor military ID cards, nor identity cards can be sent abroad. In this case, the employer has the right to refuse to send documents about the length of service to the resigned foreign employee, but must keep them “until required”.

Punishment for employers for lack of statements

Regulatory acts establish a deadline for submitting applications for maintaining work records and notifications of changes in the legislation on maintaining documentation of labor activities. The administration of the organization cannot influence the choice of an employee, but is obliged to inform them in advance. Bringing to administrative liability under Art. 5.27 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation is carried out only for violation of the obligation to notify and the deadline for providing written notification (until October 31, 2020).

Legal documents

Art. 66.1 Labor Code of the Russian Federation
Art. 5.27 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation

PACKAGE OF DOCUMENTS

In the process of switching to electronic work books, organizations need to prepare the following documents:

order to carry out measures to generate and maintain information about labor activity in electronic form;
order to amend internal labor regulations;
notification of the formation and maintenance of information about labor activity in electronic form;
application forms for employees to choose a method for recording information about their work activity and length of service, as well as for the method of providing such information.

Order on carrying out measures to generate and maintain information about labor activity in electronic form

Such an order (example 1) will allow the employer to effectively organize the implementation of legal requirements on the generation of information about the work activities of employees and preparation for submission of reports. We recommend assigning people responsible for this work, as well as determining what actions and in what order they need to perform.

Order on amendments to internal labor regulations

By this order, a local regulatory act (consider in this case PVTR, example 2) will be brought into compliance with current legislation. In addition, this order will be evidence of compliance with legal requirements to amend local regulations.

Instead of making changes, you can approve a new edition of the PVTR. The amendments should also establish the procedure for employees to provide information about their work activities upon hiring and the issuance of such information to employees upon their request or upon dismissal.

We also recommend that you enter your corporate email address here.

Since the employer is obliged to familiarize employees with local regulations[1], indicating this address in the PVTR or other local regulations will make it possible to bring it to the attention of employees.

These changes will reduce risks or avoid them during inspections by supervisory authorities, as well as in disputes with employees.

Notification on the generation and maintenance of information on labor activity in electronic form

The notification (example 3) is issued to fulfill the legal requirements for written notification of employees before June 30, 2020 about changes in the procedure for maintaining work books, the procedure for providing information to the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation, as well as the right to choose between continuing to maintain a paper work record or providing the employee with information about work activities in accordance with Art. 66.1 Labor Code of the Russian Federation. Employees will also be notified of a corporate email address for sending applications electronically.

Statements on the choice by employees of the method of recording information about work activity and length of service, as well as the method of providing them

To simplify the process of an organization developing internal application templates for employees to choose a method for recording information about work activity and length of service, as well as the method for providing it, we will provide examples of employee statements regarding the method of maintaining their work records.

Samples can be distributed to employees for writing the application in person, including by hand, or for production using a computer and sending the application electronically.

Receiving an employee’s application to maintain a work book in paper form or provide information about work activity in accordance with Art. 66.1 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation will allow the employer to comply with the requirements of the law on providing the employee with a choice of how to record information about the employee’s work activity and length of service.

The employee’s statement of consent to provide information about his work activity is given in example 4, and for the continuation of maintaining a work record book - in example 5.

In one application (example 6), you can indicate both options in the table, and the employee will sign in the corresponding line.

We offer another option - indicate both proposals in the notification (example 7). In our opinion, this method is also acceptable, because the legislation does not specify any preferred format.

[1] Article 68 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

general information

Surely many have lost or heard from friends about the loss of a passport of a citizen of our country. Of course, the situation is not pleasant, but you must admit that the passport can be restored since all the information contained in it is stored in the FMS office.

the restoration of work records is different . If you have lost your work book, how can you get a new one and what entries should you make? How to correctly fill out a new work book if the old one is lost?

This means that if it is lost, it is almost impossible to properly restore all the information contained in them. As sad as it may be, such situations happen quite often.

Some people lose their work documents on their own, while others lose them in the organization’s archives.

One way or another, if such a situation occurs, a new work book is urgently needed to replace the lost one.

The question also often arises: if the work book has expired, how to start a new one? We will try to answer these questions in our article. So, how to properly issue a new work book?

Submission of information according to the SZV-TD form

In order to submit data on employees’ work activities in electronic form, starting from 2021, employers are required to submit information to the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation in the SZV-TD form. The form and format of the information were approved by Resolution of the Pension Fund Board of December 25, 2019 No. 730p.

SZV-TD is presented in cases where an employee submits an application to continue maintaining a paper work book or switch to an electronic work book, as well as any personnel event is carried out in relation to the employee (hiring, transfer to another permanent job, dismissal, etc. ).

As a general rule, SZV-TD is submitted to the Pension Fund no later than the 15th day of the month following the month in which a personnel event was carried out in relation to the employee or he submitted an application to choose the option of maintaining a work record book (Clause 7 of Article 1 of the Federal Law of 16.12 .2019 No. 436-FZ).

But when hiring and dismissing employees, employers are required to submit the SZV-TD no later than the working day following the day the relevant order/instruction is issued (Resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation dated 04/08/2020 No. 460).

Employer Responsibilities

4.1. The employer monthly, no later than the 15th day of the next month in which a personnel event was carried out (hiring, transfer, dismissal), or the employee submitted an application to choose to maintain information about labor activity, and from 01/01/2021 - no later than the next working day after the day of publication of the document that is the basis for hiring or dismissing an employee, he is obliged to submit to the Pension Fund of Russia information on labor activity provided for in Section 3 of these Regulations, on the basis of which electronic work books will be generated.

4.2. The obligation to send the information listed in clause 4.1 of these Regulations is assigned by order of the General Director of the Company to the person responsible for maintaining personnel records or the person temporarily replacing him.

The transfer of information is carried out within the existing format of interaction between the employer and the territorial division of the pension fund.

4.3. The employer is obliged no later than 06/30/2020 inclusive to familiarize each employee with a personal signature with this provision, explaining to employees the changes in labor legislation regarding the generation of information about labor activity in electronic form, as well as the employee’s right to make a choice by submitting in writing one of the applications for retention a paper work book or maintaining a work book in electronic form.

4.4. If an employee identifies incorrect or incomplete information in the electronic work book, the employer, upon the employee’s written application, is obliged to correct or supplement information about work activity and submit it for storage in the information resources of the Russian Pension Fund.

4.5. For employees who do not have a work record book on paper, the employer is obliged to provide information about their work activities for the period of work with this employer in the manner specified in the employee’s application (on paper or in electronic form, signed with an enhanced qualified electronic signature (if the employer has one). ):

- during the period of work no later than three working days from the date of filing this application;

- upon dismissal on the day of termination of the employment contract.

The employee can submit such an application on paper or electronically by sending it to the employer’s email address _____________.

If, on the day of termination of the employment contract, it is impossible for the employee to receive information about his work activity with this employer due to the absence of the employee or his refusal to receive it, the employer is obliged to send such information to the employee on paper by registered mail with notification.