Notice of cancellation of employee layoffs in 2021

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Published: 05/15/2016

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A reduction in the number of workers is usually associated with the inability to maintain a certain staff at an enterprise or organization. Management is forced to take measures to reduce budget expenses, since it is impossible to pay wages in full to all employees. In such an unpleasant situation, the employer tries to say goodbye to unskilled or recently signed employees by sending them appropriate written notice of the upcoming dismissal.

• In what cases is a recall possible?
• How is the document compiled?
• Dates and features of delivery

It should be noted that the employer does not have the right to dismiss employees on his own initiative, citing the need for layoffs.

He must first offer vacant positions, and only after receiving a refusal to change jobs from each of the employees, the head of the organization or enterprise can initiate the dismissal procedure. Another valid reason for terminating an employment contract is the lack of vacancies (Article 81 of the Labor Code).

Also, any employer has the opportunity to withdraw a notice of staff reduction that has already been sent, that is, change its decision and leave the employee or employees at the same place of work. This aspect of labor relations is not regulated by labor legislation, but at the same time, the Labor Code does not contain any prohibitions on revoking a notice at the request of the manager.

Reasons for canceling the reduction

The head of any enterprise can carry out a staff reduction procedure. At the same time, all laid-off employees receive the payments due to them according to the legislation of Russia or, for example, Ukraine, and begin to look for a new job.

If the situation has changed, then the manager has every right to cancel the previously made decision to lay off workers. To do this, he creates a new order that cancels the previous document. There may be several reasons for such actions:

• Unexpected increase in staff. Due to the fact that the employee continues to work in his place, the employer does not need to pay him compensation. The employee will continue to receive a salary.
• Transfer of an employee to another position. In this case, he usually retains his previous earnings.
• The organization does not have money for mandatory payments to employees subject to dismissal. Sometimes the compensation can be quite high. In addition, there may be many laid off workers. In both cases, the company may not be able to cover the costs of cash payments. A solution may be to postpone the layoff, which will allow the organization to find the necessary amount to make payments to those laid off.
• Errors were made when preparing documents. The entire layoff procedure is carried out again, while employees continue to perform job duties until the deadline established by the new management order.
• The order to reduce staff was drawn up by a person who does not have the rights to carry out such actions. This situation occurs quite rarely, but if it does occur, then all documents are drawn up again by an authorized employee.

It should be noted that these are only the most common grounds for canceling employee reductions. The management of the organization can carry out this procedure for any valid reason.

What is a notification revocation and how to deal with it?

Revocation of a notice is the cancellation of a decision to lay off an employee, taken by the employer for a certain number of reasons.

Since the notice is not a document, the manager can freely revoke it for various reasons:

• There are no funds to pay compensation for staff reductions. In this case, the employee simply remains on the staff of the organization and works for some more time. The duration of this period is set by the employer. The thing is that compensation for layoffs has an impressive amount, so not every organization that makes cuts due to a lack of funds can pay the employee. In this case, the notification is withdrawn.
• Due to unforeseen staff expansion. In this case, the employer is not obliged to pay compensation, since the employee remains in his job.
• Due to the transfer of an employee to another position while maintaining his salary. This option is also possible. Most often used in government agencies, when it is possible to move an employee to another position.

Most often, the first option occurs , when the employer simply cannot pay the amount established by law.

If a notice of layoff is refused, the employee remains at his previous place of work with his salary, allowances, bonuses and work schedule retained.

As a rule, the manager notifies the employee of his decision in writing.

Stages of the procedure

It will not be possible to quickly cancel the order to reduce the number of employees. This procedure consists of the following steps:

1. Creating a new order that cancels the previous one. If, according to the initial order, several employees had to be fired, then there is no need to draw up a separate order for each. One document listing all employees will be more than enough.
2. Drawing up notices of cancellation of the previous order, as well as that the notices associated with it have been withdrawn. Employees are notified only in writing. Notices must be delivered against signature to each employee specified in the order.
3. Familiarization of employees with the new document. This action is necessary so that each employee knows about his place in the enterprise and about all the changes that affect his position. If the employer refuses to familiarize his employees with the document canceling the layoff, then they have the right to apply to the judicial authorities with a corresponding claim within a month. In addition, if changes are made to the work schedule of people subject to dismissal, then this should also be reported to everyone mentioned in the order.
4. Notification of the Trade Union and the Employment Center, provided that they were previously notified of the upcoming staff reduction.

Before the reduction order expires, it can be canceled. If employees have already been given notices of dismissal, then new ones should be issued, drawn up in accordance with the latest document.

How can I recall a notification? Step-by-step instruction

So, if, nevertheless, the manager changed his intentions and decided not to lay off employees, but notifications had already been sent out and the order had already been signed. What should I do? Everything can be fixed by following the instructions:

1. It is necessary to issue an order to cancel measures to reduce employees. If there were several of them, you don’t have to issue an order for each employee, and indicate everyone who was planned to be laid off.
2. Send out written notifications about the withdrawal of the notice to all employees specified in the order. Both the notification and the document on its cancellation are drawn up in two copies. In this case, one copy remains in the hands of the employer; it is desirable that it bears the employee’s signature stating that he received the second copy, and the other, accordingly, remains in the hands of the employee.
3. Inform the rehabilitated employees of the order canceling the reduction. This is mandatory, since each employee must know about his position in the organization and all the changes that directly affect him. If the employer does not want to acquaint the employee with the order canceling the layoff, then the employee has the right to sue the employer with a claim “Forcing the employer to carry out the layoff.” In this case, it is important to comply with the deadline for filing a claim, which is only one month.

If an employee familiarizes himself with the order , he has the right to decide what to do - resign of his own free will or remain working in the organization.

If the reduction or its cancellation affected the staffing table, then this must be reflected in the order on the personnel of the organization. Any changes in the staffing table and personnel of the organization should be as transparent as possible so that everything is clear during the audit.

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Nuances of carrying out

When staff reduction is carried out, the employer is obliged to notify the local Employment Center about this.
This measure allows a laid-off employee to quickly register with the Employment Center, as well as find a new job in a short time. But when there is a possibility that staff reductions can still be avoided or it will be possible to restore workers to their positions, then there is no point in reporting this to the Employment Center. The main thing is to notify employees both about the reduction in personnel and about the cancellation of this procedure. In both cases, this should only be done in writing. If employees are notified by telephone or orally, then it is not impossible to verify these facts, which means that the reduction can be challenged, that is, declared invalid on the grounds that the person did not know about it.

It is necessary to take into account the possibility that the candidate for dismissal will find a new job before the reduction is canceled. In such a situation, the employee can terminate the employment relationship either at his own request or by agreement of the parties. He has no right not to demand that he be dismissed due to layoff, or not to claim special payments, since according to Article 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, only the employer himself can initiate a layoff.

But nevertheless, this situation is quite complicated, since a former employee can apply to the Trade Union and the judiciary to protect his rights. To avoid this, some employers retain all compensation benefits for such employees.

Cancellation order

To understand how to cancel a staff reduction competently, you need to familiarize yourself with the rules for drawing up an order.

The law does not establish strict requirements for it. This is an internal document of the company, when writing which you should adhere to the general rules for drawing up business documents.

We list the main points of the sample order:

• Be sure to indicate the reason for canceling the order (it is better to write the real reason to avoid possible accusations of selfish intent for the cancellation);
• Write which order you want to cancel (indicate its name, number and date of preparation);
• Also note that previously issued notices will also become invalid;
• List all employees covered by the document, indicating their positions;
• Indicate the list of actions that need to be performed in connection with drawing up the order, as well as their deadlines (for example, notify the employment service);
• The document is signed by an authorized person of the company (for example, the general director);

order

Do not forget to familiarize the chief accountant with the document drawn up, and save the old order in internal documentation. The latter cannot be lost, since it is already numbered and put into effect earlier.

Along with the order, employees must be given a notice of cancellation. It is also issued arbitrarily.

The main thing is to take into account the following nuances:

• Be sure to indicate the order number to cancel the reduction;
• Insert a clause stating that the employee will continue to work under the same conditions (and if there are changes, list them);
• Provide a written explanation that the employee has the right to resign on his own initiative (since no reduction measures will be taken against him);
• The notice is addressed to a specific employee;
• The document is certified by the signature of an authorized person;
• The act is drawn up on 2 forms, on which the notified employee puts his personal signature.

Making an order

The meaning of this administrative act is to cancel the previous order on the dismissal of employees due to reduction. There is no strict template for this document. It is drawn up in any form, but according to established rules, that is, on the official letterhead of the enterprise and with the signature of the manager.

Such an order can be issued only within two months following the date of notification of employees about the upcoming dismissal. It must contain information such as:

• The reason for the decision to cancel the dismissal.
• Details of all orders that should be cancelled.
• Instructions to personnel service employees that it is necessary to notify the Employment Center, as well as other government bodies, about a change in the decision of the organization’s management.
• If some employees who were subject to staff reduction quit during the notice period of their own free will, then their job functions should be distributed among the remaining employees, indicating the necessary information in this document.
• Responsible persons who are obliged to monitor compliance with all terms of the order. Most often, this function is assigned to the manager himself.

In the text of the order, it should be noted in a separate paragraph that the chief accountant and the senior employee of the enterprise’s personnel department must be familiar with it. The canceled document is stored in the archive, since it cannot be destroyed, since the document is registered.

Contents of the order

The Labor Code does not provide for an established form of the order; the form is drawn up according to general rules, it must have a serial number, and also be certified by the signature of the manager. Since there is no single template, administrative documents are created arbitrarily; you can take an example from the Internet.

The order displays the following data:

• order details;
• grounds for canceling the order, the reasons for canceling the decision are also indicated here;
• an indication of the fact of termination of the previous administrative document, and the date of fulfillment of these obligations is also noted here;
• signatures of officials and employees who were among those being laid off.

Expert opinion! According to statistics, more than 25% of legal disputes under labor law relate to illegal layoffs. The dismissal procedure is violated. In this regard, the procedure may be canceled; the plaintiff’s working conditions should not be changed.

Letter of revocation of previous notice

A notice containing information about the withdrawal of notice of impending dismissal is drawn up in free form. But it must include:

• a message about the fact of cancellation of the reduction, containing a link to the order;
• notification that the employment contract will continue under the same conditions;
• information that the employee will not be dismissed due to reduction, and if he does not want to continue working for this employer, he has the right to resign at his own request.

This document must be addressed to each employee personally. It must be signed by the head of the enterprise.

When can you cancel an order?

The reduction process is as follows: the manager issues an order with a list of persons to be paid. Accounting for employees creates a notice of impending dismissal, which also specifies the period of service, usually 2 months. However, an agreement can be concluded between the employee and the employer that the reduction will occur earlier, for example after 1 month, with the same salary.

It is possible to cancel the order up to the last two months before dismissal. The basic rule is that the entry should not yet be included in the work book.

Features of delivery of notice

An employee of an organization who has received notice of a reduction in his staff position is not considered dismissed.
His dismissal is carried out only if there is an order signed and certified by the seal of the personnel service of the enterprise. Only in this case can a corresponding entry be made in the employee’s work book. The employer has every right to demand the return of a previously issued notice of layoff if it becomes possible not to carry out this procedure or if there are no grounds to dismiss a certain employee. To avoid misunderstandings and ambiguous situations when delivering notices, a certain procedure should be followed. It includes the following steps:

1. An employee who is subject to dismissal due to a reduction is given a notice of cancellation against signature.
2. The employee signs two copies of the document, one of which is kept in the person’s personal file.

If for some reason the employee refuses to sign the notice, then a corresponding act of refusal is drawn up in front of two witnesses. It is also entered into your personal file. It should be noted that in such a situation, the employee loses the right to demand payment and special compensation payments due to the redundant employee. If this person still wants to sever his employment relationship with the organization, then he will have to either write a statement of his own free will, or ask the employer to draw up a dismissal order by agreement of the parties.

Some nuances

Each case is individual, and even in judicial practice there are different answers to similar questions. Let's look at the main common problems:

Important! Termination of an employment contract before the termination date occurs with the written consent of the authorized manager. At the same time, the employee is paid compensation, which is calculated based on the average level of earnings in proportion to the remaining time until the planned dismissal.

The issue of reduction is fully covered in Article 81 of the Labor Code (edition 88 of 12/31/2017), the new edition of 02/05/2018 is now relevant.
The reduction procedure was not subject to revision or changes; it complies with Federal Law No. 90 of June 30, 2006. Rate the quality of the article. Your opinion is important to us:

Early dismissed employees

Article 180 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation states that the employer has the right to dismiss an employee due to staff reduction before the expiration of the notice period. But this is only possible if the person has given his written consent to such a procedure. It must be said that this consent cannot change the legal component of dismissal, that is, the employee is considered dismissed precisely in connection with the reduction. Only the date of termination of the employment relationship and the amount of compensation due to him change.

In case of early dismissal, the following situations may arise:

• If an agreement between the employer and the employee has been concluded, but the person has not yet been fired, then canceling the reduction will void this agreement, since such dismissal can only be carried out due to a reduction in the number of employees. Canceling this procedure leaves the staff unchanged, therefore, the employee cannot be dismissed due to reduction.
• The employee was dismissed early and received all payments due. It is possible that he is already working in another organization. In this case, the dismissal procedure due to a decrease in the number of employees is considered completed, since by the time the order was cancelled, the employment contract had been terminated, and there was a legal basis for dismissal. For the positions of such employees, it is better not to carry out the procedure for canceling the reduction. It would be more correct to return them to the staffing table again. In addition, to prevent disputes about the right component of reducing the number of personnel, it is necessary to offer these positions primarily to dismissed employees, and it is recommended to do this in writing.

In the latter case, it is necessary to clearly understand that if an employee was dismissed before the order to cancel the layoff was issued, then it is not possible to restore everything in a short time.
According to the Labor Code, a reduced staffing position can be restored no earlier than six months later. The reduction in the number of jobs and, as a consequence, the number of employees is regulated by the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. The employer has the right to apply this measure, but at the same time he is obliged to properly notify his employees. In addition, if the situation at the enterprise changes, the layoff order can be canceled and notified employees can be issued notices informing them of the new state of affairs.

How to cancel?

If staff reduction is inevitable, you are obliged to notify the employee in writing about the upcoming procedure, in accordance with Part 2 of Art. 180 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. Moreover, the employee must receive a notice against signature no later than two months before dismissal. If circumstances suddenly change during this time, the employer has every right to withdraw the notice. And this can be done right up to the day on which the reduction was scheduled.

If redundancy is unavoidable, you must notify the employee in writing at least two months prior to termination.

The Labor Code does not establish a uniform procedure for this case. But it implies that you, as an employer, can issue documents that cancel previously existing orders. The actual revocation of the notice of reduction is an internal document of the organization, the text of which contains an order to cancel a previously issued order to reduce staff.

The employer's right to withdraw notice of layoffs

A reduction in an enterprise can be due to many reasons: a decrease in demand for manufactured products, the introduction of new technology, a decrease in funding, etc. However, the circumstances that caused the reduction may no longer exist, and therefore it will be inappropriate to carry out it.

In addition, the employer may discover that they made errors in the procedure that affect the legality of dismissal due to redundancy. In such a situation, it makes sense to stop the procedure and start it again.

Dismissal due to reduction is a special case of dismissal at the initiative of the employer, therefore the latter has the right to cancel the reduction at any time before its end. The law does not prohibit this, and judicial practice confirms the corresponding right (appeal ruling of the Chelyabinsk Regional Court dated August 15, 2013 in case No. 11-7993/2013). Moreover, the employer has the right to cancel the reduction either completely or partially.

An employee in respect of whose position the reduction has been cancelled, does not have the right to insist on dismissal under clause 2 of part 1 of Art. 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation in connection with the reduction. If he does not want to continue working, he can be dismissed by agreement of the parties or at his own request. Moreover, in the event of dismissal, he will not receive severance pay and other payments due to the person being laid off, unless the agreement of the parties provides otherwise.

How to deal with employees dismissed early

Based on Part 3 of Art. 180 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, an employer may dismiss an employee due to redundancy early if he has his written approval.

First of all, we note that such an agreement does not change the legal nature of dismissal. The employee is still considered dismissed at the initiative of the employer - due to a reduction, and not by agreement of the parties. In this case, only the date of dismissal and the amount of compensation paid to the employee change. Next, consider 2 situations:

1. An agreement on early dismissal due to reduction has been concluded, but the employee has not yet been dismissed. Cancellation of the reduction makes the agreement invalid, because such dismissal is possible only as a result of an actual reduction in the number or staff of employees. But in this case, this does not happen, because the employee cannot be dismissed due to reduction. There is also judicial practice confirming this position (for example, the ruling of the St. Petersburg City Court dated January 27, 2011 No. 33-1077/2011).
2. The employee was dismissed early due to layoffs, and all payments due in connection with the layoff were made to him: severance pay, payments for the period of employment, compensation, etc. Such an employee may even already be working in a new place. Since at the moment under consideration the employment relationship had ceased, there was a basis for layoffs at the time of dismissal, then the layoff procedure in relation to them can be considered completed. It is advisable not to cancel the reduction of positions of such employees, but to reintroduce them into the staffing table. At the same time, in order to avoid disputes about the legality of the reduction, dismissed employees should be offered in writing to occupy these positions as a priority.

Features of the procedure

When reducing staff, the employer is obliged to report this event to the city employment center. The need for this lies in the fact that it will ultimately be easier for a laid-off employee to register with the employment center and get a new job as soon as possible.

When there is a possibility of avoiding reduction measures or when it is planned to restore employees to their previous positions, then it is not advisable to inform the employment center about changes in the company.

Notifying the employment center about layoffs if the layoff is cancelled.

The employer's obligation to notify the employment service in the event of layoffs of employees is established in paragraph. 1 item 2 art. 25 of the Law “On Employment...” of April 19, 1991 No. 1032-1. The same norm establishes the deadlines for sending such a message indicating the positions, professions, specialties, qualification requirements, conditions of remuneration of all laid-off employees:

• if the employer is a legal entity - no later than 2 months;
• individual entrepreneur - no later than 2 weeks before the upcoming layoff;
• in the event of an upcoming mass layoff of employees (no matter the organization or individual entrepreneur), notification is sent no later than 3 months before the date of the event.

If the employment center was not notified of the layoff of employees before the decision to cancel the procedure was made, there is no need to send a notification, since the dismissal of employees will not be carried out.

The law does not provide for the obligation to notify the employment center about the cancellation of the process of layoffs, therefore no liability is provided for failure to notify. However, we recommend notifying the employment center about canceling the procedure for laying off employees if a notice of layoffs was previously sent to the employment center.