Business trip at the employee’s own expense

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To send an employee on a business trip, you must provide special documents. From 2021, the procedure for sending an employee on a work trip has become more complicated if he is on vacation. He needs to be called from it, asked to provide written consent, and after all this sent on a trip to fulfill official purposes. Pay special attention to the preparation of various kinds of documents that will be able to control the situation in financial calculations.

The legislative framework

Such issues are regulated by the provisions of the Labor Code (LC RF). According to which any working citizen has the right to count on a long-awaited vacation. If he initially concluded an employment contract with his boss. Then each year the employee is granted one 28-day vacation . By agreement, you can divide the period or take the whole one. However, there are other options.

Various events happen in life that require attention. Therefore, officials made appropriate changes to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

Employees can take additional leave and demand that they be given days off, for which they will pay themselves. This is regulated by Article 128 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

A kind of vacation at one’s own expense, the duration of which is determined by the citizen himself. The parties establish the optimal time through oral negotiations. So that the absence of an employee does not affect his career and the productivity of the organization.

Important! The employee must give the employer a compelling reason why he is forced to leave . Family circumstances, sudden event - depending on what happened . And indicate it in general terms in the application.

Is this legal?

If we take the phrase literally, and the employee will be sent on a business trip at his own expense, then this action will be completely illegal.

In this case, labor legislation will definitely side with the employee, since he is not obliged to spend his own money to fulfill the interests of his manager.

The phrase “business trip at the expense of the employee” refers to a type of business trip when the employee pays out of his own pocket not the full amount, but only part of the expenses. For example, buys tickets, rents housing or buys food. At the same time, the employee is obliged to keep all receipts and papers confirming the facts of expenses.

Upon return, the employee must provide the manager with all documents about expenses.

Based on them, the employee receives payments that fully compensate for the costs incurred by him. But there are cases when companies refuse to reimburse the full amount of expenses.

Most often they try to explain this by saying that the papers do not meet certain standards. Such behavior on the part of employers is also illegal.

Nuances

Previously, people had to ask for time off, begging their employer to give them time off. It was the boss’s personal initiative to agree. Now this procedure is regulated by law.

This vacation has significant differences from a simple annual vacation:

• paid by the employee himself;

• needed for the citizen to solve problems that have arisen, and not for relaxation;

• is drawn up in accordance with the agreement reached between the parties.

It is advisable to estimate in advance how much time the employee will need. His wishes may not correspond to the employer's opinion. It is more difficult to let employees go from factories and other enterprises where people do complex work every day. It is also not easy to ask for time off from small private organizations where the staff is 3-5 people. Sometimes employers ask an employee to find a temporary replacement. A person who is ready to substitute and knows his professional responsibilities.

What conditions the employer will put forward in return and how long the provided break from work will be - the parties decide independently. Depending on the specifics of the enterprise, relationships within the team, the position held by the employee and the policy of the authorities.

Sample

The main document confirming the desire of a citizen is an application .

Possibility of such an event

It is illegal to send an employee on an errand at his own expense. But legal norms are not always observed.

In practice, it happens that an employee:

• buys tickets;
• pays for housing;
• spent on food and travel;
• purchases inventory or fixed assets.

Upon return, the employer is provided with documents confirming the costs that are subject to reimbursement. In most cases they are returned. But the courts are considering many lawsuits due to the fact that accounting employees, in order to reduce costs, refuse to pay expenses in whole or in part.

According to the law, tickets for business trips are purchased by an institution under a contract or an employee from accountable funds. In practice, it often happens that an employee uses his own funds. Upon returning from the trip, he writes an application addressed to the director for reimbursement and attaches tickets to it (when purchasing a boarding pass or electronic ticket via the Internet, if the purchase is made on the Russian Railways website, the electronic ticket is printed). After approval, an expense order is created at the cash desk, according to which money is issued.

There are restrictions

According to the law, an employee has the right to ask for any length of leave. This is indicated in the text of Article 128. However, federal law may set an upper limit.

They apply to state and municipal employees. They have the right to count on a maximum of one-year time off (Article 46 in Federal Law-79, also Article 21 in Federal Law-25).

In practice, it is important for employees to find the line and not get carried away. If they perform a number of important job duties on a daily basis, long absences are not advisable. And the employer will refuse to provide long time off. Ordinary employees, who can easily be replaced by others, will be released without problems, but the feasibility of continuing the business relationship will be challenged. As a result, the “walking” employee will subsequently be fired.

What should I do? Taking a sudden vacation is a citizen’s right; you just have to use it carefully. Explain to your boss the essence of the problem, discuss the conditions for obtaining free days. Perhaps the parties will reach a consensus together. Later, it is important to follow the agreement , notifying the boss in a timely manner if the situation changes. For example, the allocated days will not be enough to solve it.

If the leave is long, the employer may ask to shorten the paid period. In order for the employee to work out the days of his absence, in return he retains his place and salary.

According to the law (the provisions of Article 121), citizens have the right to take 14 days (maximum period) per year to keep their annual leave intact. The remaining days are considered surplus and will not be taken into account for calculating length of service.

Calculation of average earnings during a business trip

Attention

Business trip - only to one place of work, to another place of work - failure to fulfill official duties through the fault of the employer. The code for time not worked through the fault of the employer is not established by Resolution No. 1. It will have to be introduced by a separate order. This can be a combination of letters - BP, numbers - 38 or any other options.

The main thing is to establish a correspondence between this code and the procedure for paying for the time indicated by it. To perform a business trip - 8 hours a day. To solve the problem of the discrepancy between the usual 4-hour work schedule and the 8-hour work schedule of a part-time worker on a business trip, you can change the internal part-time work schedule for the period of the business trip - set its duration to within 8 hours a day.

Calculation of average earnings saved for the period of a business trip at a combined place of work and for the period of non-fulfillment of official duties due to the fault of the employer at the main place of work is made according to uniform rules: based on the wages actually accrued to the employee and the time actually worked by him for the 12 calendar months preceding the period , in which the business trip began. This procedure is established in part 3 of article 139 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation and paragraph 4 of the Regulations on the specifics of the procedure for calculating average wages, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of December 24, 2007 N 922.

Who can't be refused?

According to the law - no one . Any working citizen, even a private owner, has the right to count on the understanding of the employer. And most bosses really help.

However, there are people who cannot be refused at all if they suddenly ask for unpaid leave (annually):

· WWII participants who work – 35 days ;

· working pensioners (receiving both a pension + salary) – 14 days;

· minors are given 31 days;

· teachers, kindergarten teachers named after them – 42 days;

· doctors, nurses (medical workers) – 42-56 days;

· university teachers – maximum 56 days;

· parents/widows of deceased military personnel, as well as employees belonging to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and other law enforcement agencies - 14 days;

· disabled workers (any group) – 60 days ;

· other categories, if there is a birth of a child/wedding/death of a relative (family circumstances) – 5 days ;

· pregnant women (by the way, they cannot be fired, but there are exceptions, more details here);

· minor workers (teenagers 16 years old can be hired, they are provided with favorable conditions);

· husband, if his wife takes out maternity leave;

· people who interrupted their annual vacation prematurely ;

· foster parents who adopted a child 0-3 months old;

· employees who survived the Chernobyl/Semipalatinsk test site accident;

· blood donors;

· employees combining 2 positions at the same time;

· parents with many children, in whose family there are 3 or more children aged 0-12 years old.

Expert opinion

Andrey Tychkov, labor lawyer

It is enough for such people to voice their demands. However, the minimum duration is indicated. More can be provided if the parties agree . Employers who refuse will face fines and other types of punishment (Article 128).

Additional circumstances are specified by federal laws, as well as local acts adopted by the employer within the enterprise.

What to do if an employer refuses leave at his own expense

There are not many options:

1. Persuade management until they agree.
2. Don't go on vacation.
3. Still don't show up for work.

The third option will most likely backfire. You may be fired for absenteeism because you did not fulfill your duties. But there is a nuance: if your reason is truly valid, your dismissal can be challenged in court.

It is also worth filing a claim if you are denied leave at your own expense, which is due to you by law.

When employers have the right to refuse

In order for management to agree to grant an employee extraordinary leave, he will need to provide a valid reason.

To confirm, submit the relevant documents:

· invitation card (if there is a wedding);

· medical direction (if treatment is required);

· death certificate (funeral of a relative);

· discharge from the maternity hospital (birth of a child).

If there is no material evidence or it is difficult to show it, justify the position in detail in the application. It is possible to indicate contact numbers of persons who can confirm the story.

The administration studies the request and transmits a response. Sometimes for a good reason and the documents collected by a person are not enough, he is refused . This is not due to personal differences that have arisen, but to the work of the enterprise. For example, when an employee performs extremely important duties, there is no one to replace him or downtime negatively affects the overall productivity of the company.

You cannot leave on your own, ignoring the employer’s refusal. Such actions are regarded as unauthorized leave. And they are subject to punishment. In particular, a person may be fined, demoted or fired.

Business trip invoice

From the point of view of current legislative norms, compensation that is given to an employee for expenses incurred on a business trip is a full-fledged object of taxation. This means that this type of cash payment is subject to VAT.

As you know, in order to provide an employee with the compensation due to him, the duties of a subordinate will include submitting to his employer all the necessary supporting documents. The main ones include various checks, receipts and other papers that can confirm the fact of payment for the services provided. In some cases, services are recorded in a document such as an invoice. It is a special paper that includes the following basic information: the purpose of the services provided, the date of their provision, as well as the exact cost.

In the future, the invoice will be the main document for the employer to carry out all necessary tax transactions and deductions.

Schedule

Large organizations, employing tens or hundreds of people, set schedules annually. According to them, people work, then take vacations one by one. This keeps everyone in order and the business is constantly running and maintaining momentum. Then the absence of some is compensated by others. An extraordinary vacation may disrupt the usual schedule , so this needs to be discussed with your boss in advance. So that the HR department has time to adjust the schedule to the employee’s absence.

An employer may make a mistake and fire you illegally; read what to do about this separately.

According to the provisions of Article 123 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, everyone, even small firms, are required to draw up a schedule that the team, including the director, follows. This includes work shifts, meetings, holiday weekends and other events. Such schedules are posted or distributed to all departments after preparation. This helps people work calmly by planning their time in advance.

Civil servants rest differently

They were affected by the latest changes made to the content of the Labor Code. In particular, the duration. According to the provisions of Federal Law 79, the vacation period is calculated depending on the position and current working status of the citizen:

• employee, when replacing him in a higher/main position - 35 days ;

• filling a position within the civil service - a month ;

• other employees – 28 days .

Additional time will be accrued based on actual years of service ( a year worked will be equal to 1 additional day ). The schedule is irregular, then 3 days. If production is harmful - a week, the Far North - 24 days.

Find out important things: Who is entitled to northern pension and salary supplements?

It was. Now the accrual algorithms have changed. Now everyone rests the same way, no matter what positions people occupy. Total time – 30 days .

Only length of service is taken into account:

· 1-5 years + calendar day;

· 5-10 years + 5 calendar days;

· 10-15 years + week ;

· 15+… years + 10 days.

The annual vacation period will be 45 days (maximum). And when calculating the duration, the personnel officer will add to the standard 30 days all additional services that will be available (irregular schedule, length of service, dangerous conditions).

Part-time business trip

Important

T-12 “Working time sheet and calculation of wages” or No. T-13 “Working time sheet” (approved by Resolution of the State Statistics Committee of the Russian Federation dated January 5, 2004 No. 1 “On approval of unified forms of primary accounting documentation for labor accounting and its payment "). The time spent on a business trip is marked on the report card with the letter “K”.

Please note that in case of violation of labor legislation, the organization may be brought to administrative liability in accordance with clause 1 of Article 5.27 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation: “violation of labor and labor protection legislation entails the imposition of an administrative fine: on officials in in the amount of one thousand to five thousand rubles; <... for legal entities - from thirty thousand to fifty thousand rubles or administrative suspension of activities for a period of up to ninety days.”

Not resting at all: what to do

Citizens who, for various reasons, worked uninterruptedly, violated the provisions of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. They themselves or the employer who forced people to do this. The management is subject to a large fine (50,000 rubles), and the employee has the right to take off all the accumulated days of his unused vacation at a time.

Important! The last 2 years worked by the person will be taken into account.

Cases when you can extend or postpone the vacation period:

• An employee undergoing long-term inpatient treatment while on vacation.

• Instead of taking a well-deserved rest, the person performed some government duties or was urgently called to work.

• Other situations are provided for by local regulations in force in the company.

Learn important things: Sick leave pay and labor relations rules during coronavirus

In practice, the duration of the leave and other conditions are discussed by the parties individually. The current situation, the employee’s position, his motivation, and the specifics of the enterprise will be considered.

Business trip while on vacation

Recalling an employee from vacation

An employee can be called back from vacation and sent on a business trip only with his consent (Article 125 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). Only annual paid leave or parental leave can be interrupted in this way.

The employee can refuse and continue to rest with a clear conscience. This is his right, so in no case should he be fined or threatened with dismissal.

But even if the circumstances are urgent, and the employee agrees, it is not always possible to interrupt the vacation. Employees cannot be recalled from vacation:

• minors;
• workers in hazardous or hazardous industries;
• pregnant women.

To interrupt the vacation, the manager draws up an order to recall the employee and requests his consent to this.

We recalculate vacation pay

Vacation pay is paid to the employee 3 days before the start of the vacation. If it is interrupted, the employee returns part of the vacation pay. You can return them in one of three ways:

1. Accept cash at the cash register.
2. Deduct from salary.
3. Include in travel expenses.

The employee decides which option suits him best.

Calculate travel and vacation pay in 3 minutes

Deciding what to do with unspent vacation days

The employee can use the rest of the vacation at any time during the working year: either immediately after a business trip, or add it to the vacation next year. Record information about the postponement of vacation in the vacation schedule.

Additionally, the personal card and time sheet are adjusted.

Next, arrange a business trip according to the classic scenario: draw up an order and pay daily allowance, money for travel and accommodation.

We will reimburse travel expenses

If an employee was in another city on vacation, then when going on a business trip there will be not two points on his route, but more. Let's look at the letter of the Ministry of Finance dated January 17, 2017 No. 03-04-06/1546 to decide how to pay for travel in each case.

Option 1. The employee decided to take the remaining vacation immediately after the business trip

His path looks like “Prague - Moscow - Prague - Yekaterinburg”. The employer is obliged to pay for the flight from Prague to Moscow, and then the employee pays for himself. Of course, a company can pay an employee’s travel to Prague as a return ticket, but this cannot be taken into account in expenses to calculate profits. In addition, personal income tax and insurance premiums will have to be withheld from the payment.

In this case, it is advisable not to book the Prague - Moscow - Prague flight with one ticket. To take the Prague-Moscow flight into account in expenses, you will need to highlight its cost and justify it with tax. The company where you bought the tickets will help with this.

Option 2. An employee returns from a business trip to his place of work

His path looks like “Prague - Moscow - Yekaterinburg”. The employer can reimburse all travel expenses and include them in expenses. Payments are not subject to personal income tax and insurance premiums.

We pay daily allowances and accept advance reports

When, after a business trip, an employee does not return to work but goes on vacation, the day the business trip ends is considered the last day before the vacation. Daily allowances are paid until this day, but days on further travel are not paid.

The advance report can be submitted after returning from vacation. The employee is given three working days to submit it. The countdown begins from the day on which he returns to work (clause 26 of the Regulations, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of October 13, 2008 No. 749).

Extraordinary leave of an employee initiated by the employer

Management is obliged to pay all employees their due monthly salary. Accordingly, if unexpected difficulties occur, the manager can send the entire team or individuals on extraordinary leave. For example, inflation has reduced income, initial production volumes have decreased, or the company has decided to liquidate. Extraordinary holidays reduce the overall costs of management, because according to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, employees should not suffer from forced downtime or inflation.

The director calls the necessary employees, and after verbally explaining the situation to them, offers to draw up a statement. However, forcing people to take such actions through threats, blackmail or pressure is illegal.

Important! If the departing employee can subsequently prove that he was forced to write a statement , then the administration of the employer company will be punished. The employee himself will receive payment for the entire period of forced leave.

However, the boss may invite the employee to fill out a statement if he has committed absenteeism without providing the relevant documents. This option is beneficial for both parties. After all, a careless worker thus saves his job, his salary and avoids punishment. And the manager sends him “on his walk” without paying for the downtime. True, it is no longer possible to assign punishment for the committed offense. After all, this is documented as an extraordinary vacation.

Is it possible to send an employee while on vacation?

The need to provide an annual paid period for rest is regulated by the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. In particular, this point is reflected in Article 114 of the Code.

The regulatory documentation also provides a definition of the concept of a business trip.

According to the information reflected in Article 166 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, a business trip is usually understood as the departure of an employee to another area in order to perform certain production tasks.

By other locality we mean a locality located outside the municipality in which the employee carries out his professional activities on an ongoing basis.

A worker’s vacation is time that he has the right to manage as he pleases.

It is quite difficult to recall an employee to work without compelling reasons.

When it becomes necessary to send an employee on vacation on a business trip, the employer is obliged to take into account the consent or disagreement of the worker.

If a specialist refuses to interrupt his rest, the manager cannot force him to do so.

Otherwise, the employer will be considered to have violated the rights of the worker.

Includes weekends and holidays

It is difficult for HR officers to calculate vacation pay, because in addition to weekdays, the calendar includes weekends and several holidays. There are no direct instructions in the Labor Code regarding such a situation.

Holidays are taken into account. The legislation contains general rules according to which paid and unpaid (own account) vacation periods should be taken into account.

Weekends are more difficult. There are no specific exceptions in the Labor Code regarding vacation accounting.

It turns out that the personnel officer needs to count all available days on the calendar, no matter whether they are holidays, weekdays or weekends.

Interesting ! Workers have another option. According to the law, they have the right to divide those 14 days into several short days off. You can adapt them, excluding holidays/weekends, because then the person rests anyway.

The employee indicates when drawing up applications that he requires a Monday-Friday period. So both times. If the work week is five days, he gets 7 days off. 5 assigned + 2 simple days off.

As a result, there will be 2 full weeks, documented as 10 days.

How to apply?

Due to the fact that a business trip at the employee’s expense is illegal, it is impossible to arrange such a trip.

If the boss wants to send his employee on a work trip, then he needs to first carry out a number of actions and collect a package of necessary documents.

Documentation

According to the law, in order for a business trip to be legal, the company must have an order.

It will form the basis for the trip and will contain the goals that the employee will need to achieve during the trip.

If any changes are made to the conditions of the business trip, they must also be present in the local acts of the organization.

A sample order for sending an employee on a business trip is here.

Employee consent

If an employee is offered to go on a business trip at his own expense, he has every right to refuse. However, some managers resort to tricks to avoid cost recovery.

Thus, some employers, in pursuit of profit during a business trip, try to send an employee on unpaid leave. Others are forced to write a statement indicating the employee’s consent to incur expenses without reimbursement. But in the first case, in the other case, actions on the part of the company will be illegal.

In the case of a regular business trip, the employee gives his consent when signing an employment contract with the organization.

This is where information about the possible occurrence of work trips is indicated. But there are several exceptions in which additional consent of employees is required, for example, when pregnant employees are traveling on business.

Order

The main document required to send an employee on a business trip is an order. It is drawn up in the legal form “T-9”.

If several people go on a trip, you can use the modified form - “T-9a”. It allows you to add several people at once.

The order must indicate:

• Full name of the employee;
• goals and objectives of the trip;
• travel time.

In addition, it will contain information about at whose expense the employee will live (the receiving or sending party).

The order form form T-9 is here,

order form form T-9a here.