Claim to the employer for non-payment of arrears of wages

Author of the article: Anastasia Ivanova Last modified: January 2021 10589

If employees are faced with delays in wages, they often do not know where to begin in order to achieve repayment of the debt. Such individuals may simultaneously take steps in several directions at once. First of all, a claim is made to the employer for non-payment of wages. Its presentation allows, sometimes, to resolve the issue without involving many third-party structures.

Rights of employees

Art. 21 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation secures the right of every employee to receive wages in full and strictly within the time period established by law. Art. 136 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation determines that the payment period is established on the basis of individual and collective agreements, but with mandatory compliance with the following conditions:

Salaries should be paid at least twice a month. An increase in the number of payments is acceptable, a decrease is not.
Salaries must be provided no later than 15 days after the end of the period for which they were accrued (for example, payments for December cannot be later than January 15).
If the payment date coincides with a weekend or holiday, the amount of money must be provided to the employee in advance.
Upon dismissal, the entire salary is given to the employee on the last working day along with the work book.

Expert commentary

Gorchakov Vladimir

Lawyer

Possible consequences for the employer and the rights of employees in case of delayed wages are set out in Art. 142 Labor Code of the Russian Federation. So, if an employee’s payment is delayed by more than 15 calendar days, he has the right to suspend work until the debt is fully repaid. During the entire period of absence in this case, his salary is retained.

Art. 236 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation determines that in the event of a delay in payments, the employer is obliged not only to repay the debt to its employees, but also to pay a penalty. The amount of compensation must be no less than 1/150 of the Central Bank key rate at the time the debt exists for each day of delay.

Art. 237 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation establishes that, in addition, due to a delay in wages, a sum of money may be recovered from the employer as compensation for moral damage suffered by the employee. If this condition is specified in the employment contract, recovery is carried out on its basis. In all other cases, the amount is recovered on the basis of a court decision after the employee submits a statement of claim to the court.

Statement of claim for recovery of wages and monetary compensation for delayed payments (sample)

Sample

A claim is a statement, the structure of which includes a header, title and body of the document. The first thing you need to fill out in the complaint is information about the recipient and sender of the appeal. Indicate in the header of the document the details of the employer and the head of the enterprise, as well as your personal data: Full name. and contact details.

This is important to know: Get a TIN through State Services: step-by-step instructions

The body of the complaint to the employer for non-payment of wages must provide the following information :

Information about the employee (date of employment, contract details).
Reason for application, terms and amount of unpaid salary.
The moment when the salary was last received.
Description of the laws that were violated by the employer.

At the end of the complaint, it is imperative to indicate the requirements . For example, about the payment of wages within a certain period. It would not be superfluous to indicate the consequences that arose for the applicant due to the delay in payments: late loan or payment of utility bills, lack of funds to live, to provide for loved ones.

It is also worth pointing out that if the complaint is ignored, a claim against the employer will be filed with other authorities. And when checking them, the head of the enterprise faces another responsibility, as well as the prospect of paying additional expenses, compensation and fines.

If an employment contract has not been signed

Unfortunately, there are more and more people in Russia who work without concluding an employment contract. This is often taken advantage of by unscrupulous employers who do not pay wages, believing that an employee without a contract will not be able to prove the fact of an employment relationship.

However, Art. 67 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation establishes that an oral employment contract can be considered concluded if the employee fulfills labor obligations with the permission of the employer or his authorized persons. If the employer allows an employee to work, he is obliged to formalize the employment relationship with him in writing. In a situation with non-payment of wages, such an employee should, first of all, file a claim in court to recognize the relationship as an employment relationship. Any documents confirming the fulfillment of labor duties, as well as witness testimony, can be considered as evidence.

Statement of claim to establish the fact of labor relations (sample)

Important! Judicial practice shows that even without an employment contract drawn up in compliance with all requirements, it is possible to obtain payment of wages.

When to file a claim with your employer

Russian legislation provides for mandatory compliance with the pre-trial stage of settlement of the issue for a number of civil disputes. It consists of filing a claim from the injured party against the guilty party. However, labor disputes are not included in this list.

In case of non-payment of wages, the employee can immediately contact:

To the court by filing a statement of claim.
To the Prosecutor's Office.
To the department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs with a statement.
To the local labor inspectorate.
To the commission on labor disputes at the enterprise.

If desired, an employee whose salary has been delayed has the right to file complaints immediately with all regulatory authorities, plus the court. But as practice shows, at least 30% of all labor disputes can be resolved through pre-trial settlement, by filing a claim with the employer.

Expert commentary

Gorbunova Olga

Lawyer

The psychological factor is important here. Many employees, when their salaries are delayed, prefer to simply wait for the debt to be repaid, without trying to involve a third party in resolving the issue. This is what employers take advantage of. But when they see the employee’s serious attitude, they prefer to resolve the problem without involving regulatory and judicial authorities, because otherwise administrative penalties may be imposed on them.

Therefore, if wages are delayed, a claim can be filed from the first day, although it is advisable to wait two weeks, since no one, including the employer, is insured against force majeure circumstances.

Pre-trial letter to the organization

One of the rules for filing a lawsuit is that the plaintiff must try to resolve the issue amicably before filing a claim. The same applies to employees whose salaries were delayed. A claim to an employer for non-payment of wages is a pre-trial method of resolving a dispute. How to submit it?

The claim can be made by hand or printed in duplicate. One version of the document should be handed over to management, and the second should be kept for yourself. In this case, the manager is obliged to mark the acceptance of his employee’s appeal. The employer has ten days to study the complaint and take measures to pay wages.

The main goal of a pre-trial complaint to an employer is a peaceful resolution of a dispute about unpaid wages . However, if the employee suffered losses due to lack of payment, for example, he was late on a loan or other obligatory payments, then the claim will not help.

In order to receive compensation for expenses incurred in addition to the debt, you must contact other regulatory authorities.

How to make a claim

No legal act regulates the form of a claim addressed to the employer. Therefore, it is compiled arbitrarily in accordance with the general rules of office work. When writing, you should focus on existing examples of similar documents.

It is advisable that the text of the claim include the following information:

Basic data of the sender (full name, position held in production, name of department, etc.).
Basic data of the addressee. This may be the general director or other head of the enterprise. It is necessary to indicate his full name and position.
Title of the document. For example: a claim for delayed wages.
Statement of the main essence of the problem. Here you should indicate what date the employer had to pay the salary, the number of days of delay, the amount of debt and provide links to the current labor legislation. It is necessary to list not only what rights the employer violates, but also to outline the consequences of these violations for the employee. For example, the inability to pay for the purchase of medicines, the deterioration of a child’s condition due to a poor diet, lack of funds for a vacation trip, etc.
Notification of your further actions in case of non-payment of debt in the coming days. It is advisable not to indicate a period of more than three weeks. It is also permissible to set a certain deadline for providing a response to the claim. In this case, it is necessary to indicate not only the time period, but also the way in which the employer will be able to provide it.
List of attached documents. The claim can be accompanied by a copy of the employment contract, receipts for lawyer’s fees, doctors’ reports with prescriptions and recommendations for treatment, etc.
Date of document creation.
Signature of the submitter with transcript.

An employee's complaint to the employer for non-payment of wages (sample) Complaint to the employer for non-payment of wages (sample)

If desired, the author can include in the text of the document a condition on the payment of a certain amount to him as compensation for moral damage and/or funds to pay for the services of a lawyer, if the submitter applied for advice and kept the receipt for payment.

If the delay in payments affected several people or all employees of the enterprise, the claim may be collective.

Methods for filing a claim

Before sending any complaints to the employer, you should study the personal and collective employment agreement. Perhaps the text of the documents indicates a certain procedure for filing claims. In this case, you should stick to it. For example, some organizations allow complaints to be submitted via email.

If there is no such condition in the contract, a claim can be submitted to the employer in the following ways:

Hand over personally to the office or to the manager himself. In this case, you should prepare a second copy of the claim in advance and request that you put on it the registration number of incoming correspondence and the signature of the responsible person who will accept the document.
Send by registered mail with acknowledgment of delivery and a list of the contents to the address of the actual location of the organization.

General document structure

Like any document, a claim begins with a header. It states:

information about the recipient of the document - full name, position, company name;
information about the originator of the complaint - full name, position, name of the company and structural unit.

Important! A complaint about non-payment of wages is always submitted to the head of the organization. If a document is compiled collectively, all its authors are indicated in the header.

Next comes the title – “Claim”, and then the body of the document itself. It should contain information such as:

terms of employment of the employee, his position, details of the employment contract;
an indication that the employee performed his job duties properly;
the essence of the complaint is the period of non-payment of wages, the amount for which the employee is claiming;
requirement for the employer;
the time period within which the complainant wishes to receive a response;
an indication that if there is no action on the part of the employer, the employee will contact the regulatory authorities.

This is important to know: Contract agreement for repair work between individuals: sample 2021

Simultaneously with the claim, you can submit to management a notice of refusal to work for the period of non-payment of wages.

The document ends with the date of compilation and the signature of the author with a transcript. If the complaint is drawn up collectively, it must be signed by all members of the team.

What to do if no answer is provided

Legal provisions do not indicate within what time the employer is obliged to respond to the claim. Therefore, any period determined to be reasonable should be established. As a rule, claims include a period of two weeks.

Expert commentary

Leonov Victor

Lawyer

Although it is possible to file a complaint with regulatory authorities bypassing the claims stage, it will be considered more quickly if a complaint has been submitted to the employer. If there is no response from the employer within the prescribed period, employees need to contact the Labor Safety Inspectorate and the Prosecutor's Office. Employees of these structures are given a period of no more than a month to consider the issue and formulate a response to the complaint.

To do this, a commission is sent to the enterprise and gets acquainted with the documents on site. If violations of the law are detected by the employer, the Labor Inspectorate issues an order to eliminate them. In addition, in case of serious violations of labor legislation, the prosecutor's office may initiate a lawsuit.

It is worth going to court with a statement of claim on your own after the claim stage and inspections by regulatory authorities, if they did not lead to the repayment of the debt, or the required amount has not been paid in full. For example, an employer may pay off a debt and refuse to pay penalties and compensate for moral damages. In this case, the claim is filed in the city (district) court at the location of the enterprise.

Application to government agencies

Even after it was not possible to peacefully resolve the issue of receiving a salary, or if the employer simply ignored the appeal of his subordinate, you can file a claim with the regulatory authorities. Depending on the cause of the dispute, different departments can deal with the head.

For example, it is worth contacting the labor inspectorate with a complaint, which can be submitted either in person to a representative of the organization or by mail. At the same time, you should also prepare documents indicating the fact of work activity and delays in wages.

After an employee’s request, the inspectorate initiates an inspection of the enterprise and issues an order to eliminate the identified violations.

The second organization to which an appeal can be submitted is the prosecutor's office . You can write a statement here, for example, in case of long-term non-payment of wages or other, more serious offenses.

The prosecutor's office can initiate not only an investigative audit of the employer's activities, but also go to court to bring the violator to criminal liability.