Reduced working hours due to coronavirus 2021: how to reduce?

Part-time work

Working time is the time that staff spends on performing professional duties. Its duration at the enterprise is established according to production needs and is fixed by local acts.

However, the Labor Code of the Russian Federation does not explain part-time work, so if necessary, you should refer to other regulations. Such a document is the Convention of the International Labor Organization. It says that part-time work is a period whose duration is less than the previously established norm.

When introducing part-time work, one of the following modes can be used:

reduction of working hours;
reduction of the working week;
shortened shifts with shortened weeks.

There are several categories of workers who can work part-time or a week. This is considered a full standard of work. We are talking about minors, disabled people, pregnant women, etc.

Switching to part-time work

Dismissals of employees due to reductions are possible provided that the employer meets a number of conditions

Full and strict compliance with the reduction procedure provided for by law. If the enterprise previously concluded collective agreements with employees, or the employment contracts of those being dismissed contain additional guarantees upon dismissal, these must also be observed.
Justification for dismissal. As already mentioned, in the event of a dispute, the court has the right to check whether the dismissal was justified economically and organizationally.
Notification of the employment service. This point is worth highlighting separately, since some employers manage to completely forget about this requirement, as a result of which they are then forced to pay fines and pay employees for forced absenteeism.

✔ Order, procedure and rules for dismissal due to reduction.

Salary

When working part-time, the income of subordinates decreases. The payment system does not play any role, since wages are paid according to hours worked or output. This reduction does not provide for any other restrictions.

For example, an employee who is set to work part-time at the initiative of his employer is entitled to the same amount of annual leave as if he were working full time. There are also no changes to the calculation of seniority. Average earnings with reduced working hours are always calculated on a general basis.

Reduced working hours by law and on an individual basis

Shorter working hours at the request of the employee Shortened or part-time working hours may be established for some workers at their request or for an existing reason for this. For example, pregnant women whose work is quite complex and may affect her health or the preservation of the fetus can request a reduction in the schedule by providing a certificate from a gynecologist about the established stage of pregnancy. We also recommend reading the article about terminating a fixed-term contract. It is also possible to revise the established schedule for the following reasons:

presence of a child under 14 years of age;
presence of a disabled child before he/she comes of age;
having a relative who requires constant care.

In both cases, certificates from a medical institution or a birth certificate are required. An example of an application to reduce working hours is as follows. Application example.

Employer initiative

Management may need to establish part-time work for various reasons.
Most often this is due to economic problems in the company, when the employer chooses to reduce working hours or fire part of the staff. The manager has the right to transfer subordinates to a different work schedule. The maximum period for such a change is 6 months. Since the introduction of a shortened working day is a change in the terms of the employment agreement, it is necessary to adhere to the rules. The manager's actions must not violate the rights of personnel or worsen the situation of employees. An example is the fact that when wages are reduced, they should not be less than the minimum wage.

Can an employer transfer to part-time

The employer has the right to transfer employees to part-time work on his own initiative. But for this to happen, serious changes in work processes must take place, for example, their automation.

In order for the transfer to be legal, the employer is obliged to follow the procedure established by law, in particular, to warn employees about the upcoming transfer at least 2 months before the date of changes to the employment contract.

New working conditions must be enshrined in the employment contract, which is done by signing an additional agreement to it by both parties. Such additional agreement should, in particular, stipulate:

Duration (total number of hours) of work per day or per shift;
The start and end time of the working day;
Break times (including lunch breaks) and so on.

It is important to know!

Natalia

Labor expert

When working hours are reduced, his wages are also reduced.

It might be interesting!

Dismissal due to staff reduction. Who can't be fired in 2021?

Decor

After the director has decided to reduce working hours, he needs to formalize everything correctly. To do this, he issues an order. Before drawing up the document, you should develop a labor and wage payment regime. The order on part-time work includes:

name of company;
date of compilation;
grounds for switching to part-time work on the employer’s own initiative;
shortened working hours;
operating mode that the manager considers acceptable;
additional instructions to the accounting and human resources departments.

Procedure for transferring to a part-time work schedule

The procedure for transferring to a reduced work schedule must be formalized strictly in accordance with the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. The initiator of changes can be the employer or the employee.

Working hours can be reduced based on:

Article 93 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation - by agreement of the parties;
Article 74 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation - at the initiative of the employer.

Based on Article 74 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the employer is obliged to inform the employee in writing about changes in the terms of the employment contract in connection with the reduction (for example, about a part-time working day or week) 2 months in advance. If the employee is against reduced working hours due to changed organizational or technological working conditions, then dismissal is issued under clause 2 of Article 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. But the use of Article 74 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation during the coronavirus period is not rational.

If the employee agrees, then an additional agreement can be drawn up at an earlier date, which is especially important in the context of coronavirus, and reference must be made to Article 93 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

The terms of the number of working hours and days are specified in the employment contract. If this duration is reduced, then changes must be made to the contract using a separate additional agreement.

In general, the procedure for transferring to a part-time reduced work schedule comes down to the following steps:

Step 1. Proposal to the employee to reduce working hours (preferably in writing).
Step 2. Obtaining consent from the employee to part-time work (also preferably in writing).
Step 3. Drawing up an additional agreement to the employment contract on new conditions.
Step 4. Drawing up an order for a shortened day or week (transfer to part-time work).
Step 5. Familiarization of the employee with the order to reduce time.

How to formalize a reduction in working hours for an employee?

To apply for a shortened day or week, you need to complete the following documents:

notification of transfer to part-time work;
consent to change working conditions;
additional agreement to the employment contract;
an order to shorten the length of a day or week.

If changes are accepted by mutual agreement of the parties, then agreements can be reached orally without issuing written notice and consent.

An additional agreement signed by both parties will confirm the consent of both parties to reduced working conditions.

The additional agreement must contain only those conditions that change compared to the existing employment contract. In the text of the additional agreement, you must indicate the details of the employment contract to which it is attached, the details of the employee and the organization, register a new work schedule, duration of working hours and rest, and also indicate the period for which this agreement was concluded. At the end of the term, the additional agreement loses its force and the employment relationship continues under the conditions specified in the employment contract.

The agreement must be drawn up in two identical copies; after signing, each party receives its own document and attaches it to the employment contract.

A sample additional agreement on the introduction of a shortened work schedule (you can download it in Word in the article below):

An order to introduce part-time work is drawn up after the preparation of an additional agreement; it can be issued in relation to one employee or a group, a division or the entire enterprise as a whole.

The text of the order makes reference to the need to prevent the spread of coronavirus on the territory of the enterprise and provides the instructions of the manager:

establish a part-time working schedule (shortened day or week) indicating working hours and breaks;
set the validity period of the changes (you can not indicate specific dates, but write the phrase “until the introduction of the regime of daily activities”;
determine the procedure for calculating wages during the reduction period - in proportion to the time worked.

The order is signed by the manager, and all employees become familiar with it and sign it.

Sample order on introducing part-time work:

Sample order and additional agreement on a shortened day or week

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Union participation

The union's opinion on this matter is necessary if company management introduces shortened schedules in order to prevent mass layoffs of personnel. Then the director, before reducing the number of days or hours, is obliged to send a draft regulatory document to the trade union.

Trade union employees must study the submitted papers and, within 5 days of receiving them, provide the sender with their informed opinion. If the trade union body does not agree with any points of the local act, it can propose changes to management. The employer makes a decision to change the document within 3 days.

If it is not possible to reach an agreement, the contradictions are formalized using a protocol. After this, the company's management can adopt a regulatory act and introduce changes to the operating mode on its own terms. But in this case, you should be prepared for the fact that the trade union will want to challenge the employer’s decision in court or the labor inspectorate. If the dispute is decided not in favor of the initiator, he will have to cancel the innovation.

The employer wants to transfer you to part-time work. How should he act?

As mentioned above, on its own initiative, the employer has the right to set employees part-time only in the presence of special circumstances.

If such circumstances arise, the employer must provide each of the employees whom it plans to transfer to part-time work with a corresponding notice containing:

Reasons for transfer;
The date from which part-time work will be established;
New working conditions, including working hours, etc.

Natalia

Labor expert

Employees must be familiarized with the notice against signature. Changes may take effect no earlier than two months after employees are notified of them.

Employment service warning

When an enterprise introduces shortened working hours, management must notify the employment service. This rule has been mandatory since 2009. The deadline is also set - 3 days from the moment the decision to make the reduction is made.

The employer draws up a notice, the unified form of which does not exist. Each director draws it up in any form, indicating the following points:

start and end dates of the part-time period;
the reasons why the organization needs to reduce the number of hours;
the number of subordinates forced to work according to the new rules.

An order (copy) must be attached to the notice. In addition, some employment services have their own requirements for the provision of information, so officials sometimes have to prove the appropriateness of actions.

Enterprise managers are financially responsible for failure to notify employment centers or for late application. Administrative sanctions may be applied to them:

up to 500 rubles – officials;
up to 5 thousand rubles – legal.

Warning people about reduced working hours

Since meeting the deadlines during a reduction is an essential condition, they should be brought together and indicated again:

Order on planned dismissal due to reduction - at least two months in advance;
Warning to the employment service and trade union organization (if there is one at the enterprise) - no less than two months, in case of mass dismissal - no less than three.
The deadline for paying wages for the part of the month worked, compensation for unused vacation and severance pay is no later than the day of dismissal.
The payment period for the average salary for an employee registered with the employment service but not employed is up to two months.

Violation of these deadlines can lead to a fine for individual entrepreneurs - up to 50 minimum wages, for legal entities - up to 500 minimum wages.

Employee initiative

Short-time working hours can be established not only at the request of the employer. Labor legislation allows employees to take initiative, for which there must be serious reasons. The employer has no right to refuse such a request:

pregnant employee;
an employee with a young child, including a disabled child;
a subordinate caring for a sick family member.

To switch to part-time work, a person needs to contact their boss with an application. The document indicates the length of the working week or day and the period when a new work schedule should be established. Based on this, the boss issues an order, transmits information to the accounting department, etc.

If the application is submitted by a person working in the company, the order is drawn up in free form. When the issue of part-time work arises during employment, the employer is required to issue it in Form T-1. After this, the person can begin to work. It does not matter on whose initiative the working hours are reduced, since in both cases the rights of the subordinate are preserved (we are talking about compulsory leave, insurance contributions, etc.).

Managers rarely use the introduction of part-time work, but sometimes it is necessary to solve some problems without it. For workers, this means a reduction not only in hours of work, but also in wages. Whether to agree to the employer’s offer or not must be decided by each employee independently.

Is it possible to reduce working hours due to coronavirus?

The work schedule is specified in the employment contract and is one of the essential conditions. The terms of the contract can be changed by agreement of the parties, as well as at the initiative of the employer unilaterally in compliance with the provisions of Article 74 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

Based on Article 74 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the manager can notify staff about the introduction of reduced working hours and make changes to the terms of the employment contract without the consent of the employee on the basis of changed organizational or technological working conditions. However, to do this, you need to follow the entire procedure correctly - notify 2 months before the upcoming changes.

In the context of coronavirus, this is not rational. There is no time to wait and you need to act immediately. Therefore, it will not be possible to switch to reduced working hours on the basis of Article 74 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation during the epidemic.

It is necessary to use the only possible option for legally reducing the working hours - this is obtaining voluntary consent from the employee.

Based on Art. 93 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, by agreement of the parties, a shortened day or week can be introduced for a limited period or for an indefinite period.

The algorithm of actions in this case is as follows:

Notifying staff about transfer to reduced working hours.
Obtaining consent from the employee.
Drawing up additional agreements to the employment contract.
Drawing up an order to introduce shortened working hours for the entire enterprise or for individual employees or departments.

The employee himself has the right to ask to reduce his working hours and transfer to a part-time or a week. The manager is obliged to grant the request if the person falls into one of the following categories:

pregnant employee;
an employee raising a child under 14 years of age;
an employee raising a disabled child under 18 years of age;
an employee caring for a sick relative.

Shortening the day

The standard working day for a five-day work week is 8 hours. A short-time work schedule involves a reduction in the number of hours of work.

By agreement of the parties, any number of hours per day can be set. Payment will be made in proportion to hours worked.

If a person works in shifts, then reducing the duration of each shift will also be considered a reduction in the working day for him.

Shortened week

The working week can be five days or six days. In the vast majority of cases, employees work 5 days a week with two days off.

Transferring to a part-time week involves reducing the number of working days in the week.

In the context of the coronavirus epidemic, to reduce the risk of infection within the staff, it is possible to transfer workers to a part-time working week or day in order to reduce contacts. For example, some workers will work on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, while others will work on Tuesday and Thursday. Or one part of the employees works before lunch, and another after lunch.

This will reduce the number of contacts and save part of the employees' wages.

You can find the optimal balance during the coronavirus epidemic and reach a compromise between employees and management by arranging a transfer to part-time work by agreement.

The employer switched to part-time work. Is it possible to appeal his actions in court?

Any violation of the rights of an employee by the employer can be appealed by him in court. A claim for violation of an employee’s rights is filed in the district court at the location of the employer.

The claim is drawn up according to the rules established by Art. 131 and 132 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation and should include:

Name of the court;
Information about the employee (plaintiff) and his representative, if any, and information about the employer (defendant);
Information about what the violation of the employee’s rights is, and how such a violation is confirmed;
Demands to the court and justification for such demands;
Date of filing the claim;
List of attached documents;
Signature of the applicant or his representative with transcript.

When filing a claim in court related to the illegal transfer of an employee to part-time work, the employee has the right to demand not only a return transfer to full-time work, but also compensation for:

salary not received by him in connection with the transfer;
costs associated with going to court, including costs of paying for the services of a representative;
moral harm.

All data and information specified by the applicant in the claim must be confirmed by him with documents or other written evidence attached to the claim, or other evidence admissible in accordance with civil procedural legislation.