Document flow will become easier, but employers will know less about candidates

The work record book, which will celebrate its centenary in two years, may not live to see the anniversary. The idea of ​​its abolition has been in the air for a long time, and now, it seems, the authorities have moved from talk to action. To begin with, small enterprises will be allowed to abandon the Soviet legacy. The government has already submitted the corresponding amendments to the Labor Code to the State Duma. If everything goes smoothly, paper work books will be completely eliminated and will be replaced by electronic databases data.

We started with small companies with a staff of no more than 15 people. Many enterprises, in order to avoid paperwork, are already hiring without labor - under a contract. The new bill only streamlines existing practice. In this case, the main document becomes the employment contract. It may contain a clause that the book is kept at the employee’s home. In it, the employer must make a record of the reason and date of dismissal of the employee.

Why is a work book no longer needed? It’s hard for people who were hired about thirty years ago to imagine that they can do without the usual green, gray or blue book - it’s the same as without a passport. The older generation believes that without a piece of paper a person is not even a person. In Soviet times, it was impossible to apply for a pension without a work book. However, since 2002, for the formation of a pension, length of service has no significance, and only the period during which the employee was received is taken into account. insurance premiums V Pension Fund. All this fully concerns calculations sick leave and maternity benefits.

However, if work books are eliminated, they should be replaced by something more universal. In the personnel department of MK, for example, they spoke out for changes. The absence of paper media relieves enterprises of responsibility for their storage. The existing rules in this regard are quite strict: work books must be kept in a safe or iron cabinet under lock and key, without access by strangers. On the other hand, experts are not confident that employees and employers are fully prepared for the transition from paper to electronic media. “Theoretically, it is possible to digitize all work books, but then this information must be stored in some kind of common base, accessible to the employer and employee,” HR experts argue.

There is such experience in Russia. The Federal Tax Service has long kept its database in in electronic format, giving up paper. The number of users, the volume of information, the regularity of its updating is comparable to the work personnel services. The state has not yet decided who is responsible for storing and maintaining the relevant database work records– It will be the Ministry of Labor, Rostrud, the Pension Fund or someone else. In any case, the portal will provide “ personal accounts”, both employees and employers, who will only have access to their own information.

Nowadays, an HR specialist just needs to look at the work record book, and they can see the applicant’s whole life in the palm of their hand - at what age did he find his first job, for what reasons did he leave the previous one, and so on. For example, a work report that is too “plump” with a large number of entries can cause a refusal to hire. An employee who is in conflict with the employer may face a reprimand, inclusion in the labor force or dismissal under the “wolf” article. With the elimination of work books, perhaps all this will become a thing of the past. The same employment contract will help out those who do not want to “sully” their work path with an undignified place of work. But it will be much more difficult for the employer to monitor the employee’s career. You will have to involve the security service, which will go through the applicant’s work history through their channels.

“It is worrying that with the transition to electronic databases there is no guarantee of the reliability of this type of media. If something happens to the online version of the work book, how can an employee confirm his previous work experience? Look for witnesses?” says Lyubov Khrapylina, professor of the Department of Labor and Social Policy at RANEPA.

Ksenia Mikhailichenko, a lawyer at the Center for Social and Labor Rights, considers such fears to be groundless: “Now it costs the employer nothing to “dissolve” the office, as they say, until better times. And then look for the director abroad, the office is closed, and with it the documents of the employees. With the abolition of work records, such situations should no longer arise.”

On the other hand, the rejection of paper work records should not be abrupt. The process will take several years.

It will take place after all, and it is already known exact date: January 1, 2020. The Government of the Russian Federation has proposed three bills for consideration, providing for a number of major amendments to labor and pension legislation. Bill No. 748684-7 on the abolition of paper work books and the transition to them electronic options adopted by the State Duma in the first reading. Let's talk about what awaits employers and ordinary citizens in connection with these changes in 2020.

When will work books be canceled in Russia?

The concept of “electronic work books” in Russian legislation absent. The changes introduced by the law use the term “information about labor activity" Now all information about employees, their length of service, transfers to other positions, and dismissal will be transmitted via electronic communication channels to the Pension Fund. A gradual transition from paper books to electronic ones is planned during 2020. The date for cancellation of paper work books is January 1, 2021. All paper work books from 01/01/2021 must be handed out to employees, and newly hired employees will not be required to have them when hiring, and paper work books will not be issued to those who are getting a job for the first time in 2021.

The bill allows for the right of an employee to have a work book on paper after a specified period - he can write an application for keeping the book with the employer and maintaining it in paper form. However, this does not exempt the employer from electronically transmitting data to the Pension Fund for such employees. The employer must accept these applications only within the specified period - until the end of 2020. If the application is not received by 01/01/2021, the work permit will be issued to the employee. Thus, the employer is relieved of responsibility for the safety of work record forms returned to employees.

Three bills to abolish labor records in Russia

All of the above changes are introduced by bill No. 748684-7. According to it, the Labor Code of the Russian Federation is supplemented by a new article 66.1 “Information on labor activity”, which describes the procedure for canceling work books on paper and the algorithm for switching to electronic system accounting. The bill also regulates a set of preparatory measures for employers. They are obliged during 2020:

make the necessary changes to local regulations, collective agreement (if necessary);

notify the staff in writing against signature of changes in the procedure for recording work books;

prepare for electronic transfer of employee data: ensure availability technical base, personnel and related software.

Another bill No. 748744-7, amending the law on personal accounting No. 27-FZ of 04/01/1996, obliges employers to submit a new monthly report SZV-TD “Information on labor activity”, starting in January 2020. The deadline for its submission is similar to the SZV report -M – no later than the 15th day of the month following the reporting month. But from January 1, 2021, this report will need to be generated and submitted to the Pension Fund on the next business day after the date of issuance of the order on the hiring, dismissal of an employee, or transfer to another job. Companies with 25 or more employees are required to provide this information in electronic format. Thus, many companies will switch to electronic personnel document management with the Pension Fund.

The third bill No. 748758-7 amends Art. 5.27 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation and introduces liability for all employers for repeated transmission of false or incomplete information about the labor activities of personnel and for violating the deadlines for their submission. For now, sanctions are provided only in the form of a warning officials employer. But perhaps a fine of a certain amount will be introduced, because... the law is still under consideration.

How can employees find out about their length of service?

The abolition of work books in 2020 in the form of paper forms raises a natural question among workers: how can they find out information about their work activities, length of service, etc. Bill No. 748684-7 provides for the employee to obtain this data from the following sources:

from your current or last employer in the form of a certified paper certificate, or electronic document, signed with digital signature; information is issued on the day of dismissal or upon request within 3 days after the HR department receives the relevant application;

through the MFC - on paper, duly certified;

in the Pension Fund of Russia - in electronic or paper format to choose from;

through the State Services website in electronic form.

The ongoing reform to abolish work books offers a number of advantages for both companies and their employees:

An electronic work book cannot be falsified or lost: in case of loss or damage, there is no need to go through all former employers to restore records.

It will be convenient for employees to apply for government services and the appointment of pensions and benefits: they do not need to present a paper copy of their work record book each time to confirm their length of service.

The Pension Fund of Russia will have a unified electronic database for assigning pensions, which will simplify this procedure.

When hiring, the HR department will promptly receive all data on the employees’ work experience.

Employers will reduce the cost of purchasing and storing employment record forms.

Meanwhile, experts also note disadvantages of the ongoing reform. These include the question of the safety of personal data in the Pension Fund system. At the moment, there have been no failures or information leaks, but the risk of confidential data falling into the hands of fraudsters always exists.

It is also possible that the data may disappear due to the fault of the state. The Pension Fund has many examples of under-calculation of length of service, and in the absence of sufficient length of service, an insurance pension is refused, while not many citizens will live to see the appointment of a social pension in connection with the ongoing pension reform. Let us recall that the retirement age for social old-age pension is set at 70 years for men and 65 for women. Women will receive an insurance pension from the age of 60, and men from 65.

And one more disadvantage of the introduced bills for employers themselves: it adds more reports to them and increases responsibility for the regularity of personnel information provided.

Conclusion

Answering the question whether paper work books will be cancelled, we can say that most likely yes, they will be cancelled. The government has been considering implementing these changes since 2017. Another question is how effective the ongoing reform will be. The transition to electronic personnel document flow and its maintenance will be associated for many companies with significant expenditure of resources, which may provoke further evasion by employers from official registration employees and payment of gray salaries. On the other hand, digitization of personnel data, provided that it is completely preserved, will simplify the procedure for confirming length of service when interacting with government agencies.

The PFR branch for the Chechen Republic reminds that very soon paper work books will be abolished and new ones will be introduced - electronic ones. What is the basis for such a global change? How would this happen? And what will be brought into the work of the Pension Fund in this regard? The manager of the Branch of the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation for the Chechen Republic, Mokhmad-Emi Akhmadov, answers these and other questions.

- Mohmad-Emi Isaevich, what caused this change?

For several years now, a program for the transition to electronic circulation of information on the employment of citizens has been considered at the state level.

After all, what is a work book anyway? Personal document established form, which contains information about the employee’s work activity and the history of his job transitions. The existing sample document has been used since 2004. A work book is issued to citizens who have found a job for the first time, and if it is lost, the employee is given a duplicate. The document is filled out in the HR department and stored there while the person works in the organization.

It must be said that in many countries work books have ceased to be available in principle. For example, in Europe, a work book, in our understanding, is considered an outdated tool. There, the work book has long been completely replaced by electronic databases. This was done because in practice many claims are made against paper documents. And they arise not only from their owners, but also from employers.

- What exactly are the claims?

The main dissatisfaction is related to the following. Firstly, the paper form of the work record book becomes unusable over the years and can be lost or damaged. But the procedure for restoring it is quite complicated, and there is a risk of complete loss of some data. Secondly, there are a lot of episodes of fraud with books, since the forms are freely available, which is why there are so many fakes. Thirdly, the need to allocate special premises for storing employee records; This is especially true for large enterprises with more than 100 employees. In this case, it is necessary to organize special racks to store such a number of personal documents of employees. And, of course, the labor costs of time and payment, which are spent on certifying copies made, creating extracts manually, etc., are in no way justified.

- And what is changing now?

Nothing has changed yet. We are on the way to legal substantiation of such a metamorphosis. The Ministry of Labor of the Russian Federation, within the framework of the federal program “Digital Economy of the Russian Federation,” has developed a corresponding bill that will affect and take into account the interests of all workers. It is expected that from January 1, 2021, information on the labor activities of employees will be maintained only in electronic form, with the exception of employees who have submitted an application to maintain work books on paper. And we should all be prepared that this will happen soon.

- What will the work book be like in the new format?

- The document will be an electronic file that will be stored in a personalized accounting system. Both in paper and electronic form, the essence of the work book does not change: it is the main document of every working citizen of the country.

- Mokhmad-Emi Isaevich, today can we at least somehow outline the advantages of electronic work books?

Of course, there are a lot of advantages here. This is, first of all, the impossibility of counterfeiting books, since all information can be easily verified in electronic form. Reduces the risk that information about professional activity person will be lost. Opportunities arise: to constantly improve the created system and introduce additional auxiliary resources; protect information from errors and typos that are often made when filling out labor documents; employees will be able to quickly respond to the employer’s actions to fill out their work books; interested structures will be able, if necessary, to view all the necessary information about him without the employee.

It also greatly simplifies HR management; protects book owners from employers who do not comply with the deadlines for issuing books upon dismissal; frees the employee from the need to contact the employer every time to obtain a copy of the work book when he needs it. It will be enough just to send your data from the information system to the place of requirement.

Other advantages include standardization and maintenance of personnel information in specialized databases. Having gained access to it, workers will be able to control all the information that is entered into their work book online. Well, and, of course, efficiency. And when registering a transition from one job to another, and when applying for remote work.

- Are the dates for the transition to electronic work books known today?

- It is expected that in 2019 all necessary changes to labor legislation will be made, as well as technical issues will be resolved.

The transfer of the paper version to the electronic version will occur in stages and will begin with the fact that new data will be entered by employers in electronic format. Then, gradually, all the data recorded in the forms earlier will be transferred to computer databases.

From 2021, all work books will be kept only in electronic form. Citizens and organizations for whom the usual form seems most convenient can continue to keep paper work books along with electronic ones. However, for those who got a job for the first time since 2021, this opportunity is not provided.

So far, no one is planning to completely abandon traditional paper work records. If an employee wants his documents to be kept on paper, this cannot be prevented. Despite the fact that in this case, employers will have to do double work - fulfill the requirement to transfer data to the state information system and at the same time maintain paper document flow. To do this, the employee must write to the employer an application to continue maintaining the paper document.

From January 1, 2021, employers will have to give paper work books to employees, as they will no longer be responsible for their storage and maintenance. The only exception will be persons who write an application to continue maintaining a paper document. The bill in this regard states that the maintenance of work books on paper will not be carried out from January 1, 2027.

- Mohmad-Emi Isaevich, what role is assigned to the territorial bodies of the Pension Fund in this regard? Does anything change in functionality?

Employers will submit all information about the work activities of their employees in electronic form to the bodies of the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation: about hiring, transfer to another position or dismissal (date, order number and its content).

In other words, accounting for length of service is expected to be included in the current function of the Pension Fund - maintaining individual (personalized) records of insured persons.

It looks quite logical, because now double accounting of employees’ length of service is carried out: Pension Fund authorities- on personal accounts of employees and by employers - in work books. Moreover, length of service according to the work record book is not taken into account when assigning a pension from the moment the employee is registered in the compulsory pension insurance system and is assigned SNILS.

The Pension Fund of Russia takes all information about the length of service solely from the employee’s individual personal account data. Therefore, electronic work books will eliminate unnecessary duality in recording work experience.

From January 1, 2020, the employer will be required to provide information about the work activities of the insured persons in information system Pension Fund. The employer will have to submit information about work activity monthly no later than the 15th day of the month following the reporting month. From January 1, 2021, such information in cases of hiring or dismissal must be sent no later than the business day following the day of publication of the document that is the basis for hiring or dismissal.

By February 17, 2020, all companies must submit the first reports on their employees as part of the abolition of paper work books and the transition to submitting reports to the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation in electronic form. Valentina Mitrofanova, a well-known Russian labor law expert, explains how to do this correctly.

Recently, the Pension Fund of Russia approved the form, procedure for filling out and electronic format of the report on the labor activity of employees to replace the paper work books that are disappearing into oblivion. You will have to use the form, which is called SZV-TD, from February 17.

Valentina Mitrofanova

Founder and head of the IPK Group (Institute of Professional Personnel Management, IPK Consulting). More than 20 years of experience. Practicing consultant in the field personnel records management And labor legislation, leading Russian business coach. Has two higher vocational education- economic and legal. Candidate of Economic Sciences. Extensive experience in participating in inspections conducted by the Labor Inspectorate, Social Insurance Fund, Pension Fund, Tax Inspectorate, etc. Experience judicial practice on issues of labor conflicts both on the part of the employer and on the part of the employees.

Let me remind you of the main steps that HR officers must take in 2020 in connection with the transition from a paper work record book to submitting reports on employees’ work activities electronically. The new Federal Law-439, the so-called law on the abolition of work books, came into force on January 1, 2020. It provides a roadmap that describes what HR officers must do within the framework of this law.

First of all, it is necessary to review local regulations. For many, these are internal rules, which usually indicate what documents the employee presents when applying for a job, and what documents the employer issues to him upon termination. labor relations, regulations on internal service, job descriptions for those who work with work books, etc. But perhaps there are other local regulations. So they need to be corrected.

That is, all those local regulations that mention the procedure for working with a work book need to be reviewed and adjusted. If your regulations mention a work book, then everywhere you will need to make a technical correction similar to the one used in official documents: where the work book was previously written, now either “and” or “or” should be written - this important - information confirming work activity in accordance with Art. 66.1 TK. If your local regulatory acts do not need such adjustments, then I recommend documenting this in the form memo or in the form of an act for inspection commissions.

The next step is to ensure the company’s technical readiness to transmit reports to the Pension Fund about the length of service of employees electronically. The PF website contains requirements that will need to be met in order to technical support. I think that companies that already work with electronic reporting should not have any problems.

One of the main responsibilities that has been established for employers this year is issuing notices to employees. In this case, we are not talking about a collective notification, but about a personal one. That is, every employee of the company must receive a notification from the HR department by June 30, 2020.

The important point of this notice is the content. It is necessary not only to inform that by the end of the year the employee must decide whether he wants the employer to keep his work record book in paper form or whether it is enough for the company to submit information about his work experience electronically, it is necessary, according to the law, to notify employees about all changes that occur in legislation and are associated with the abolition of paper work books. That is, this notification should be informative so that people understand what is happening with the system, how it will work, how they will now confirm their work experience, and what will happen when the employee refuses to maintain a paper version. The law requires this so that the employee can make an informed decision regarding whether or not to maintain a paper work record book. We all understand that this is a situation of certain discomfort for people.

The country with a work book has lived for more than 100 years; the first ones appeared in 1918. Until now, this has been the main document that confirms work experience, preferential service, and the right to a pension. Experiencing a cancellation now is a rather serious event for many people in the country, so personnel officers should allay these fears and explain the situation in this very notification. The deadline for this has been set quite leniently; no one forbids starting issuing notifications today, and not waiting until the end of June. I would recommend starting to do this now simply because this topic will appear in the media and people will still come to personnel officers with questions about what is happening and ask for advice.

Whether it is necessary to register the issuance of such notices is at the discretion of the company and depends on what kind of document flow and registration system is already in place in the company. If you think that you will protect your interests by issuing two notices - both signed by the employee and one you keep for yourself - you can do so.

Please note that in the notification we write not only that the legislation has changed, but most importantly, we tell the employee that he must make a choice: either refuse to keep a paper work book, or notify the HR department so that he continues to keep a work book in paper form. Moreover, the law is formulated in such a way that the employee does not make a choice in favor of a paper work book or electronic submission of data to the Pension Fund. Data will be submitted electronically for everyone, regardless of whether a paper version of the work book is maintained. That is, the employee’s only choice is whether to continue to keep the work book in paper form or the HR department can return it to him.

As for technical issues. Be sure to tell people how they should submit their choice and who in the company is responsible for making it. To simplify things, I would even advise making forms for such statements, because people will still come and ask how to do it. The main thing is that employees understand the procedure, where to take the application, to whom to give it, so that the procedural issue is resolved.

The employee has the right to submit such an application before the end of the year, and by law until December 31, 2020 inclusive. At the same time, not only the person who wants to abandon the work book, but also the one who wants it to continue to be kept, must write such statements. The HR department does not have to collect applications from everyone until December 31st. The law says that if the employee has not submitted an application before this deadline, then the personnel department continues to maintain a paper version of the work book. That is, this is the default choice.

When receiving an application from an employee to refuse or leave a paper work book, it is better for the HR department to register it, because information about the choice will need to be provided to the Pension Fund; it will be recorded in the person’s electronic work book.

If an employee refuses a paper work record book, the HR department will issue it to him. Some controversy arises here when to issue it if the application was written, for example, in February 2020, but by law he can submit it until December 31. That is, issue it immediately or wait until the end of the year? There is no answer in the law, but I don’t see a big problem in this. If an employee writes that he no longer needs to maintain a paper version, then he will have no way back. That is, a person who has chosen to keep a paper version can refuse it at any time, and if a person refuses the paper version, then he has no right to return everything back.

The initiators of the project believed that by 2021 more than 80% of workers would abandon the paper work book. I am a pessimist and am inclined to believe that, on the contrary, 80% will choose the paper version due to both habit and fear of digital technologies, if anything happens, you will lose a document confirming your work experience.

From January 1, 2021, new paper work books will not be issued to people who are hired. But the institution of preparing inserts in work books will remain, so do not rush to throw them away. We still issue duplicate work books, if a loss occurs, we cannot refuse to keep a log of work records, because even if everyone in your company refuses them, it may happen that next year a person will come to work for you with a paper work book.

The employee to whom we issue a work book is given a record that he has submitted an application. I hope that the Ministry of Labor will provide a form or an explanation of how this should be done, but even if it does not, I recommend proceeding in the same manner as you close your work book upon dismissal.

HR officers are also waiting for a certificate form approved by the Ministry of Labor, which the company will have to issue to the employee upon dismissal. There is a project, but its approval is required.

In addition, this year begins the development of an algorithm for submitting information to the Pension Fund about the length of service of employees in electronic form. Essentially, we enter information about our employees into the Pension Fund information base. So, in 2020, before the 15th day of each month, we will submit information only for those employees for whom some changes occurred during the previous month.

Let me explain, as they say, in plain English: January 2020, a company employing 100 people hired Ivanov, fired Petrov and transferred Sidorov to another job. The first deadline for submitting information is February 15, but since it is a weekend, the deadline is shifted to February 17. We provide information for only three employees. But we serve it specifically. We only provide information about admission to Ivanov. For Petrov, we provide all the information about what happened to him in our organization while he worked in it: that is, when he was hired, what transfers he had, including information that he was fired in January 2020. For Sidorov, as well as for the dismissed person, all information, starting with hiring. We will also indicate in this reporting about the applications submitted by the employee, including whether he left maintaining a paper work record book or refused it.

Thus, in 2020, by submitting information every month, the majority of employees will be included in the database. However, if suddenly for 2020 some of your employees are not included in any of the monthly reports, then provide information about them - when they were hired, what transfers were made, etc. - will be needed by February 15, 2021. And I would advise establishing control over whether information on each employee was transferred to the Pension Fund or not, in order to understand who else will need to be reported before February 15, 2021.

The most interesting things will begin in 2021. The HR department will continue to submit reports monthly until the 15th, but they will only include information about transfers and submitted applications, but information about admissions and dismissals will need to be submitted online, that is, the next day after the document hiring or dismissal has been completed. It's interesting that this project is taking place under the auspices of simplification personnel work, but in fact this year alone the volume of work will increase by 5-7% due to new form reporting, notifications, applications, and in 2021 - by 10-12%, because information about appointments and monthly transfers will be submitted online, and the story of maintaining work books for those who leave them will continue. You need to be prepared for this.

I’ll describe the logic of work in a few more words. new system. There is a single information base, which will be conducted by the Pension Fund. Information from employers about hiring, transfers, dismissals, and assigned ranks will flow there. When re-employed, how can an employee who does not keep a paper work record confirm his or her work experience? He will need to obtain a certificate (Article 66.1 of the Labor Code) from any of the three authorities that use the PFR database data: at the PFR itself, at any MFC, on the government services website. The only difference is in the form of the certificate: in the MFC it will be a paper certificate with a stamp, in the PF the certificate can be both paper and electronic, on the government services website it is only electronic.

There is one more question that I really want to get an answer to, but it doesn’t exist yet. Where will the information about the employee’s previous work experience come from in the unified PF database? It is clear how information about his current work experience will get there; the current employer will enter this information there. And who will contribute the previous ones? We hope that this year we will receive clarification on this issue from the Pension Fund.

"HR service and personnel management of the enterprise", 2011, N 11

Labor legislation regulates relations arising with a huge number of persons for whom the only source of income is wage. The length of service under an employment contract and the possibility of its confirmation are of great importance in various situations, including when assigning a pension and determining its size. One of the main documents today that allows you to confirm the work experience earned throughout your life is the work book. That is why the information provided by the media about possible refusal from the use of work records, received wide resonance among the population. Abolishing work books would seem to be a simple matter. At the same time, it requires a balanced, reasonable approach to resolving issues relating to rights, freedoms and legitimate interests a wide range of people.

Background

The issue of abolishing work records was raised back in 2006, when the State Duma Russian Federation voiced this idea. Thus, Andrei Isaev, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Labor and Social Policy, made a proposal to stop issuing work books. Without insisting on the immediate abolition of work records, he emphasized the need to carry out work in this direction. According to A. Isaev, “work books were introduced in the era of war communism. Then the size of the food ration that a person received depended on this document. And today... they play virtually no role in a person’s life, except for the fiscal one. Work book of an employee ", dismissed at the initiative of the employer, often becomes a "wolf ticket" for the owner. And in other situations, the book is successfully replaced by other documents: a certificate of pension insurance and recommendations from former employers."<1>. This position was supported by Alexander Pochinok, who headed the Russian Ministry of Health and Social Development at that time. He also believed it was possible to cancel work books that had been lost for modern stage its importance. These top-level statements raised questions at the time. Representatives of employers asked questions about what to do after the cancellation of work records. However, after it was explained, incl. In the media that it is planned to abolish work books in 2009, the excitement has died down somewhat. Today it flared up with renewed vigor, after Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Health and Social Development Alexander Safonov expressed his opinion on the admissibility of abolishing work records. At the same time, he clarified that the decision to cancel has not yet been made and whether it will be made is unknown. Despite this, all media outlets have spoken in one way or another about the possible prospect of abolishing work records.

It was the publications in the media that served as the reason for a new round of discussion of, frankly speaking, a difficult problem. It is hardly possible to answer the question unambiguously: should work books be abolished or not, taking into account the specifics of the formation and development of labor relations in Russia?

Labor law of the Soviet period was formed under the conditions of an administrative-command system, when imperative methods of regulating labor relations prevailed over contractual ones. In other words, the use of hired labor of workers was determined centrally, at the level of bodies state power. The possibility of establishing conditions by contract was minimized, therefore, the independence of the employer of that period was significantly limited.

The transition to a market radically changed the relationship between centralized and contractual regulation of labor relations. With acceptance Labor Code Of the Russian Federation, the state reserved for itself the establishment of exclusively minimum guarantees, which is confirmed in the requirements provided for in Art. 6 Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

Document fragment. Article 6 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation

The jurisdiction of federal government bodies in the field of labor relations and other directly related relations includes the adoption of mandatory for application throughout the Russian Federation federal laws and other normative legal acts establishing, for example, the fundamentals legal regulation labor relations and other relations directly related to them (including the definition of rules, procedures, criteria and standards aimed at preserving the life and health of workers in the process of work); the state-provided level of labor rights, freedoms and guarantees for employees (including additional guarantees for certain categories of workers); the procedure for concluding, amending and terminating employment contracts; basics social partnership, the procedure for conducting collective bargaining, concluding and amending collective agreements and agreements; procedure for resolving individual and collective labor disputes; principles and procedure for state supervision and control over compliance with labor legislation and other regulatory legal acts containing norms labor law, as well as the system and powers of federal government bodies exercising said supervision and control; procedure for investigating industrial accidents and occupational diseases; system and procedure for certification of workplaces according to working conditions, state examination of working conditions, confirmation of compliance of the organization of work on labor protection with state regulatory requirements labor protection; order and conditions financial liability parties employment contract, including the procedure for compensation for harm to the life and health of an employee caused to him in connection with his performance labor responsibilities; kinds disciplinary sanctions and the procedure for their application; state system statistical reporting on labor and labor protection issues; features of legal regulation of labor of certain categories of workers.

The contractual method of establishing working conditions, which has become widely used at the present stage, is still very limited in comparison with the possibilities of determining the conditions for performing work under a civil contract. At the same time, the ratio of centralized and contractual methods has changed significantly. It should be noted that currently the employer’s ability to independently establish working conditions at the level of local regulation has been greatly expanded, incl. by concluding a collective agreement or an employment contract. Attaching importance to the employment contract, the legislator nevertheless retained imperative methods of regulating labor relations, which should include rules defining the employer’s obligations to hire an employee, issue local regulations, ensure the maintenance and storage of work books, etc.

Without focusing on the significant increase in personnel document flow, which the employer is obliged to maintain as a result of the transition to market relations, I would like to note that the unilateral abolition of work books does not solve the main problem - determining the issue of formation personnel policy, registration of labor relations.

It seems necessary to solve this problem comprehensively, in conjunction, by establishing not only a new rule, for example, in the form of abolishing work books, but also providing a mechanism for its implementation. Otherwise, this will serve as the basis for the emergence of new problems that will need to be solved not only by the employer and employees, but also by the legislative authorities. However, in the absence of a proper definition of the rules for registering labor relations with the simultaneous withdrawal of work books from circulation, the employer will once again be faced with a dilemma: what should he do in order to act lawfully, comply with the new norms and at the same time not violate the labor legislation adopted before the reforms.

Unfortunately, modern reality is such that the imposition by the legislator of a certain obligation on individual subjects of social relations (in our case, the employer) is often associated with the lack of appropriate legal means to ensure the very possibility of them fulfilling their legal obligation. And vice versa: the establishment of a new right that is not secured by adequate legal means, does not allow it to be fully implemented (in the situation under consideration we are talking about ensuring the subjective rights of the employee).

Analysis of the proposal to abolish work records

The abolition of work records cannot be clearly classified as a positive or negative phenomenon. A superficial perception of this problem allows us to highlight several pros and cons of this proposal. They are shown schematically in the table.

Analysis of the decision to cancel work records

Employee position

Thus, employees, on the one hand, are interested in a work record book, which today, when concluding an employment contract with another employer, allows them to confirm not only work experience, but also the fact of termination of employment with another employer. The work record book confirms that the employee has the work experience necessary to grant him a pension, special work experience, for example, work in harmful, dangerous conditions, which gives the right to a pension on preferential terms.

Yes, we can say that their performance of higher-paid work (performance of duties in a higher position), when the work was temporary, is not confirmed by the contents of the work book. However, these are shortcomings that can be eliminated by a written agreement to the employment contract concluded by the parties, or by an order from the employer to temporarily transfer the employee to another job. At the same time, basic information, including the employee’s attitude to work, is contained in the work book. In particular, it includes information about employee incentives that have a positive impact on his ability to exercise his right to work in the conditions in which he is interested.

On the other hand, the employee seriously suffers from the behavior of an unscrupulous employer with whom he has an employment relationship. In particular, an employer, not wanting to lose a good employee, has the opportunity to “spoil” his work record in order to create problems for him in the future with employment. For example, the employer can make an entry in the employee’s work book about dismissal for violation of labor discipline, which he did not commit. An employer may use illegal means by not issuing a work book on the last day of work, understanding that by such behavior he is depriving the employee of the opportunity to find a job in a prestigious company, which does not allow work in the absence of a work book and, for these reasons, does not conclude an employment contract with the applicant. Thus, the employer creates certain conditions in order for the employee to maintain an employment relationship with him.

When an employer is interested in terminating an employment relationship with an employee, he also has the opportunity, through illegal behavior, to influence the employee’s choice of decision: to refuse the guarantees provided for by law and agree to the employer’s offer to resign. at will. An employer often intimidates an employee by applying disciplinary measures against him if he refuses to carry out actions proposed by the employer. This vicious practice has become quite widespread in Lately and poses a direct, clear threat from the employer. The lack of adequate means of protecting the employee’s violated rights influences his choice: he, as a rule, refuses the guarantees provided by law and leaves “on good terms.” In many ways, as we see, the employer uses existing system legal means that provide the employer with a solution to his problems, among which not the least place is occupied by work books provided for by labor legislation.

Employer's position

The problem of maintaining work records by employers is also ambiguous. Thus, for an employer, a work book allows one to determine the employee’s business qualities, his attitude to work, and to avoid offenses during hiring, for example, on a part-time basis in harmful, dangerous working conditions. The work record in some way influences the discipline of the employee who is in an employment relationship with him. Refusal to maintain work records and the use of disciplinary measures in the form of dismissal for violation of labor discipline will most likely lead to the fact that this type of punishment will not have the impact on the employee’s behavior that it has today. This, in turn, will create certain preconditions for an increase in cases of irresponsible behavior of employees, as was observed, for example, during the introduction of a new rule obliging the employer to create a new work book for any employee who, when concluding an employment contract, declared its loss, destruction, etc. the reason for her absence.

At the same time, maintaining work records significantly increases personnel document flow. All this is associated with increased staff costs, which negatively affects the interests of the employer. Maintaining and storing work books involves the employer's responsibility for their loss or untimely delivery to the employee, which can also be considered one of the shortcomings of modern regulation of labor relations.

conclusions

Despite this, refusal to maintain work books requires the additional establishment of rules of behavior that make up for the possibility of confirming the information contained in the work book, which involves an analysis of the legislation, the effectiveness of the mechanism for its application and the prospect of forming the necessary legal means to ensure the implementation of the right (exercise of subjective rights, execution legal responsibilities, compliance with labor laws, law enforcement).

Only in this way is it possible to reform labor legislation related to the refusal to maintain work records.

Considering the above, it seems necessary to analyze the currently available legal norms, which in one way or another regulate the procedure for formalizing labor relations (formation of personnel documentation). Before submitting a proposal to reform labor legislation to the legislative body, it is necessary to assess the availability of legal means for implementing the right, both existing and proposed.

I.A.Kostyan

Department of Labor Law

Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosova