How much salary is an employee paid when staffing is reduced: how much is due, is compensation paid for 2 months, what else should the employee receive?

Reducing the number or staff of employees (downsizing) is a fairly common event today, especially when it comes to small businesses. At the same time, few people (workers) were really interested in the specifics of dismissal due to reduction, in particular their rights and guarantees provided by labor legislation.

This is what unscrupulous employers count on. Therefore, in this article we will pay special attention to the issue of compensation and other payments when employees are dismissed due to layoffs. This problem is specifically regulated by individual articles of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation (LC RF), as well as by special acts of the Government of the Russian Federation.

How much salary is paid, what is the severance pay when an employee is laid off?

According to labor legislation, when the employment relationship between an employee and an employer is terminated, a settlement must be made with the employee (Article 84.1 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).
It includes all amounts due to the employee (Article 140 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). A reduction in the number of employees or staff is grounds for dismissal at the initiative of the employer (clause 2 of Article 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation) for reasons not dependent on the behavior of the worker. In other words, the employee is not to blame for being fired.

The need to terminate the employment relationship is caused by other factors that do not depend on his behavior and will. Therefore, he has the right to count on additional material guarantees and compensation upon dismissal. Let's figure out what payments are due in the event of a layoff and how much salary you should expect.

According to the provisions of labor legislation, when an employee is dismissed due to redundancy, he has the right to:

Severance pay, the amount of which is equal to the average earnings.
Additional compensation for early dismissal. The employer must notify the employee of dismissal 2 months in advance. He can fire the employee before the two months are up, but he will have to pay money for the days remaining before the end of the two-month period. For example, if the employee was given two months' notice, he can be fired after a month only with payment of an additional average monthly salary ( Article 180 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). This is possible only with the written consent of the employee.
Maintaining average earnings for the period of employment - until the employee finds a new job, the employer must pay him a salary. Next we will tell you how long this lasts.
Compensation for all unused vacations (if any). The rules for calculating compensation are set out in paragraphs. 28–29 of the Rules on regular and additional leaves (approved by the NKT of the USSR on April 30, 1930 No. 169).

Average earnings, or average wages (AW), are calculated taking into account the wages paid to the employee over the last 12 months (Article 139 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). The calculation procedure is established by the Regulations, approved. Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 922.

How to get five salaries after layoff if you really want it?

“Is it true that when someone is made redundant, they pay five salaries?” - almost all employees who fall under layoffs are very interested in the answer to this question. The thought “you owe five salaries” slightly brightens the bitterness of losing a job and warms the soul.

Now we will try to figure it out and say in simple, “non-official” language what the dismissed person can claim, and whether he really should be paid five salaries or is this just a “myth”.

So.

Your employer provides you with notice of staff reduction two months in advance. After that, during these two months, he must offer you any vacant positions currently available. As a rule, these are positions that cannot suit you due to their obvious unattractiveness. In fairness, it must be said that there are still employers who care about their employees and conscientiously try to help. But, unfortunately, this rarely happens. And most likely, you will simply be given a notice that there are no available vacancies in the staffing table.

For information:

The employer does not have the right to reduce (not to be confused with the liquidation of the organization):

Single mothers raising children under 14 years of age. If the child is disabled, the single mother will be able to continue working until the dependent reaches adulthood. If a parent is deprived of parenting rights, the person who replaces her - a single father, a guardian - falls under the protection of the law.
All women raising children under three years of age.
The only breadwinner in a family with a disabled child under 18 years of age.
Women on maternity leave.
Workers who received work-related injuries and mutilations at this enterprise.
Disabled due to military trauma.
Employees on vacation or undergoing treatment for temporary disability.

“Hour X” is coming. And you are given (if given) a pay slip.

What should be there:

wages for the last month or proportional to the period worked before dismissal (i.e., what was earned) (Article 140 of the Labor Code);
compensation for unused vacation (be sure to find out from the HR department how many vacation days you have left);
and severance pay in the amount of average monthly earnings (it includes salary (time-based, hourly wages of the employee), all incentive payments (bonuses, allowances, incentive payments, etc.) compensation payments (reimbursing the employee for costs associated with the performance of labor responsibilities).

For those who are not good at accounting, we explain that severance pay in the amount of average monthly earnings is not subject to personal income tax, i.e. 13% is not charged for this part.

It is important to register with the employment service no later than 14 days after “parting” with your favorite organization.

2 months have passed since the day of dismissal...

If you have not found a job and if by some miracle you still managed to hold out for these two months in an unequal struggle with the Employment Center - you come to your organization at the end of the second month after dismissal and say: “I haven’t found a job anywhere. The employment center cannot provide me with a job.” And there they say: “We don’t believe it!” Then you present a copy + original work record book (for verification), a certificate from the Employment Center (that you are actually registered), and based on existing records, you are awarded an allowance for the second month in the amount of your average monthly earnings.

If you have not found a job in 3 months from the date of dismissal, and the employment service has not given you a job, your average earnings may remain the same for the third month. The decision on payment is made by the employment service. The former employer is presented with a certificate from the service as confirmation that they were unable to employ you. And here it is the third average monthly earnings.

All! Victory! We calculate: earnings for two months notice + severance pay upon dismissal in the amount of a month’s earnings + two more earnings “suffered in agony.” In total it turns out to be five salaries.

But you shouldn’t expect that you can get these “suffered-in sums” so easily.

Let's turn to the law: According to Art. 3 of the Law of the Russian Federation dated April 19, 1991 N 1032-1 (as amended on May 1, 2017) “On Employment of the Population in the Russian Federation,” citizens who refuse within 10 days from the date of their registration with the employment service in order to find a suitable job work from two options for suitable work, including work of a temporary nature, and those seeking work for the first time (who have not previously worked) and who do not have qualifications - in the case of two refusals from vocational training or from the offered paid work, including work of a temporary nature. A citizen cannot be offered the same job (vocational training and additional vocational education in the same profession, specialty) twice.

The key words are “suitable work”, i.e. The employment service may consider any job suitable.

It is worth noting that previously this could not be done: if a person did not previously have the position of a cleaner in his work book, then they did not have the right to offer such vacancies. But now, taking into account our real life, they very much do.

The law also regulates the number of refusals from vacancies offered by the employment service. If you refuse the job offer twice, you will be deregistered with the employment service, thereby depriving you of your unemployed status. You can again obtain the right to a registration order only after a month.

The law may also deprive you of your unemployed status. This happens in the following cases:

if he did not report to the employment service within 10 days without good reason from the date of registration in order to receive offers of suitable vacancies;
if he has not appeared at the employment service for more than a month without valid reasons for re-registration;
and also, if the employment service establishes that a citizen has concealed his earnings or provided documents containing false information in order to obtain unemployed status.

Get a free consultation on your issue by calling +74993509055 or +79264014250

How many months in advance should compensation be given?

As we mentioned earlier, at the end of the employment relationship, due to a reduction in the number/staff of employees, the latter can count on maintaining their average earnings for the period of employment:

this period cannot exceed two months;
during this period, severance pay is counted (i.e., in the end you can receive 2 average salaries - as severance pay and as preservation of your salary for the period of employment).

There are exceptions when the SWP can be retained for 3 months from the date of dismissal or even more. By decision of the employment service, the SWP can be extended for the 3rd month subject to the following conditions:

the employee contacted the service no later than two weeks after dismissal;
The employment agency was unable to find a job for a person within two months.

For workers dismissed from work in the Far North and similar areas (Article 318 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation), by default, SWP is paid for 3 months, and by decision of the employment authority - for another 4, 5 and 6 months. Once an employee gets a job, he loses the right to payments from the employer for the duration of his employment. Therefore, when appointing them, you must show your work book.

If the employee has not found a job within a month after dismissal

If the second month has passed since the dismissal, and the employee has still not been able to get a job, he will be able to claim additional payment:

if by the end of the second month the job has not appeared, the employee will need to be paid the average monthly salary for the second month that the employee spent without work. This fact will be confirmed by the work book, where there will be no record of employment;
if the employee does get a job during the second month, the average monthly salary must be paid in proportion to the “unemployed” time in the second month after dismissal. Documentary support here will be a copy of the work record book, certified by the new employer.

If, within 2 weeks after dismissal, the employee registered with the employment service and was not employed by it, the employee, based on the decision of the employment authority, will be entitled to the average monthly salary for the third month following the day of dismissal (Part 2 of Art. 178 Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

What payments are due - salary or average monthly salary?

An employee's salary consists of:

rewards;
incentive payments (bonuses, etc.);
compensation payments (for hazardous conditions, overtime, etc.).

The remuneration can be represented by a salary - a fixed amount. This is a constant part of the salary, unlike the other two types of payments.

When it comes to what money is paid for 2 months or more, how much it is, the calculation of severance pay and other funds due is made based on the size of the entire average salary (salary + bonuses, additional payments, etc.), i.e. all amounts that the employee actually received for a certain period. That is, the average earnings may be higher than the salary, and it is the SWP that is paid in case of layoffs during employment.

We talked about receiving severance pay for the second and subsequent months during a layoff here.

What payment are you required to pay in case of contrition?

At the present time, in the general economic shortage, it is easy to remain on the street without work.

The company will be completely closed;
Reduction of the number of employees in the company;
Inconsistency with the position held;
And some other reasons.

IMPORTANT! The 3rd payment is considered the last, after it you will no longer be able to count on the company’s support, and you are required to look for a new job. This is the maximum amount they should be paid during a layoff.

How can I get a settlement when quitting my job due to a reduction in staff?

The Labor Code of the Russian Federation (Article 84.1) states that on the day of termination of the employment relationship (termination of the employment contract), the employer pays the employee. In practice, the employee must contact the organization’s accounting department, where he will be paid all the payments and compensations due (we wrote about them at the very beginning of the article).

The day of termination of the contract is the last actual day of work (Article 84.1 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

If on the day of dismissal the employee did not work, then he himself must come to the employer and present a demand for payment. This requirement must be fulfilled no later than the next day from the date of its presentation.

The issue of settlement with an employee upon dismissal due to layoff is very important, since these payments, at a minimum, will help the dismissed person “stay afloat” and calmly look for a new decent place to earn money.

Therefore, if you receive a warning from your employer about terminating the redundancy contract, you need to immediately study this issue. All information should be given to you by the accounting and human resources department , but you can also contact an independent consultant. Then – independently calculate all payments that are due.

Legal knowledge and forethought in this matter will help you, in the event of unforeseen difficulties, to receive everything that rightfully belongs to you.

What should an employee be given if there is a reduction in staff?

How much salary do they give after staff reduction? This question is not entirely correct. Why? Remember that in case of layoffs, severance pay is paid in the amount of average earnings? And his calculation and the calculation of payments based on salary are fundamentally different!

As practice shows, in total, during a reduction, 2 salaries will be paid . If, with a warning 2 months before the day of the proposed layoff, the employee goes to the employer and asks to be dismissed by agreement of the parties, then he will be paid 5 salaries.

What is the benefit for the employer? Then he will not need to pay compensation, which in the end will amount to the difference of 3 salaries.

How to get a million out of an employer upon dismissal

Anastasia Gorshkova, former deputy editor-in-chief of the Forbes.ru website, received 920,000 rubles upon dismissal. compensation. She says that she joined Forbes in March 2020.

Already in May, she had a conflict with the management of AC Rus Media (part of the ACMG group), which publishes the Russian version of the magazine: five days of work remotely were counted as absenteeism and she was not paid for them, Gorshkova claims. The journalist complained to the labor inspectorate about non-payment of wages. And two days later I told this story in.

Almost immediately, a representative of Alexander Fedotov (owner of ACMG) contacted her, and in July 2020, the employer paid Gorshkova compensation for early termination of the employment contract - six monthly salaries and all amounts required by law, explains the former deputy editor-in-chief of Forbes.ru. Representatives of ACMG refused to comment on the story of Gorshkova’s dismissal.

According to a former ACMG employee who worked at the same time as Gorshkova, the employer made two personnel mistakes: when he hired a new team to relaunch the site without collecting recommendations, and when he did not fulfill verbal agreements with these employees.

When an employee who has worked in a company for only a few months leaks such information online, this indicates that he is prone to conflict, notes Artem Zyuryukin, managing director of consulting at Globalhru.

Disputes over compensation can be resolved through peaceful negotiations with the employer, believes Andrey Nosov, founder of the consulting project JobTalk (helps employees negotiate with employers on the terms of employment and dismissal).

In Russia, 68% of employees agree to the terms of dismissal offered by the employer, and only 32% enter into negotiations, a survey of 200 employees and 80 employers conducted in 2020 by JobTalk showed. Nosov notes that the paradox is that 62% of employers are ready to pay higher compensation based on the results of negotiations.

Employees do not engage in dialogue because of fear of administrative resources (29% believe that the company has power on its side) and because of the manipulations used by employers, explains Nosov.

The most common tricks in Russia, according to him: employers announce dismissal unexpectedly, catching the employee by surprise; they threaten to fire you under the article, use psychological pressure. They also count on the fact that the employee does not know the Labor Code.

Dismissal is always stressful and it’s easy to manipulate a person, but even ordinary employees who are prepared for the conversation achieve better conditions, Nosov knows. According to the survey, 56% of employers after the first negotiations offer compensation in the amount of 1-3 monthly salaries, and 13% - 4-6 salaries.

Nosov says that there are often cases when employees who correctly communicated with the employer received compensation of up to 6-8 salaries.

Take someone by surprise

Although 75% of survey respondents said they had noticed signs of an impending layoff, they did not prepare for it, according to JobTalk.

Sergey, the head of the sales department, realized that they wanted to fire him when his pharmaceutical company changed top management in 2020. His department was reorganized and new people were hired, which he was the last to know about.

Sergei was appointed a new boss, they began to move him away from discussing large clients, and narrowed his circle of authority. Sergei came to terms with the new circumstances and redoubled his working zeal. He was even invited to lead the project.

However, the day before he went on vacation, his boss called him and offered to resign by agreement of the parties with compensation of four salaries. Sergey named his conditions - 10 salaries (about 2 million rubles).

He noted that the company's head office, located in Singapore, would hardly be happy if they learned how ugly the head of the sales department, who had worked in the company for 10 years, was kicked out of work. And in 15 minutes the parties agreed on eight.

Badly fired

5,076 complaints about illegal dismissal were considered by Rostrud from January to December 2020, 16,211 dismissed employees complained that they were not paid upon dismissal, said a representative of the department

Managers and employees who have commercial and financial information about the enterprise have a lot of leverage in negotiations, Zyuryukin believes.

For example, an employee may offer to sign an agreement not to go to work for competitors and ask for high compensation for this. Zyuryukin knows of cases when, for such an agreement for two years, the departing person was paid an annual salary.

In the same way, you can demand higher compensation for a promise not to poach employees, says Zyuryukin.

The employee must rehearse the conversation with the employer in advance, decide what compensation to ask for, and how to behave if they put pressure on him, notes Nosov. He recommends talking in advance with former colleagues who have already left the company in a similar situation, and find out what compensation they were paid: this will strengthen your position in negotiations.

Dismiss under article

A common way to get an employee to comply is to threaten with dismissal under the article. And threats of dismissal under harsh charges - for example, for violation of discipline - began to be carried out more often: in 2020.

the number of dismissals under this article increased from 5 to 9%.

And yet, in 57% of cases, workers are fired by agreement of the parties, every fourth - at their own request, and only 6% - due to staff reduction, according to JobTalk.

When an employer threatens with the article “inadequacy for the position held” or “for disciplinary action,” you should not be afraid, says Tatyana Nikolaenko, head of the labor law practice of Khrenov and Partners. It’s not easy to formalize this. For example, in order to prove inadequacy for the position held, it is necessary to conduct a certification of the employee, warning him about this two months in advance.

But even if the employer can prove a discrepancy, he is legally obliged to offer the person another position in the company. And employers usually don't take this long route. To fire someone for violation of discipline, you also need to collect evidence. Even the first penalty can be challenged in the labor inspectorate, because often these penalties are absurd, says Nikolaenko.

Another common scenario: a person is asked to leave due to job cuts. The employee is lost and his interlocutor suddenly offers to sign the application of his own free will - immediately and with the payment of one salary, says the lawyer.

You should not agree, because the employer may be bluffing, Nikolaenko warns.

First, you need to see the order to reduce the position, the new staffing table, make sure that the required compensation is provided - if there is a reduction in staff, it should be at least four salaries (if the employee does not immediately get a new job).

Collect incriminating evidence

Often, employers, preparing for a conversation with an employee, generalize incriminating evidence about him - they remember all the mistakes, customer complaints, missed deadlines, record cases of delays (even if it is 10 minutes), Nosov knows.

“They called me on the carpet and two people started putting pressure on me at once - my direct supervisor and the HR manager: telling me what a worthless employee I was, how many mistakes I had made,” says former business development director of the law firm Tatyana, who was offered to resign with compensation of one salary.

When she did not agree, the pressure was increased. “I came to work at 7 in the morning, when no one was yet in the office, because I was afraid that I would be subject to disciplinary action,” she recalls. The pressure was so strong that she agreed to leave with compensation of two salaries.

Russian companies usually pay such compensation to ordinary employees, while top managers usually receive 4–6 salaries, Nikolaenko knows.

In response to accusations of worthlessness, it is worth listing all your achievements, be sure to note that, for example, you worked in the company for 10 years and were in good standing, says Nosov. According to him, you need to listen to the end of what the interlocutor has to say and answer: “This is a shock for me, and it will take six months to find a job, so six salaries would be fair compensation.”

93% of those who do not agree with the employer’s terms and enter into negotiations achieve better conditions, for example, instead of the proposed two salaries they receive six, according to JobTalk.

Source: https://www.vedomosti.ru/management/articles/2016/12/21/670521-million-rabotodatelya

Severance pay upon layoff

On the day of dismissal, the employee has the right to receive wages, as well as benefits for the first month (regardless of whether the person has found a new job or not). In addition, on the last day of work, the employee is required to receive compensation for vacation that was not used.
The next payment that a dismissed employee receives must be made after 2 months from the date of official dismissal. To receive such a payment, you need to contact your former employer with an application for payment. Along with it, you must present your work record book, which should not contain any notes about the employee’s employment at a new place of work.
The employee receives the last payment after 3 months from the date of dismissal on the basis of a document provided by the employment center, subject to certain conditions already discussed above.

Reduction on a first-come, first-served basis

The main legislative act that sets out the rules governing the procedure and conditions for layoffs is the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. It defines a list of persons who cannot be fired. This:

women on maternity leave}
pregnant women}
single mothers who have a dependent child under 14 years of age or a disabled child under 18 years of age. This also includes any other persons involved in raising such children if the mother is absent.

This is due to the fact that payment when an employee is laid off cannot replace a stable income. If an employee who is under 18 years of age at that time is laid off, then such an action requires permission from the state labor inspectorate. It is also necessary to name the conditions under which the employee has a preferential right to retain his job. This:

presence of 2 or more dependents in the family}
lack of another source of family income}
presence of an occupational disease or injury received at work}
participation in hostilities, including the Great Patriotic War.
advanced training without interrupting your main job.

What does the amount of compensation depend on?

How can you figure out the amount that the company owes you? How much are former managers required to pay? So, you are obligated the following financial payments:

Additional thirteenth salary - if it is customary for the company to pay, you should be paid, and this taking into account the fact that you have already been working for more than a year.
The amount of compensation for vacation depends on the amount of accrued vacation pay.
Severance pay for the first thirty days after leaving work due to layoffs is paid based on the average monthly salary.
And the next amount is paid after the second month after you were laid off. The former employee is required to show a work book, which is considered proof that he was not hired, and in addition an application for payment of his average salary for the period of work, taking into account funds already paid. In total, severance compensation amounts to 2 salaries.

If a former employee gets a new job after the due payment period has expired, then the money is calculated for those days on which he has not yet worked.

If the 3rd month has already passed, and you suddenly have not found a job, then you may be given an additional payment if:

You registered with the employment organization and did this within twelve days from the day you quit;
During the period while you are registered, the employment service did not find you a job.

If all the specifications are met, after the 3rd month the former employee presents the former manager with information from the employment center, in agreement with which he must be paid the average salary based on the stage until he went through labor activity (due to layoff).

Payments upon reduction: calculation and issuance procedure

This information will be useful for employers to understand the necessary procedures that need to be completed in order not to violate the labor code and not face problems, fines and lawsuits during the inspection process. According to the article of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the employer must pay payments to employees when staffing is reduced.

Many organizations have problems with inspection bodies precisely because dismissed employees were not offered other positions or work in other departments of the company.

An agreement that the dismissal is due to staff reduction and not by mutual consent must be documented, have legal force and, in no case, be oral, since this deprives the employee of guaranteed compensation in case of problems finding a new job.

Women who are on maternity leave and childcare cannot be laid off; they must retain their jobs and positions in the new staffing table.

How much should you pay upon redundancy?

The dismissal procedure involves issuing an order indicating the date of termination of the existence of individual positions, as well as changes in the staffing table. In accordance with the decision to reduce the number of employees, the HR specialist prepares notifications for each employee, against personal signature, about the upcoming dismissal. For two months, the employer is obliged to offer employees of the company who will be laid off all vacancies that appear at the enterprise during this period.

How much do they pay for shortening months?

Severance pay.

Its size is the average monthly salary.

Salary for the month worked.
Remuneration – 13 salaries. The employee must be paid remuneration for the year worked. According to the law, many employers take advantage of the ignorance of their employees and do not pay wages upon dismissal.
Vacation pay. If an employee does not use his allotted vacation, he has the right to demand compensation from the employer. Payments must be provided upon dismissal even to the employee who wrote an application to postpone the vacation to the next year.

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