Disciplinary liability of state civil servants

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Published: 05/09/2017

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State civil servants are identified as a separate category of workers, since their labor is regulated in a special manner. In addition to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, they are also subject to certain laws and regulations.

There are certain features when imposing a disciplinary sanction on a civil servant . It is worth considering in more detail what types of such penalties can be applied and on what grounds.

• Legislative regulation and types of disciplinary liability
• Grounds for prosecution
• Applying order
• Time limits for bringing to justice
• Situations in which a civil servant cannot be held accountable

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Legislative regulation of disciplinary liability

Civil service in our country is carried out on the basis of the main legislative act, namely the Federal Law “On State Civil Service in the Russian Federation”. It is this legal act that contains basic information regarding such important issues as: existing ranks of the civil service, the basic rights and responsibilities that may be assigned to such employees, grounds for termination of service, etc.

In addition, the above act also contains information regarding various types of disciplinary sanctions that can be imposed on government employees. In accordance with the existing rules, there are only three such forms of punishment - reprimand, reprimand and dismissal. A few years ago, this list also included another type of disciplinary liability - a warning about incomplete compliance with official duties. However, in 2013, this measure was removed from the existing list.

The decision to choose a specific form of punishment from three possible ones is always made by the authorized person independently. In this case, important individual characteristics of a particular situation are taken into account. For example, the employer must first of all properly assess the seriousness of the employee’s misconduct.

Separately, it should be mentioned that each measure of responsibility also differs in its severity and some special consequences that may occur for a civil servant. A reprimand and a reprimand are fairly similar types of punishment and, of course, they are the least serious measures of responsibility. The main difference lies only in the information that is recorded in the corresponding order on the imposition of disciplinary punishment.

Naturally, the most severe measure for a civil servant will always be his unilateral dismissal for a previously committed violation. That is why such a measure can be applied by the employer only in special situations in which the punishment fully corresponds to the degree of seriousness of the previously committed offense.

Popular mistakes

When bringing civil servants to disciplinary liability, employers often make various mistakes. The main such errors include the following:

• The period during which the punishment can be used is missed, but the manager still holds the employee accountable a month after the misconduct is discovered, although such punishment is easily challenged in court.
• The manager draws up an order to dismiss the citizen before receiving an explanatory note from him, and if it turns out that absenteeism or other serious misconduct is due to compelling reasons, then the director will have to cancel the punishment.
• The official inspection required to establish the guilt of a particular employee takes more than one month, although by law this process cannot last longer than 1 month, and it is not allowed to be extended for various reasons.

The above problems of disciplinary liability of civil servants must be taken into account by the management of the enterprise. In this case, it is possible to officially punish the violators, taking into account their rights.

On what grounds can a civil servant be subject to disciplinary liability?

The presence of compelling reasons will always be the main criterion for the subsequent establishment of disciplinary measures against a civil servant. These grounds, in turn, are always expressed in certain violations committed by the employee. The most common of them include the following:

1. Repeated disregard by an employee of his assigned duties. In accordance with existing rules, absolutely every employee, including civil servants, is obliged to fulfill their obligations properly, efficiently and carefully. If the employer notices for the first time an employee’s non-fulfillment or poor performance of his obligations, he has the right to issue a reprimand or reprimand. However, if this situation repeats, the employer will have the legal right to dismiss the employee unilaterally.
2. Absenteeism of an employee without good reason. Even if such absenteeism was committed by the employee for the first time, the employer will immediately have the legal right to make a decision on dismissal.
3. An employee makes a rash decision that causes damage to the organization.
4. The appearance of a civil servant at his workplace while intoxicated or under the influence of other drugs. This behavior by the employee constitutes a serious violation of established disciplinary standards. Therefore, in this case, the employer will be able to dismiss the employee immediately.
5. Commitment by a civil servant of property theft in an organization, etc.

Regardless of the specific type of disciplinary violation that was committed by a subordinate, the employer must pay maximum attention to the dismissal procedure itself. The manager's decision must be supported by references to the relevant articles of the law. Moreover, the very fact that an employee committed a disciplinary violation must also be officially recorded. For this purpose, the head of the institution may create a special commission to conduct an internal investigation of what happened.

Reasons for attraction

The procedure for applying disciplinary liability to civil servants is the need for compelling reasons to implement this process. They must be represented by various serious violations. The manager is obliged to correctly document such violations.

Disciplinary action against civil servants is possible for the following reasons:

• refusal to perform one's official duties;
• committing any disciplinary violation;
• irresponsible attitude towards official duties;
• absenteeism from work without good reason;
• immoral behavior during work;
• systematic lateness to work;
• coming to work in a state of intoxication, which may be alcohol or drugs.

The above situations must be correctly documented by the immediate supervisor of a specific government body. Additionally, disciplinary liability of a civil servant for corruption offenses may be applied, but only in conjunction with criminal and administrative liability.

Procedure for imposing disciplinary sanctions

In order for the employer’s decision to dismiss an employee to be truly lawful, the director must follow the procedure for imposing a disciplinary sanction. In accordance with established rules, it should include the following steps:

1. Recording the fact of a violation by a subordinate. To do this, the employer can use a document such as an internal act created during the investigation. It must be remembered that the preparation of such a document must be carried out in the presence of at least two other employees who can act as independent witnesses.
2. Sending an official written request to the employee to provide an explanation regarding the violation committed. This stage should never be skipped. To further protect the rights of employees, current legislative norms establish that the employer must give the subordinate a full opportunity to explain his own behavior. It is quite possible that the employee will provide information regarding the presence of special conditions that forced him to do this.
3. Conducting an internal investigation. For this purpose, the employer decides to create a special commission. Her responsibilities will include establishing all the important facts of what happened. An internal investigation may last several days. At the end of this period of time, its members draw up an official conclusion, which indicates all the conclusions reached.
4. Assessing the degree of seriousness of the offense committed by the subordinate. After receiving the official conclusion from the commission, the director of the organization must carefully study the document and draw the appropriate conclusions. The most objective assessment of what happened is necessary so that the manager can make a truly fair decision and establish a well-deserved punishment. The decision on what exact measure of liability will be applied to a particular employee is made by the employer independently. However, here he will need to remember that the unilateral dismissal of an employee can be carried out only on the grounds that have been officially established by legislative norms.
5. Application of the punishment assigned to the employee. The procedure for this procedure will directly depend on what specific measure of liability was chosen by the employer. If it consists of a remark or reprimand, an order and a corresponding act are created by the authorized person. These documents indicate all important information, including the basis on which the appropriate punishment was imposed. If we are talking about dismissal, the employer must create a separate order to terminate the previously concluded employment agreement. In addition, on the last working day, a full settlement will need to be made with the dismissed employee, with payment of the compensation due to him.

Criminal liability

Disciplinary liability of employees is considered the simplest, since it does not provide for too serious penalties. If an employee has committed an offense that has elements of a criminal offense, then he is held accountable on the basis of the provisions of the Criminal Code.

Criminal liability is provided for the following crimes:

• abuse of authority;
• hiding important information from management;
• abuse of existing powers;
• receiving or giving a bribe;
• appropriation and use of someone else's powers;
• illegal conduct of business activities;
• negligence during performance of duties;
• forgery.

Punishment for the above actions can be a large fine, deprivation of a job, or even imprisonment. Therefore, employees must take responsibility for their obligations in the service. Otherwise, they may not only lose their main place of employment, but also face more serious negative consequences.

Time limits for bringing disciplinary action

In order to protect the interests of employees, the current regulations have established certain time frames within which subordinates can be held accountable for previously committed violations, for example:

1. In most cases, the statute of limitations for imposing a sentence will be one calendar month. This period of time does not include days of a citizen’s incapacity for work, as well as other cases of his absence from work without any valid reason.
2. In some situations, the above period is extended to 6 months. For example, if a violation committed by an employee was discovered during an audit or other inspection.

Process nuances

Features of disciplinary liability of state civil servants are as follows:

• if the employee does not want to get acquainted with the contents of the order on the basis of which he is held accountable, then a copy of this document is sent by mail to the citizen’s residence address, for which a registered letter and return receipt are used;
• if the employee does not draw up an explanatory note, then the manager draws up a suitable act in which the witnesses sign;
• even if there is no explanatory note or other documents from the employee, this cannot be a basis for refusing to hold him accountable.

The head of an enterprise must know that in order to legally punish an employee, there must be strong evidence of his guilt for a particular offense. Otherwise, the disciplinary liability of state civil servants may be challenged in court.

In what cases can a civil servant not be held accountable?

It should be noted right away that the current regulations did not establish an exact list of circumstances under which an employee could not be brought to disciplinary liability. The only caveat is that it is impossible to establish punishment while an employee is on sick leave or on another paid vacation. If the employer has evidence of a violation, he will still need to wait for the subordinate to return to his workplace.

Naturally, establishing a punishment will also be unlawful if the employer did not have any evidence of the guilt of a particular employee. If this happens, the employee will be able to restore legitimate interests and rights by going to court. If his dismissal is indeed declared illegal, he will be able to be reinstated in his previous position under the same conditions.

What actions are taken to punish an employee?

It is the head of a particular government agency who must bring state civil servants to disciplinary liability. To do this, a certain sequence of actions must be followed:

• a violation is initially identified by the immediate supervisor of a particular employee;
• the report is submitted to the head of the government agency;
• an order is issued on the basis of which an internal audit is carried out;
• the main purpose of such an inspection is to clarify the main circumstances of the identified violation;
• a civil servant is required to provide an explanatory note in writing, where he must talk about the reasons for committing a specific violation or dishonest attitude towards his official duties;
• if a serious violation on the part of the employee is actually established, then a decision is made on the need to bring him to disciplinary liability;
• for this purpose, management issues an appropriate order containing information about what penalties will be applied to the violator;
• This order must be signed by the employee;
• the order comes into force.

After completing these steps, the violator is held accountable. It can be presented in different forms, so the circumstances of the violation committed, as well as its consequences, are taken into account.

Who are government employees?

Since government positions are introduced to exercise the powers of federal bodies and bodies of constituent entities of the Russian Federation, formally the state is considered the employer of such employees, and the head of the government body acts as a representative of the employer. (Article 1 of Federal Law No. 79). When entering the civil service, employees enter into a contract, their activities are financed from the federal or regional budget.

Such a service imposes a number of restrictions, for example, civil servants cannot speak publicly and evaluate the activities of government bodies if this is not part of their official duties.

Civil servants are divided into four categories (Article 9 of Federal Law No. 79):

The term of office of the last two categories of employees is initially unlimited.

40. Rewards and disciplinary sanctions in the municipal service

Types of incentives for municipal employees and the procedure for their application are established by municipal legal acts in accordance with federal laws and laws of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation.

For committing a disciplinary offense - failure or improper performance by a municipal employee through his fault of the official duties assigned to him - the representative of the employer (employer) has the right to apply the following disciplinary sanctions:

comment;
1. dismissal from municipal service on appropriate grounds.

Rules for imposing penalties

When imposing a penalty, a certain procedure must be followed. Without this, the punishment will be legally considered illegal, even if formally its application is fair. The procedure is regulated by Art. 58 Federal Law No. 79 and generally coincides with a similar procedure for other categories of employees described in Art. 193 Labor Code of the Russian Federation. However, there are specific nuances here that relate mainly to the investigation of the incident.

Article 58 Federal Law No. 79 - Procedure for applying and lifting disciplinary sanctions

1. Before applying disciplinary action, the employer's representative must request an explanation in writing from the civil servant. If a civil servant refuses to give such an explanation, a corresponding act is drawn up. The refusal of a civil servant to give an explanation in writing is not an obstacle to applying a disciplinary sanction.
2. Before applying a disciplinary sanction, an internal review is carried out.
3. When applying a disciplinary sanction, the severity of the disciplinary offense committed by a civil servant, the degree of his guilt, the circumstances under which the disciplinary offense was committed, and the previous results of the civil servant performing his official duties are taken into account.
4. A disciplinary sanction is applied immediately after the discovery of a disciplinary offense, but no later than one month from the date of its discovery, not counting the period of temporary incapacity for work of a civil servant, his stay on vacation, other cases of his absence from service for good reasons, as well as the time of an internal inspection.
5. A disciplinary sanction cannot be applied later than six months from the date of commission of a disciplinary offense, and based on the results of an inspection of financial and economic activities or an audit - later than two years from the date of commission of a disciplinary offense. The specified time limits do not include the time of criminal proceedings.
6. A copy of the act on the application of a disciplinary sanction to a civil servant, indicating the grounds for its application, is handed over to the civil servant against signature within five days from the date of publication of the relevant act.
7. A civil servant has the right to appeal a disciplinary sanction in writing to the commission of a state body on official disputes or to court.
8. If, within one year from the date of application of the disciplinary sanction provided for in paragraphs 1 - 3 of part 1 of Article 57 of this Federal Law, and the penalty provided for in Article 59.1 of this Federal Law, a civil servant is not subjected to a new disciplinary sanction, he is considered to have no disciplinary sanction.
9. The employer's representative has the right to remove a disciplinary sanction from a civil servant before the expiration of one year from the date of application of the disciplinary sanction on his own initiative, at the written request of the civil servant or at the request of his immediate supervisor.

When it becomes known about an offense that is subject to disciplinary liability, a written explanation is required from the employee. Refusal to provide an explanation is not an obstacle to the subsequent imposition of penalties, but must be recorded in a separate act.

Explanatory note of a civil servant (sample)

Next, it is necessary to conduct an internal audit (Article 59 of Federal Law No. 79). Based on its results, the commission draws up a conclusion, which indicates the need for disciplinary action.

Expert commentary

Kolesnikova Anna

Lawyer

When imposing a disciplinary sanction, it is necessary to take into account the severity of the offense and the circumstances of its commission, the degree of guilt of the employee and how he previously performed his duties.

Sanctions can be applied no later than one month from the date of discovery of the offense. This time does not include the period when the guilty employee was on vacation, on sick leave or absent for other valid reasons. The time required for the official check is also not taken into account.

The maximum period during which disciplinary sanctions can be applied to the perpetrator is six months from the date of commission of the offense. Thus, if the fact of the offense comes to light after seven months, it cannot be held accountable for it. An exception is violations identified as a result of a financial or audit. The statute of limitations for them is two years. If a criminal case is initiated as a result of the violation, the statute of limitations is also suspended during the investigation.

Common mistakes

Error: The employer failed to timely apply disciplinary measures to a civil servant for the reason that he skipped work, not wanting to be held accountable for his actions.

Comment: If a civil servant is absent from work without good reason, the law allows an order to be issued to punish him in his absence.

Error: The employer conducts an internal audit before applying disciplinary measures against a civil servant for 3 months.

Comment: The law allocates 1 month for conducting an internal audit and does not provide for the possibility of its extension.

Administrative and disciplinary responsibility of a civil servant - differences

A state civil servant, like a citizen, is responsible before the law for acts of an administrative nature. Punishments for offenses of this nature are prescribed in the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. Also in the Code of Administrative Offenses there is Article 2.4 provided for civil servants who have committed an administrative violation. The law strictly distinguishes between administrative and disciplinary liability.

Let's look at their differences:

• A civil servant is subject to disciplinary punishment in the order of official subordination, execution is carried out by the executive branch appointed by the President of the Russian Federation or the courts;
• Administrative liability has slightly different measures of influence on the violator than disciplinary: warning, suppression, punishment.

Administrative responsibility extends not only to officials and citizens, but also to institutions, organizations and enterprises.