Art. 259 Labor Code of the Russian Federation: questions and answers
Art. 259 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation provides certain benefits to employees who are already mothers or are just preparing to become one, as well as some other persons with family responsibilities. This article will tell you what these advantages are and how they are implemented in practice.
What are the guarantees provided for in Art. 259 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation?
Who does Article 259 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation apply to?
When is a parent considered single?
What guarantees are established for pregnant women?
What to do if an employee announced her pregnancy while already on a business trip?
What are the guarantees for other “family” workers?
Is consent required for a business trip if a former single parent gets married?
Guarantees for persons with family responsibilities
In addition to restrictions during pregnancy, Article 259 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation establishes special guarantees for persons with family responsibilities.
This category includes persons with children who belong to special age groups or have special health conditions, such as disabilities. Family people have a range of responsibilities that limit them. The employer is obliged to take this fact into account and not apply certain general rules to them.
The management of the organization cannot:
- Send a person with family obligations on a business trip.
- Involve an employee included in this category to perform overtime work.
- Call an employee to work outside of schedule on his day off or a day that is recognized as a holiday in the Russian Federation.
- Force a person to work at night, even in the presence of force majeure and production necessity.
But the Labor Code allows the use of any of these measures with the voluntarily expressed desire of the employee himself, burdened with special obligations.
In this case, the employer must confirm the voluntariness of consent in the following ways:
- First, the employee is provided with information about the possibility of refusing to be employed in excess of the established norm and at night. Familiarization is carried out against a signature indicating the date, position and full name of the employee.
- Then an introductory signature is placed under the document, in which the employee confirms the voluntary consent to perform the actions.
The first point is relevant only for one category of people - women who are raising children aged zero to three years. The remaining categories must express their consent using the second method.
Failure to comply with the rules will result in penalties for the employer.
Employee categories
Who is considered an employee with family responsibilities? A full answer is provided by Article 259 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.
Categories of employees who cannot be forced to work overtime and business trips include:
- Employees who have one or more children aged zero to three years. This item includes not only women who gave birth, but also those who adopted a child in the specified age range.
- Men or women who are raising a child alone without a spouse until the child reaches five years of age. The status of a single mother or single father must be documented.
- Employees with children with established disabilities, no age limit. After disabled children reach adulthood, the following item on the list comes into force.
- For hired persons providing care for sick close relatives, if they have a medical document confirming the need for such care.
The listed categories can decide for themselves whether to perform extra work or not.
What are the guarantees provided for in Art. 259 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation?
Art. 259 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation establishes restrictions on attracting certain employees to:
- business trips;
- overtime work;
- working nights, weekends and holidays.
Find out more about overtime and night hours from the following articles:
- “When is it permissible to engage an employee to work overtime?”;
- “Work at night according to the Labor Code (nuances).”
Who does Article 259 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation apply to?
With the norms of Art. 259 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, first of all, all employers who have on staff should familiarize themselves with:
- pregnant women, and generally women of childbearing age, since a happy event can happen to any of them;
See also “What week do they go on maternity leave (nuances)?”
- mothers with babies under 3 years old;
- parents (both mothers and fathers) raising children under 5 years of age alone;
- guardians of children under 5 years of age;
- other persons raising such children without a mother;
- parents of disabled children (guarantees apply to both parents at the same time);
- workers caring for unhealthy relatives (according to a medical report).
And naturally, the content of the above norm should be known to the employees of the listed categories themselves in order to protect themselves from the arbitrariness or banal incompetence of the employer.
Who can refuse a trip under the Labor Code of the Russian Federation?
The direct regulatory act regulating the procedure for sending employees on business trips, including foreign trips, is Regulation No. 749 of October 13, 2008, approved by the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation.
So, in accordance with Article 259 of the Labor Code of Russia, it is prohibited to send on a business trip without the consent of the following groups of workers:
- Mothers whose children have not reached the age of 36 months;
- Parents of a disabled child;
- A parent who is raising a child without a second spouse until the child reaches the age of five;
- Workers who care for sick relatives upon presentation of a medical report.
Violation of the ban on sending on a business trip without the consent of the represented categories of employees entails administrative liability .
(Article 5.27 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, as well as paragraph 14 of the Resolution of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation No. 1 of January 28, 2014).
In addition to these groups of employees, the legislator has provided a guarantee that the employer will not be able to send the following employees on business trips (Article 259 of the Labor Code of Russia):
- under the age of majority (18 years old, except for citizens who are engaged in creative work (for example, journalists on an editorial assignment));
- women at any stage of pregnancy (upon providing a certificate from the antenatal clinic confirming pregnancy registration, duly completed);
- citizens who are employed on the basis of an apprenticeship contract , except in cases where the business trip has a direct connection with the apprenticeship;
- persons registered for elections as candidates;
- employees who have a document confirming the presence of a disability group .
Read more: How to correctly send a pre-trial claim by mail
Temporary restrictions have also been established on sending highly qualified employees and foreigners on business trips.
Exceeding such established deadlines entails administrative liability.
Pregnant women
Above is a list of categories of employees whom the law prohibits from sending on business trips . One such group of workers is women who are expecting a child. The presented restriction is enshrined in Part 1 of Article 259 of the Labor Code of Russia.
The woman must present a medical certificate of the established form confirming pregnancy and its timing.
Part 1 art. 259 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation is imperative in nature, i.e. A woman who is at any stage of pregnancy cannot be sent on a business trip even with her voluntary consent, including written confirmation.
An employee with a child under 3 years old
When an employee has a child who has not reached the age of 36 months, work trips can only be assigned to him with written consent.
This document does not have a template established by law and can be drawn up in any form.
Important! To avoid conflict situations between employees with children under three years of age and employers, an order for assignment on a business trip and the employee’s consent to a business trip should be drawn up in two different documents.
Disabled people
The presented issue is regulated by the Labor Code (Article 224 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation), as well as Federal Law No. 67 of June 12, 2002.
These regulations establish a ban on business trips for citizens who have any disability group, confirmed by relevant medical certificates, in cases where the business trip is not compatible with individual medical prescriptions for rehabilitation.
When is a parent considered single?
In Art. 259 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation does not include the concept of “single parent”, but refers to a parent who raises a child alone, without the participation of a spouse.
First of all, this is a situation where the second parent has died or gone missing, about which there is a corresponding court decision.
A mother may be considered single if paternity has not been established.
You can also talk about raising a child alone when there is a second parent, he is alive and in good health, but:
- undergoes military service in the Armed Forces;
- posted for a long period of time;
- deprived of parental rights or limited in them;
- sentenced to imprisonment;
- avoids raising children;
- his marriage was dissolved.
The situation is interpreted similarly if the second parent is incompetent or has limited legal capacity (as confirmed by the court) or his health does not allow him to personally raise and support the child.
Please note that the list of such situations is open. The main criterion here is the duration of the absence of the second parent.
What guarantees are established for pregnant women?
The Labor Code generally prohibits sending pregnant women on business trips and engaging them in work at night, weekends, holidays and overtime. This cannot be done, even if the pregnant woman herself agrees. If the fact of a business trip or excessive work comes to light, the employer will be fined under Art. 5.27 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.
A pregnant woman can confirm her right to refuse to go on a business trip or work beyond the normal schedule with an appropriate medical certificate.
Please note that there is no legal obligation to submit a pregnancy certificate to work, and there are no defined deadlines for this. However, if there is no certificate, but the employee declares that she is pregnant, the requirements of Art. 259 is still better to comply with. If a labor dispute ensues, the court will most likely support the woman.
For other guarantees during pregnancy, read the article “Dismissal of a pregnant woman - when and why?”
Remember, business travel for a pregnant woman is prohibited
Part 1 art. 259 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation is imperative in nature and establishes a ban on pregnant women:
- assignment on business trips;
- involvement in overtime work;
- involvement in night work;
- involvement in work on weekends and non-working holidays.
The performance of labor functions in a number of professions, by order of the employer, is often carried out not at the place of permanent work.
However, the legislator has provided restrictions on the assignment of work duties in another locality or at another enterprise for certain categories of workers.
Which employees cannot be sent on business trips and whose consent is required to issue an order to be sent on a business trip?
The article describes typical situations. To solve your problem , write to our consultant or call for free:
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What are the guarantees for other “family” workers?
The rest of the workers on the list can be sent on a business trip or asked to work overtime, at night, on a weekend or on a holiday, but under two conditions:
- the employee agrees (consent must be written);
- there are no medical contraindications for this.
The employee must be informed of the right to refuse a business trip in writing.
If for “disadvantaged” personnel refusal to travel on a business trip is considered a disciplinary offense and may result in punishment, then this rule does not apply to “family” personnel.
