Can they be sent on a business trip without the employee’s consent?

Is the employee's consent to travel always necessary?

A business trip involves the absence of an employee from his place of residence for some time. In this regard, sometimes employees do not want to go to another location, so they refuse the upcoming work trip.

Cases when an employer must obtain the employee’s consent to send him on a business trip are listed in the law.

These include situations where the following reasons exist:

the traveler is a minor;
the woman is pregnant;
the employee has family responsibilities that do not allow him to leave the city of residence (for example, a single parent, the presence of a person for whom the employee provides care and supervision);
whether the employee has a disability group, etc.

Important!
For the above categories of citizens, obtaining consent for a business trip is mandatory. And a simple employee can give reasons why another employee may be sent on a business trip. The boss may change his mind, but this is his right, not his responsibility.

Therefore, can an employee be sent on a business trip to another city without the consent of an employee - yes, but only if he is not included in the categories of employees specified in the law.

Business trip to another city: who can refuse?

An employer cannot send on business trips those categories of employees who are exempt from work trips under current legislation. As for persons who have every right not to travel to another city, it is necessary to discuss the possibility of a business trip directly with the employee. The boss must obtain a written travel agreement from the following categories of employees:

single parent with a child under five years old;
women with children under three years of age;
parents of a disabled child;
guardians of minor children;
people caring for relatives who require constant care;
employees who are registered as election candidates.

If the above categories of persons do not know their rights, then management is obliged to notify them of the possibility of refusing a work trip.

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Restrictions on sending certain categories of workers on business trips

The norms of labor legislation presuppose the existence for certain categories of citizens of social guarantees established by law, which impose certain restrictions on management.

Who should not be sent on business trips

The following company employees cannot be sent on business trips:

An employee of a company who is in a position.
Persons who have not yet turned 18 years of age. However, if they belong to creative professions, representatives of the media, etc., they can be sent on a business trip.
Employees with a disability group, if their rehabilitation program determines that the business trip will harm their health.
If the employee is hired to work under a student agreement, and the business trip is in no way related to this agreement.
If a company employee is a candidate. The ban applies during the election period.

Attention! It is also necessary to remember that for citizens of foreign countries who are temporarily on Russian territory or temporarily reside here, in accordance with the law, the duration of their business trip may be limited.

In what cases is a business trip possible with the written consent of the employee?

Certain categories of employees may be sent on business trips only if their management first obtains their consent to do so.

These include:

Having young children (under three years of age) matter.
Single parents (both mothers and fathers) if they are raising children under the age of 5.
Parents who have a child with a disability group.
Persons who provide care and supervision to sick relatives.

When the employer receives written consent, he needs confirmation of the fact that he explained to the employee his right to refuse a business trip.

If an employee from this group does not give his consent to a business trip, then it is prohibited to send him on it. For the same categories, consent is also required in the event of an extension of an already existing trip at the initiative of the employer.

Attention! In addition, written consent must be obtained from the employee if the business trip requires working on a weekend or holiday.

Categories of workers entitled to preferential terms of travel

There are two groups of legislative restrictions regarding the sending of certain categories of persons on business trips:

Complete ban on business trips:
Minor employees (except for members of creative teams);
Persons working under a student agreement (if the business trip does not involve the implementation of the terms of such an agreement);
Disabled persons, if a business trip may interfere with the conditions of their rehabilitation;
Prohibition on business trips without the employee’s consent:
A parent raising a child under five years of age alone;
A guardian or trustee raising a child up to three years of age, and if he is raising him alone, up to five years of age;
An employee raising a disabled minor;
An employee caring for a sick family member in accordance with the conclusion of a medical institution;
An employee who has the status of a candidate during elections.

Thus, the persons listed in the second group have every right to refuse the proposed business trip. Moreover, the employer himself is obliged to take the written consent of such an employee when sending him on a business trip. It is important to know that the signature put by an employee on a business trip order is not considered an expression of his will - it only records the fact of familiarization.

The document confirming consent must contain the following details:

Justification by the employer of the expediency of a business trip;
Dates of expected departure and return from a business trip;
Indication of the circumstances on the basis of which the employee has the right to refuse to carry out instructions from management;
Description of possible guarantees and compensation for the employee in case of giving consent (for example, payment of double the rate for work on weekends);
A handwritten consent or refusal of a business trip by the employee, indicating his full awareness of all the conditions of the business trip proposed by the employer.

Next, using the example of some categories of employees, we will consider in more detail the possibilities of refusing an employer’s order regarding a business trip:

In cases where the question arises about how to refuse a business trip for a woman, there are several options for legal refusal, and all of them are related to the performance of family responsibilities: pregnancy, caring for young children or a disabled child;
When considering options for how to refuse a business trip for medical reasons, you should understand that in addition to the presence of a disability and the status of caring for a seriously ill relative, a completely legal way to avoid a business trip is temporary incapacity for work (being on sick leave);
Despite the fact that in some cases labor relations during military service are not regulated by labor legislation, the question of how to refuse a business trip for a military personnel does not arise at all. The strict requirements for discipline provided for by the law on the status of such a service require complete and impeccable subordination to superiors;
Among the many highly specialized regulations, there is only one clue that allows us to resolve the issue of how to refuse a business trip for an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs or a military man from the same structure. The order of the relevant ministry on the organization of official trips provides for the termination of a business trip by decision of the official who issued the order in the event of illness of the traveler or an emergency family circumstance requiring his mandatory presence.

Does an employee have the right to refuse a business trip?

In most cases, the employee is not given the right to refuse an upcoming business trip.

Valid reasons for refusal

Do not forget that at the time of refusal there may be valid reasons why the employee refuses to his management.

For family reasons

An employee will be able to refuse to travel on company business if he currently has family circumstances. For example, the birth of a child, the death of a close relative or his marriage.

According to the norms, he can take leave at his own expense, and the employer, by law, will have to arrange it. With the employer's permission, you can refuse a business trip if the employee has an anniversary planned during this period.

Important! However, this is the employer’s right, and not an obligation - he has the right to refuse a request to cancel or reschedule a trip.

If you have minor children

As such, the presence of a small child cannot be a reason for refusing to go on a business trip. The same applies to fathers with many children.

But at the same time, an employee may fall into one of the groups with mandatory written consent:

Single parent with a child under 5 years of age;
A parent caring for a disabled child;
Guardian of a minor child;
An employee caring for a sick family member (child).

Attention! In all these situations, the employee must be notified of the trip in advance, and also informed of the opportunity to refuse it.

If the employee's wife is pregnant

A pregnant wife may be the reason for the future father's refusal to go on a business trip. However, this is only a reason, and you cannot officially refuse to go, since the law does not provide for such a possibility.

There is a small loophole by which the specified reason can be transferred to a different status - obtain a certificate from a medical institution stating that the pregnant wife requires constant care, and the husband is providing it. Then you can refuse the trip without consequences due to the presence of a sick relative.

Other reasons

The following events may also be accepted as valid reasons:

The occurrence of an emergency that affected the employee’s life;
Urgency of receiving any document;
An important event in the life of a family.

Attention! In each of these situations, it is necessary to provide supporting documentation.

For health

An employee may refuse to travel if he needs to undergo treatment or has medical contraindications. To do this, you must fill out an application indicating the reason. Supporting documents must be attached to the application - a doctor’s certificate, a copy of the sick leave certificate, etc.

Insufficient funds allocated for the trip

Before the start of the trip, the employer must provide the employee with funds to pay for travel, accommodation, and other expenses. An approximate calculation is made by an accountant and agreed with the responsible persons.

If the funds provided are insufficient, and the employee can prove this (for example, calculate the indicator based on the data available to him), then he can refuse the trip, since he is not obliged to finance the trip from his own funds.

However, the fact that the funds provided are insufficient will need to be carefully justified.

Travel allowances were not paid

The employer is obliged to provide funds to finance expenses during a business trip. If this kind of payment is not made before departure for the trip, then the employee has the right to refuse the business trip.

This is due to the fact that by law he has the right not to spend his own funds. It will not be possible to impose disciplinary punishment on him in this situation.

Business trip

Even individual entrepreneurs send their subordinates on business trips, so let’s not even talk about large companies. This type of performance of official duties has been used for a very long time and is regulated by labor legislation.

The business trip is issued in accordance with established rules and must be paid. The employer's action algorithm is as follows:

Making an order. For this, a special form of document T-9 is used, but you can also draw up a form developed specifically for a specific company.
Carrying out all necessary accounting calculations.

The posted person is entitled to a daily allowance for food and accommodation, as well as payment of other expenses.
The funds are provided in advance, and upon return the employee is required to report. To some extent, business travel is the responsibility of the subordinate, even if the employment agreement does not contain information about the need to travel. Any business trip involves long trips, so not all employees can afford to leave their family for a long time. But, having received a referral to a business trip, it is not easy to refuse it. Can an employee refuse a business trip? Yes, there is such an opportunity. And for this it is not necessary to quit, as some employees prefer to do.

Consequences of an unreasonable refusal for an employee

Unreasonable refusal to travel is inherently an evasion of work duties. For this, the administration may impose disciplinary punishment - a reprimand, reprimand or dismissal. The choice of punishment depends on the degree of damage caused to the enterprise due to the refusal to travel.

When imposing a penalty, the following rules must be observed:

The employee must provide written explanations for the reason for the refusal, or the commission issues an act of refusal to provide explanations;
Cancellation of a business trip must also be made in writing;
The punishment must be imposed no later than 1 month from the date of violation;
The employee must be familiarized with the order imposing punishment against signature.

Important! Dismissal can only be made if the employee has previously repeatedly violated labor discipline.

What happens if you don't go?

Unreasonable refusal to go on a business trip is an employee’s evasion from fulfilling his official duties. Therefore, the employer has the right to bring him to disciplinary liability (Articles 192, 193 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation):

Comment.
Rebuke.
Dismissal.

Before bringing an employee to disciplinary liability, you need to check that the following conditions are met:

the employee is not one of the persons for whom a ban or restrictions on business trips have been established;
there are no provisions on business trips in the employment contract;
the work to be performed by the employee on a business trip corresponds to the job responsibilities specified in the employment contract.

In this case, the refusal to go on a business trip can be formalized in the form of a request for an explanation of the reasons for refusing to go on a business trip, or the refusal to go on a business trip can be recorded in a request for consent to a business trip.

Procedure for justifying refusal

How to submit an application?

To refuse a business trip, an employee must fill out an application using the following sample addressed to the head of the company. The header contains information about the recipient of the document, and just below about its author.

What documents are needed?

The documents that are provided to confirm trip cancellation primarily depend on the reason.

They can be:

Sick leave;
Certificates from medical institutions about the illness of a close relative;
Documents on the adoption of a child;
Certificate confirming the disability of a close relative;
Summons for trial;
Other documents that will help justify the refusal.

Unofficial methods

An employee may refuse to travel for formal reasons, but to do this, the employer must make a mistake in registering the business trip.

Eg:

All necessary documents have not been completed;
The employee has not been paid travel allowances (the law prohibits the employee from financing the trip on his own);
The business trip assignment does not coincide with the employee’s functions.

Attention! You can find more exotic ways not to go on a business trip - for example, to arrange a fictitious marriage. However, even in this case, the employer can reschedule the trip, and for a divorce it will be necessary to expend effort.

Therefore, it is best to find a legitimate justification for refusing to travel and use it.

Good reasons

Let's take a closer look.

Family circumstances

An employee has the right not to go on a business trip if he has certain family circumstances, for example:

The appearance of a child.
Death of a close relative.
Wedding of a close relative.

In all of the above cases, the employee has the right to take leave at his own expense, and the employer cannot refuse him this.

Minor children

The presence of an employee with a minor or minor child cannot be grounds for refusal. But an employee may fall into the category of citizens who must give written consent to such a referral:

If this is a single parent raising a child under 5 years of age.
The child has a disability.
The employee is officially appointed as the minor's guardian.
A worker takes care of a sick child.

In all of the above cases, the employee must be notified of the trip in advance, and also warned that he has the legal right to refuse the trip.

Wife's pregnancy

The presence of a pregnant wife may be grounds for exempting an employee from a business trip. But in this case, the employer makes a decision about the possibility or impossibility of such a refusal, since such a reason is not identified at the legislative level.

The only official reason to be excused from traveling is to receive a certificate from the antenatal clinic stating that the spouse requires constant care, which will be provided by the husband.

Insufficient budget

The employer is responsible for providing the employee with funds to meet several needs:

Directions
Accommodation.
Nutrition.
Other expenses.

An approximate calculation of the amount of travel allowances is carried out by the organization’s accountant, and then agreed upon with the responsible persons.

If the allocated funds are not enough, and the employee has the opportunity to prove this circumstance (make calculations independently based on real data), he has the right to refuse the business trip, since he is not obliged to pay anything extra from his own budget.

Non-payment of travel allowances

If an employee has not received travel allowances before the day of the trip, he has every right to refuse the business trip, since he does not have to spend his own money on it.

In such a situation, it is impossible to bring the employee to disciplinary liability, since the blame for disrupting the trip lies with the employer.

Is this allowed for police officers and military personnel?

Article 28.5 of the Federal Law “On the Status of Military Personnel” indicates that police officers and military personnel do not have the right to refuse to go on a business trip. In this area they are treated like civilians.

However, it is possible to terminate the trip early in the following cases:

An illness that requires immediate treatment;
Illness of a relative who is dependent on this employee;
Other family circumstances that require the employee’s presence.

Attention! To be recalled from a business trip, the commander must issue an order in writing.

In addition, in the event of a state of emergency, counter-terrorism measures, etc., an employee may be sent on a long official trip without his consent for a period of up to 6 months. If he refuses to travel, he may be dismissed from service.

Can you be fired for refusing a business trip?

If the employee does not have valid reasons for refusing to travel, and he does not belong to the categories from whom the employer is obliged to ask consent, then disciplinary measures may be applied to him.

Refusal to travel is essentially a failure to fulfill official duties, and this may result in punishment under Articles 192 and 193 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. What punishment will be used in a particular case depends on the consequences of refusing to travel for the company.

Dismissal is permissible only if the employee already has an outstanding disciplinary penalty for another offense. If such a violation occurs once, then you cannot be fired for it.

Can I be fired if I refuse a work trip?

The manager has no reason to fire a subordinate, since refusal to go on a business trip is only a violation of discipline. The reason for dismissal and termination of the contract may be disciplinary sanctions (Article of the Labor Code 192). Refusal to go on a business trip by the employer may be regarded as absenteeism, and then you can be fired under paragraph six, part one of Article 81.

To dismiss an employee based on disciplinary action, the employer will need to provide evidence. In this case, it is necessary to prove not only that the employee violated discipline at the enterprise, but also the severity of this act and the circumstances. You will also need to prove the subordinate’s negligent attitude towards work.