Unfortunately, such an unpleasant situation as the death of an employee can happen at every enterprise and in every organization. In this case, the personnel officer should concentrate and correctly execute the work book of the deceased employee and other related documents. It is worth noting that the dismissal in connection with the death of the employee is carried out according to a slightly different procedure than the usual dismissal at the request of the employee or administration.
The legislative framework
All issues related to labor relations are regulated, as is known, by the Labor Code. In Art. 83 indicates that a labor agreement may be terminated for reasons that are independent of the parties. According to clause 6 of the same article, the death of an employee is included in such grounds.
How to issue a dismissal in connection with the death of an employee?
If we consider the general procedure for dismissal, then it happens like this:
- the employee writes a statement (if he leaves work at will) or the employer sends a notification to the employee (if the employee leaves on the initiative of the head);
- after that, a dismissal order is issued ;
- on the last working day, the employee receives the calculation, work book and other documents. Sometimes severance pay may also be paid.
As you understand, a deceased employee will naturally not be able to perform all of the above actions. In connection with the death of the employee, the dismissal procedure is a little different.
An order or order?
Termination of relations with an employee is nevertheless more correctly formalized by order of form T-8. The relevant order must necessarily coincide with the date indicated on the death certificate. Since this document does not always arrive at the enterprise strictly on the day of the person’s death, many staff workers do not know what to do. In this case, you can make an exception and dismiss in connection with death in hindsight. Such an action will not be considered a violation.
Labor book
After issuing the order, you also need to make an entry in the work book. In this document it is necessary to write the following: “The labor agreement is terminated due to circumstances that are not dependent on the parties - in connection with the death of the employee.” And then indicate the article according to which the dismissal is carried out in connection with the death of the employee, namely, clause 6 of article 83. The document itself is either transferred personally to the hands of relatives on the basis of their application, or sent to the address indicated by the employee when applying for a job.
Payment of wages
If the employee did not manage to receive the salary, then it must be issued to the person who was dependent on the deceased, or to his close relatives. At the same time,
labor legislation does not determine who belongs to close relatives. However, this concept specifies the Family Code. Close relatives are considered:
- children (including adopted);
- spouses;
- parents (foster children are also included here).
It is also worth noting that when calculating payments to the deceased, one cannot withhold the amount for unearned holidays.
Inheritance of deceased employee
When paying the money due to the deceased, it is necessary to take into account not only labor, but also inheritance law. Thus, Article 1183 of the Civil Code states that all the amounts that must be paid to an employee under an employment contract are transferred to his dependents or family members who lived with the deceased employee. There is no deadline in the TC within which payments should be made, however, it is provided for in the Civil Code and is 4 months from the moment the inheritance was opened. That day will be the day of the death of the employee. That is, it turns out that within 4 months after the death of the employee, the organization where he worked must make all payments that are due to the deceased employee and give them to interested parties.
As you can see, in order to properly execute the dismissal of an employee who has died, it is necessary not only to know the articles of dismissal of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, but also to be aware of how to make an entry in the work book, write an appropriate order and pay the deceased's relatives the appropriate amount of money. If no one came for a work book, it must be stored in the personnel department separately from documents of other employees for 2 years. If during this period it was not taken, such a document is sent to the organization’s archive, where it will be for as long as 50 years. And only after that it can be eliminated.
Dismissal in connection with the death of an employee is a difficult process not only in legal terms, but also in moral. But if such an unpleasant situation does happen in your organization, you will already know how to terminate the employment relationship with the deceased employee in all respects without breaking the law.