All employers when hiring citizens must take into account the requirements of the Labor Code. These include the correct establishment of the optimal working time. Some companies operate around the clock, so hiring specialists are offered night work. Employees may also be involved in overtime night work. It is important to know how such activities are properly formalized, how work is paid at night, and who can be involved in work.
What time is night?
Work from 22:00 to 6:00 is a night activity, which is indicated in Art. 96 shopping mall. When using labor at such a time, the following requirements are taken into account:
- the night shift should be shorter than the day shift by at least one hour;
- this hour cannot be worked out in the future;
- An exception is situations when workers are specially accepted for night work or work on a reduced schedule.
If a citizen who works in the daytime is involved in night work for a limited period of time, then the employer must correctly draw up this process. Night shifts must be paid at higher rates.
Who can't work at night?
Night work can only be carried out by a limited number of employees. For this, the production need and the shift schedule are taken into account. There are some workers who cannot be employed at night. Therefore, the employee who belongs to such privileged categories is not allowed to work at night:
- pregnant women;
- persons who should not work at night on the basis of medical indications;
- minor citizens.
Even if the above workers independently express a desire to work, they are not allowed to do this. An exception is the situation when persons under the age of 18 are engaged in creative or artistic activities. In this case, it is allowed to use the work of a minor at night.
When is employee consent required?
An employee who belongs to such privileged categories is not allowed to work at night without the written consent of:
- persons with any disability group;
- parents raising children with disabilities;
- single parents;
- guardians involved in raising a child under 5 years old;
- mothers who have a child under three years old;
- persons caring for adults who require care on the basis of medical indications.
The employer should not only offer these people the opportunity to go to work at night, but must also notify them of the possibility of refusing such activities. If an employee refuses to work, the head of the company cannot apply any disciplinary measures or insist on labor in connection with the occurrence of an accident or other reasons.
Conditions for attracting employees
Work at night can only be carried out if certain conditions are met. If employees work during the day, then good reason is required to use overtime work, which can only be done at night. These include:
- The occurrence of unforeseen technical difficulties that led to a delay in the workflow, therefore, property belonging to the company or client may suffer.
- It is required to carry out actions of high national importance.
- There are delays that can lead to a deterioration in the health status of citizens.
- It is urgent to fix all sorts of problems.
- An urgent need to replace a specialist who is absent from continuous production for various reasons.
Company managers can attract workers to overtime overnight work no more than two times in a row, and such work should not exceed 4 hours a day in duration.
Under article 96 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, it is allowed to oblige employees to work without consent if it is necessary to eliminate the consequences of a global catastrophe or natural disaster. The same applies to the situation when martial law is established in the country.
What is the allowable shift duration?
As a standard, nighttime work should be one hour shorter than the day shift. But often non-standard situations arise. In such cases, the shift is not reduced. These situations include:
- If a citizen, according to Art. 92 TC, works less than 8 hours a day.
- The employee works exclusively at night, and this moment is certainly prescribed in the employment contract.
- The company uses a shift mode, and also uses a six-day work week.
- Such work is required on the basis of existing working conditions.
If the head of the company without reason increases the duration of the shift, the employee can write a complaint to him to the labor inspectorate.
How to pay?
According to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, night work should be paid at a higher rate compared to daytime activities. Payment cannot be less than the minimum level prescribed in the TC.
The employer independently determines the size of the allowance for night work, but it cannot be less than 20% of the salary. Most often, the nighttime supplement is set at 40%.
For some posts, the minimum surcharge is 35% or 50%. For example, if a citizen works as a security guard in a military or fire organization, then for him the premium is at least 35%. For employees of the penitentiary system, overtime work at night is paid with a minimum allowance of 35%.
For health workers, this surcharge is at least 50%. The premium applies exclusively to those hours that fall at night. This includes the period from 22:00 to 6:00. Therefore, if the shift starts at 19:00, then three hours are paid according to the standard mode.
How is the premium considered?
To correctly calculate the remuneration for night work, the organization’s accountant must calculate the average citizen's earnings per working hour. For this, the monthly salary is divided by the number of working days in a particular month.
The resulting value is divided by the number of hours that a citizen works out within one day. The indicator is further multiplied by a minimum of 20%.
Difficulties arise when calculating nighttime wages for people who work on a shift schedule or receive piecework wages.
How is the calculation done during weekends?
Often employees are involved not only for night work, but also for work on weekends or holidays. Such activities are necessarily paid in double size, and may also be offered an additional day off in the future at any time.
If you want to go out on a night shift on a weekend or holiday, then a double bonus is used, since work is paid on the day off and at night. No additional payment is assigned if a citizen works on the basis of a shift schedule, so Saturday or Sunday are for him working days according to the schedule.
Often, employers take advantage of the fact that employees are not well versed in what labor rights they have. This leads to the fact that the employer illegally uses the work at night or on weekends without providing double payment.
Rules for engaging in night activities
The procedure for engaging in night work should be carried out in the correct sequence of actions. Therefore, the employer implements the following steps:
- Initially, there should be an urgent need to attract an employee to work at night, for example, an accident at work or the absence of a full-time specialist at the workplace.
- Further, it is required to warn a specific specialist in advance that he will have to leave at night.
- The citizen is requested to give written consent to such work.
- An order is issued based on which the specialist is involved in overtime activities.
- Documentary confirmation is required that the selected specialist can be involved in such work on the basis of health status, so the employer will first examine the results of the medical examination.
If the employee was initially hired to work at night, then this fact is prescribed in his employment contract. Such work at night does not require the consent or prior notification of a hired specialist. He must work as standard for 8 hours, and he is not assigned an additional payment, since the increased salary is initially indicated in the labor agreement.
Additionally, it is not required to obtain consent from employees if work at the company at night is connected with matters of national importance or eliminating the consequences of a major accident at the enterprise.
Pros and cons for the employee
According to article 96 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, an employer can ask any employee to do work at night if the hired specialist is not included in special privileged categories that are not involved in such activities regardless of different circumstances.
For workers, using overtime has some advantages. These include:
- significantly increases the salary received by a specialist at the end of the month;
- in the daytime, a citizen can perform other important tasks;
- on the part of the management, there is not too tight control at night, which allows you to relax a bit if necessary.
But this work has numerous disadvantages:
- a certain harm is inflicted on the health of a citizen, since the established sleep schedule is violated;
- problems arise in the family, as spouses have to work at different times;
- if the work is really hard, then all the days off will be spent on rest and recovery, so doing any housework or helping other family members with different problems will not work.
That is why many people refuse to work at night even for a fairly high pay. But even in case of refusal in some situations, the employer can attract an employee to work if there are good reasons for this.
What documents are required for registration?
If you need to attract an employee for night activities, then this must be correctly executed. For this, the following documents are used by the employer:
- The labor regulations developed by the company and containing information on the possibility of attracting employees to overtime work.
- Internal local acts of the company, including the rules for registration of such activities.
- The order issued by the head, if you want to once attract an employee to difficult work.
- Written consent of the hired specialist.
- It is allowed to fix the rules of such work directly in the collective labor contract.
Every employee of the company is sure to get acquainted with all the above documents.
Consequences of Violations
If the employer does not prepare the necessary order or other documents, and also insists that a citizen included in the preferential category do the work at night, this is a serious violation.
Employees can write a complaint to the labor inspectorate or prosecutor. They may claim compensation for non-pecuniary damage in court.
Conclusion
Work at night is considered difficult work, for which the manager must offer employees increased pay. It depends on the basic earnings of the citizen. A limited number of employees can be involved in such activities.
Previously, it is necessary to issue an appropriate order and ask the employee to draw up written consent. In case of violation of the rights or interests of hired specialists, the employer may face negative consequences in the form of large fines or suspension of work.