In order to maintain a normal standard of living, to provide everything necessary for themselves and their families, people work. Citizens of working age spend a significant part of their time on work. And of course, they need a break from everyday routine, stress and tension. To ensure that people do not lose their ability to work and lead a decent life, the state provides for the right of workers to leave every working year, which is paid by the employer. For some professions, its size is 28 days; some, especially dangerous or labor-intensive, can count on 56 days of rest per year. All this sounds very attractive, until the question arises of a change of job, dismissal, reduction and other troubles of this nature. What to do if you quit, but didn’t have time to relax for the time worked? This article raises the question of what compensation is for non-scheduled leave, how to calculate unused days of leave upon dismissal, what should be paid attention to when preparing documents, and other questions on the topic.
What is vacation compensation?
The state has established the time of paid leave for each working citizen at which wages and positions are maintained. Each year, an employee has the right to rest for 28 days. Some professions involve longer rests (45 and 56 days), and in some cases even additional holidays. You can take a vacation at a time, that is, all four weeks at once, or you can break it up in parts (one of the vacation time periods should not be less than 2 weeks). If the leave for the hours worked was not used, the employer is obliged to compensate for the inconvenience incurred by the employee in cash. Compensation can be made upon dismissal and in a number of other cases established by labor legislation.
Where does the “non-holiday” vacation come from?
The employee has the right to go on vacation for a full two weeks after having worked half a year, that is, 6 months at this enterprise. After 11 months of work, the employee is entitled to a full vacation. In some circumstances, an employee cannot use his rest days for any reason, for example, his absence from the workplace can lead to downtime in the organization. In this case, the "dangling" days of rest should be moved to the remainder of the current year or the next. Non-scheduled days may also occur under the following circumstances:
- illness of the employee, confirmed by the sick leave, while on vacation;
- performance of certain state duties involving a day off;
- recall from vacation with the consent of the employee;
- other cases provided for by labor law.
At the time of drawing up the vacation schedule, the employee must be notified in time about the date of his vacation. If the date was announced too late, the employee has the right to demand to postpone it.
It should be noted that the labor legislation of Russia prohibits the non-provision of leave for a period of more than two years. However, in production they often forget about it, as a result of which non-scheduled days accumulate. Calculation of the number of days of unused vacation upon dismissal must necessarily include all “forgotten” days for the entire period of the employee.
Cases in which compensation is due. Terms of payment
An employee who continues to work in this organization may be compensated for vacation with money only if the leave due to him exceeds 28 days. If the vacation is of a standard size, it cannot be compensated. Also, these days cannot be replaced by pregnant women, workers under the age of majority, and workers in adverse conditions. Upon dismissal, compensation is always paid for unused vacation.
Many employers wrongfully claim that past holidays are burned out. However, this is a fallacy related to the incorrect interpretation of the law that was published relatively recently that it is impossible to work without leave for more than two years, supposedly days of rest burn out. In fact, nothing burns out and the employer is fully obliged to calculate compensation for unused vacation upon dismissal. For this payment, the reason why the employee leaves the organization is completely unimportant: of his own free will, for absenteeism, because of transfer to another unit, or by agreement of the parties.
As for the terms of payment, compensation days for unused leave upon dismissal are paid on the same day when the order is issued and the record necessary in the particular case is entered in the main document confirming the seniority - the workbook of the employee. An exception is the case when on the day of the order the employee did not appear in the service. Then compensation days for unused vacation leave are paid on the day following the employee’s appeal to the organization.
Documenting
In order to calculate compensation for unused leave upon dismissal, accounting departments need a basis. It is the order of the personnel department to terminate the work of an employee in this organization. It is published on the basis of the director’s order if the employee is dismissed under the article, while reducing the number of employees or when the organization is closed, or the employee’s statement of resignation on his own initiative.
The calculation of the number of days of unused vacation upon dismissal is based on the details specified in the order of the personnel department:
- the number of days of the next unused vacation;
- used vacation days, extra days off on account of vacation, as well as days for which compensation is to be withheld.
How to calculate unused vacation days when leaving: 1st method
Due to the fact that the Labor Code does not specify the exact rules for determining the duration of the holidays, the employer can choose one of two calculation methods. The first method is described in the rules on regular and additional holidays. This document was proposed and approved by the People’s Commissariat of Labor in the USSR. According to these rules, an employee who has worked for at least eleven months of the year and has not used his days of rest is entitled to compensation for the full next vacation - four weeks. If the employee has been working at this workplace for less than eleven months, compensation is paid based on the time worked. How to calculate unused vacation days when leaving according to this rule? It is necessary to substitute the relevant indicators in the formula Ku = (Mo * Co) / 12, where:
- Ku - the desired days of vacation;
- Mo - the months worked by the employee in this organization;
- Ko - a full vacation in days, relying on a year of work.
It should be noted that this formula is also used in judicial practice.
2nd method
How to calculate unused vacation days when leaving? The second method, which is used today at enterprises for calculating vacation, was proposed by a letter and explanations to it from Rostrud dated 10/31/2008. This method consists in performing the following arithmetic operations:
- the number of vacation days relying for a year is divided by 12;
- the resulting value is multiplied by the number of months worked.
That is, with a duration of rest from work of 28 days, each individual month worked gives the right to 2.33 days of vacation. With a longer duration, this figure will be different.
When making calculations by this method, the end result is not an integer. The Ministry of Health and Social Development prescribes that rounding can be done, but not according to mathematical rules, but towards the employee.
Vacation experience: how to determine it?
Calculation of unused vacation days upon dismissal using any of the above methods is made taking into account the indicator of vacation experience. That is, before calculating the days of vacation, it is necessary to determine the months worked. According to the rules of regular and additional holidays, days of an incomplete month that are more than 15 days are rounded up to a whole month. If less than fifteen days are worked out in an incomplete month, they are not taken into account in the calculations.
To facilitate all the calculations, you can use a specialized calculator for days of unused vacation at dismissal or an accounting program 1C.
Calculation of cash compensation
Calculation of unused vacation days upon dismissal also implies the calculation of the average salary for the year, as well as the average daily earnings of the employee. The formula by which these indicators are calculated is as follows:
Average earnings per day = annual wage / 12 / 29.3.
In this equality, 12 corresponds to months in a year, and 29.3 - the arithmetic average of calendar days in a month.
What is not taken into account in calculating compensation?
When calculating the average daily earnings of an employee, far from all payments are taken into account. In calculating the amount of payment for the calculated number of days of unused vacation upon dismissal, the following employee incomes do not appear:
- work with maintaining average earnings during long business trips and in other production situations;
- payment of sick leave, sick leave in cases of illness, pregnancy and childbirth;
- lack of work for reasons not related to the desire and capabilities of the employee.
Who should be paid full vacation compensation?
The provisions of the Rostrud rules provide for situations in which an employee who has worked in the organization for more than 5.5 months is entitled to receive compensation for a full vacation. In judicial practice, there are different decisions on similar cases, since the Labor Code does not enforce a specific decision. However, in many cases, such compensation is awarded to persons who have been dismissed due to liquidation of an organization or reduction of staff.
If the employee did not have a salary
In some situations, at the time of the dismissal of an employee, it turns out that over the past year the employee had no earnings. This happens during long business trips, after being on parental leave, lack of employment due to reasons of poor organization productivity and in other situations that are not dependent on the employee. In this case, the calculator of days of unused vacation at dismissal gives a recommendation for calculating compensation from the accounting for salary and all accruals established at the enterprise.
It should be noted: if the salary was completely "black", the employee may not even hope to receive any payments.
Taxation of compensation for unused leave upon dismissal
All spheres of life and work of individuals and legal entities are state-controlled. And taxes are an integral part of this mechanism. And therefore, one should not forget about taxation of compensation for unused vacation during dismissal. This item of income of a citizen is not included in a tax-free base, and therefore the amount of personal income tax in the amount of 13% of compensation should be paid from it. Additionally, contributions to the FSS, MHIF, TFOMS and Pension Fund are levied.
Calculators and 1C
For the convenience of accountants, there are now and quite correctly functioning a host of different calculators, as well as the 1C accounting program. Unused leave upon dismissal will help to calculate "1C: Salary and Personnel". If we take the latest version 8.3 as an example, it, according to the data available in the database, will itself pick up all the necessary indicators, calculate the compensation amount and give the result. The accountant will only have to post a document. In order for the result to be accurate and valid, the database must be maintained in accordance with all accounting and personnel records management rules, timely fill in the accounting sheets and tax deductions, as well as other indicators necessary to fill out various forms and reports.