Each officially working citizen receives a reward for his activities, represented by a salary. Additionally, any employer has the right under Art. 191 TC to reward their employees with bonuses, bonuses or other types of cash incentives. Company executives can even punish negligent employees by forfeiting payments. Therefore, citizens often face the fact that they were deprived of bonuses. It is important to understand when such a method of punishment can be applied, how the procedure is executed, and also what rights the employee has.
Is it possible to deprive employees of bonus payments?
Each employee must figure out whether employers can strip bonuses for misconduct. If hired specialists for various reasons fail to fulfill their obligations, are late for work or violate the work schedule, then different disciplinary measures may be applied to them. These include:
- rebuke;
- comment;
- dismissal in the presence of systematic violations.
In Art. 144 of the Labor Code, it is indicated that the bonus system used by the enterprise should be prescribed in the employment contract or in a special appendix to this contract. The approval of the award is exclusively the responsibility of the company’s head. The legislation does not contain accurate information about the rules on the basis of which the deprivation of the premium occurs. But if violations are detected by the employee, then several types of punishment can be applied to him. If a citizen was deprived of a bonus and a reprimand was appointed, then this is a legal action on the part of the employer.
Grounds for punishment
Many employees are thinking about why they can lose the bonus. Such punishment is used only if there are good reasons. The most popular reasons are:
- the employee, through his actions, causes material damage to the company, for example, spoils the property of the company;
- systematic minor violations are recorded, represented by being late for work, failure to perform official duties at the appointed time, or bickering with management;
- absenteeism;
- violations related to the internal routine of the company;
- refusal to perform direct duties specified in the job description;
- failure to fulfill the task set by the leader, and there are no good reasons for this.
If the employer decides to take the punishment in cash, this should be provided for in the company's internal regulations. Additionally, such a method is approved by the bonus system adopted by the organization.
When not allowed to use this method of punishment?
Any employee who makes a mistake during work thinks about whether the employer can strip the bonus. Under certain conditions, this method of punishment is legal, but there are situations where it is not allowed to use this method. These situations include:
- it is allowed to apply reprimand and deprive the bonus at the same time, therefore, if an employee has already been punished for any misconduct, the employer may additionally deprive him of bonus payments, but both penalties must be correctly executed;
- the premium is presented as part of the salary, therefore it does not act as an additional award;
- in judicial practice, there are situations where employees disputed the penalty of depriving them of cash payments because of a violation of the dress code entered into the company, since the appearance of a hired specialist cannot in any way affect the quality of work performed;
- it is not allowed to use this method of punishing conflicts that arise between members of the collective, since it is practically impossible to establish who is the instigator and the culprit.
Often, employers do not take into account the above rules and violate legal requirements. If the employee tries to appeal such actions in court, then the judge will take his side, so the head of the enterprise will be held accountable. Therefore, he will have to pay a fine, remove the punishment from the employee, and also often pay compensation for the moral damage caused to the specialist.
Rules for registration
Is it possible to deprive a company employee award for various violations? If this method of punishment is provided for in the internal regulatory enactments of the enterprise, and the bonus is only a remuneration, and not part of the salary, then this method of influence does not contradict the law. But for its application it is required to correctly execute the deprivation of bonus payments. For this, the following actions are carried out by the employer:
- initially it is important to establish who exactly is the culprit of certain violations;
- an act is drawn up in relation to the identified violator, which reflects what actions of the hired specialist led to negative consequences for the company, for which a report note is usually formed by the head of a particular department;
- in this note, F. I. O. and the position of the employee, through the fault of which an unpleasant situation arose at the enterprise, are registered;
- the employer studies the factors by which bonuses and incentive payments are accrued, and this information is contained in the local regulatory acts of the enterprise;
- an explanatory note is drawn up by the guilty employee, which indicates the reasons for the violation;
- the received package of documents is sent to the personnel department and the accounting department of the company;
- officials after studying the documentation, a decision is made on the application to the offender of various measures of disciplinary action or punishment in the form of deprivation of monetary reward;
- after the adoption of this decision, an order is issued based on which the bonus is not paid to a specific employee;
- the employee is given this order for review, after which the document enters into legal force.
Only under the condition that all the above requirements are observed and the necessary actions are taken, the citizen is deprived of bonus payments if there are good reasons. If the employer has deprived of the bonus without issuing the relevant order, this is a direct violation of the rights of the hired specialist, so he can appeal such a decision in court or may make a complaint to the labor inspectorate.
Rules for preparing an order
Can they strip the employee bonus? If this payment is a promotion, and not part of the official salary, then it is allowed to use this method of punishment if there are good reasons. For this, the head of the company must issue an appropriate order.
There is no exact form of such a document in the legislation, therefore, many employers make serious mistakes during the preparation of the order.
Information must be entered into the document:
- the grounds for calculating bonus payments are given;
- lists the reasons why a particular employee is deprived of his bonus, and they must be really weighty and serious for the whole company;
- references are made to laws allowing employers to use this method of punishment;
- must indicate the name of the company and its legal form;
- the title of the document submitted by order is given;
- personal information about the employee who violated the terms of the employment contract is transferred, so different penalties are applied to him;
- indicates the position held by the violator in the company, as well as the specific unit where he performs his labor functions;
- if the violation occurred in a situation where the employee replaced the main employee, then this information is recorded in the order;
- the amount of the bonus which the specialist was deprived is indicated in words.
It is recommended at the end of the document to leave links to federal laws or internal regulations of the company. As soon as the document is completed, it is transmitted for signature to the head of the enterprise. In addition, it is provided to the employee of the company for familiarization.
An order is made in several copies, since one is sent for storage to the archive, and the other is attached to the work file of a specific employee who was deprived of a bonus for serious violations.
Is it possible to combine several punishments?
Often violations of the employee are really serious, so the decision is made by the head to combine several types of punishments. Most often reprimand is applied and deprived of bonuses. Such a decision is legal.
Some features of the process are taken into account. Combining punishments is possible only if the bonus is not prescribed in the employment contract, therefore it acts as a reward for overfulfillment of the plan or other significant actions of the employee. Therefore, if he commits any violations, then he simply is not assigned a bonus payment that is not part of the main salary. Under these conditions, the employee will not be able to file a lawsuit for the fact that he was deprived of the premium by 100 percent, since such a payment is only the prerogative of the employer, and not his duty.
Do you need an explanatory?
Many employees of the company are thinking about whether it is possible to deprive the bonus without providing an explanatory note to the employer. Since the deprivation of such payments under the law is not a penalty, it is not required to carry out an audit in advance. Therefore, it is not required from the employee to receive an explanatory statement or find out for what reasons a specific violation has occurred.
The prize is only a consequence of the behavior and work of the employee. Therefore, if the leader is disappointed with the results of cooperation, then he simply does not accrue bonus payments. The heads of different departments at the end of each month draw up special proposals for the promotion of certain employees. Workers usually do not know what kind of information is contained in these offers.
If a specialist finds out that he was deprived of a bonus, then he can draw up an explanatory note that will be handed over to the CEO of the company. In it, one can express disagreement with the decision of the authorities.
What to do with the illegal actions of the leadership?
Initially, the employee must understand whether they have the right to deprive bonuses for any misconduct. If there is confidence that such actions on the part of management are unlawful, then it is advisable to try to challenge the deprivation. For this, it is recommended to focus on the provisions of Art. 392 TC. Therefore, the following actions are performed:
- initially it is recommended to ask the head of the company what are the reasons for such a decision;
- if there are no significant grounds for applying such a punishment, a complaint to the labor inspectorate is drawn up;
- other documents are attached to this complaint, indicating that the citizen was illegally deprived of well-deserved encouragement, but this is possible only if the citizen was not really acquainted with the order or there is other evidence;
- based on such a complaint, labor inspectors will conduct an unscheduled audit of the company to establish the fact of illegal deprivation of bonus payments;
- during the inspection, all the grounds for depremization are studied;
- if it is really revealed that the actions of the employer were illegal, then the company is held liable, and also undertakes to pay the employee the required bonus.
It is impossible to deprive the award without an order, therefore, if the employee was not acquainted with such a document, then he has the opportunity to challenge the punishment.
The nuances of going to court
If the penalty of depriving the bonus payment is really illegal, then the employee can go to court. Claims may include not only the transfer of the amount due, but also the payment of compensation for the moral damage caused. In order to win the trial, one must submit to the court evidence of the plaintiff. Therefore, the following documents are collected and transmitted:
- a copy of the employment contract, which indicates information about the appointment of a pension for certain employee achievements;
- provision on bonuses and salary assignment;
- an order on the basis of which the citizen was deprived of the prize, moreover, this document may be replaced by a memo;
- explanations compiled by the employee after identifying a specific violation;
- an act on the basis of which the employee was punished by any disciplinary action.
All of the above documents must be transferred to the employee by the employer within three days after the first requirement. The lawsuit indicates the name of the company, as well as F. I. O. and the position of citizen in the company. Direct claims are presented, presented by the collection of a premium with reference to federal law or internal regulations of the company. The claim with all other documents is submitted to the court. If the court satisfies the requirements of the plaintiff, then the costs of the citizen for the hearing are covered by the employer.
Terms of appeal
A lawsuit to appeal the deprivation of bonus payments can be filed within three months after the issuance of the relevant order by the head. An application is submitted with other documents to the magistrates court.
To win the case, the applicant must have a really impressive evidence base that confirms that he was deprived of his payments illegally. Based on the court decision, the company, order and other documents are checked.
If the outcome of the case is positive, the employee can count on reinstatement, receipt of the due amount, transfer of compensation for non-pecuniary damage and holding the employer accountable. Therefore, hired employees should know whether employers can strip bonuses for any misconduct, as well as how such a punishment is drawn up.
Conclusion
Many workers think about whether they will be deprived of rewards for reprimand. An employer may use several methods of punishment, represented by disciplinary action or deprivation of bonus payments. The choice depends on the severity of the violation and the availability of evidence of guilt for a particular employee.
If the employee is sure that he was deprived of payment illegally, then he can challenge such a punishment. For this, a complaint is filed with the labor inspectorate or a lawsuit in court.