Russian legislation is constantly changing, and this happens due to the fact that the country's authorities and officials come up with new laws again and again, which then, after that, come into force and begin to operate throughout the country. Today, December 8, 2019, it became known that on Russian territory they decided to abolish work books in their usual form. Now this document, according to the Russian government, has already outlived its usefulness. In theory, it is intended for employers to make entries in such a book that certain people work for them, but in practice this does not always happen. A few hours ago it became known that the State Duma of the Russian Federation in the final third reading adopted new law, according to which all records of the work experience of citizens of the population will be stored in electronic form on special government servers, for which Rostelecom is, of course, responsible.
According to the new law, which has already been adopted, from January 1, 2020, electronic labor books will appear on Russian territory, and by June 30, 2020, all Russian companies and individual entrepreneurs will have to warn their employees that they are switching to a digital format of such. However, employees have the right to independently decide which book to use - an electronic or traditional paper one. However, with the last option everything is not so simple, because as of January 1, 2021, employers will no longer be responsible for storing such books, and therefore, from that very day, such books will begin to be stored exclusively with their owners. Moreover, from this very moment all employees will be able to receive only electronic books, while paper books, including in case of loss, will no longer be possible to obtain in any way.
It turns out that from 2021 there will no longer be any work records, and all data on work experience will be stored electronically, where Russian companies will be required to enter information. The Pension Fund of Russia will monitor the correctness of entering all data into such books, that is, employees of any companies or organizations will not have to make any efforts at all, because this process will take place without their participation. All you need is a formal employment contract. If the employer fills out some data incorrectly, either accidentally or intentionally, he will be forced, under threat of sanctions, to correct everything, doing so in a short time. It is noted that the new law affects at least the interests of 60 million Russians, as well as 8.4 million companies and individual entrepreneurs(IP).
The new law applies to all of Russia without any exceptions, so even in small localities physical paper books There will be no employment information in which you can view your work history. This new bill was created taking into account the interests of business, which for many years has asked the country's authorities to abandon traditional means of storing this kind of data, because they are ineffective by modern standards. Time will tell how Russians will react to such an innovation, but, probably, everyone will only benefit from it, because it will no longer be necessary to have a work book, and the fewer documents, the easier it is to live.
The abolition of work books has already been planned by Russian legislators, the only question is the timing - will this happen in the 17th year of our century, or already in the 16th. The state no longer needs the books, because the continuity of length of service has not affected anything for a long time, and the length of service is taken into account in personalized electronic systems . But will it be easier for personnel officers without labor? On the one hand, of course, it’s easier - there are fewer documents to fill out, but on the other hand, the question is - how to confirm the employee’s work now? What is it like for an employee now without a work permit?
According to Article 66 of the Labor Code, the work book has not yet lost its position and remains the main labor document. Both organizations and individual entrepreneurs will be required to create, register and store books in accordance with the law until the article is repealed.
The start of the procedure for canceling books is planned for January 2017 and, Most likely, a major check of the GIT will begin . The following documents will be checked for compliance with the Labor Code:
Although this is not yet a legally confirmed expert opinion, it is still necessary to prepare for inspections.
FYI
For the state, the abolition of books is not only the result of modernizing the work of the Pension Fund, but also a desire to bring labor legislation to international standards.
How will the abolition of books affect the work of personnel officers?
Of course, there are positive aspects associated with the cancellation of books:
However, only from the work book could the personnel officer learn about the applicant’s working life:
From the moment the books are cancelled, it will be possible to rely only on resumes, yes letters of recommendation. But The applicant may lie on his resume, and recommendations are not always objective. One thing remains: request copies of dismissal orders from all places of employment.
But these are exclusively internal documents of the organization and they may not be available to you. So it turns out that the boss will be forced to hire a subordinate without documentary evidence of his experience and behavior at his previous place of work.
Employer's doubts
You can, of course, accept everyone with a probationary period, but this is not a chance to identify the “wrong one.” In addition, not everyone can be given a probationary period.
For Soviet citizens, the loss of a work record carried the risk of being left without a pension or having it set at a meager amount! But today the Pension Fund keeps personalized records of employees’ length of service. The accounting is structured in such a way that pension files of all citizens are formed in the Pension Fund branches on the basis of regular reports from employers. And they reflect information about length of service, salary, and pension contributions. This is why the question arose about the need for the continued use of work records.
Note to future retirees
It so happens that currently the amount of an employee’s pension depends only on “what color” his salary is.
In times of crisis, employers try to save on taxes, so most of the salaries are paid to employees not according to the white paper. Whether or not to work according to this scheme is the decision of the employee alone.
Yes and when applying for a pension it will be easier: you will not need to run around to all your previous places of work for certificates. And you won’t have to restore your lost book either.
And, of course, the biggest plus is the opportunity to hide your “dark” past from a potential employer. However, such a concealment is very illusory, since many employers will not want to hire a person with an unknown history, and the methods of screening candidates are constantly being improved.
Note
The abolition of work books will in no case be a storm; the books will be in use, but gradually their registration will become optional.
Experts believe that labor will disappear into oblivion in 2025. At the same time, it is important for both the state and the employer that there remain guarantees of confirmation of the applicant’s work experience.
It is assumed that until all the problems are resolved, and there is no worthy bill on the abolition of labor, Article 66 of the Labor Code will remain in effect.
Expert opinion worth listening to:
It will still take place, and the exact date is already known: January 1, 2020. The Government of the Russian Federation has proposed three bills for consideration, providing for a number of major amendments to labor and pension legislation. Bill No. 748684-7 on the abolition of paper work books and the transition to their electronic versions was adopted by the State Duma in the first reading. Let's talk about what awaits employers and ordinary citizens in connection with these changes in 2020.
The concept of “electronic work books” does not exist in Russian legislation. The changes introduced by the law use the term “information about labor activity" Now all information about employees, their length of service, transfers to other positions, and dismissal will be transmitted via electronic communication channels to the Pension Fund. A gradual transition from paper books to electronic books is planned during 2020. The date for cancellation of paper work books is January 1, 2021. All paper work books from 01/01/2021 must be handed over to employees, and again hired workers they will not be required when applying for a job, and paper work documents will not be issued to those applying for a job for the first time in 2021.
The bill allows for the right of an employee to have a work book on paper after a specified period - he can write an application for keeping the book with the employer and maintaining it in paper form. However, this does not exempt the employer from electronically transmitting data to the Pension Fund for such employees. The employer must accept these applications only within the specified period - until the end of 2020. If the application is not received by 01/01/2021, the work permit will be issued to the employee. Thus, the employer is relieved of responsibility for the safety of work record forms returned to employees.
All of the above changes are introduced by bill No. 748684-7. According to it, the Labor Code of the Russian Federation is supplemented by a new article 66.1 “Information on labor activity,” which describes the procedure for canceling paper work books and the algorithm for switching to an electronic accounting system. The bill also regulates a set of preparatory measures for employers. They are obliged during 2020:
make the necessary changes to local regulations, collective agreement (if necessary);
notify the staff in writing against signature of changes in the procedure for recording work books;
prepare for electronic transfer of data on employees: ensure the availability of technical base, personnel and appropriate software.
Another bill No. 748744-7, amending the law on personal accounting No. 27-FZ of 04/01/1996, obliges employers to submit a new monthly report SZV-TD “Information on labor activity”, starting in January 2020. The deadline for its submission is similar to the SZV report -M – no later than the 15th day of the month following the reporting month. But from January 1, 2021, this report will need to be generated and submitted to the Pension Fund on the next business day after the date of issuance of the order on the hiring, dismissal of an employee, or transfer to another job. Companies with 25 or more employees are required to provide this information in electronic format. Thus, many companies will switch to electronic personnel document management with the Pension Fund.
The third bill No. 748758-7 amends Art. 5.27 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation and introduces liability for all employers for repeated transmission of unreliable or incomplete information about the labor activities of personnel and for violating the deadlines for their submission. For now, sanctions are provided only in the form of a warning officials employer. But perhaps a fine of a certain amount will be introduced, because... the law is still under consideration.
The abolition of work books in 2020 in the form of paper forms raises a natural question among workers: how can they find out information about their work activities, length of service, etc. Bill No. 748684-7 provides for the employee to obtain this data from the following sources:
from your current or last employer in the form of a certified certificate in paper form or an electronic document signed with an electronic signature; information is issued on the day of dismissal or upon request within 3 days after the HR department receives the relevant application;
through the MFC - on paper, duly certified;
in the Pension Fund of Russia - in electronic or paper format to choose from;
through the State Services website in electronic form.
The ongoing reform to abolish work books offers a number of advantages for both companies and their employees:
An electronic work record book cannot be falsified or lost: in case of loss or damage, there is no need to visit all former employers to restore records.
It will be convenient for employees to apply for government services and the appointment of pensions and benefits: they do not need to present a paper copy of their work record book each time to confirm their length of service.
The Pension Fund of Russia will have a unified electronic database for assigning pensions, which will simplify this procedure.
When hiring, the HR department will promptly receive all data on the employees’ work experience.
Employers will reduce the cost of purchasing and storing employment record forms.
Meanwhile, experts also note disadvantages of the ongoing reform. These include the question of the safety of personal data in the Pension Fund system. At the moment, there have been no failures or information leaks, but the risk of confidential data falling into the hands of fraudsters always exists.
It is also possible that data may disappear due to the fault of the state. The Pension Fund has many examples of under-calculation of length of service, and in the absence of sufficient length of service, an insurance pension is refused, while not many citizens will live to see the appointment of a social pension in connection with the ongoing pension reform. Let us recall that the retirement age for social old-age pension is set at 70 years for men and 65 for women. Women will receive an insurance pension from the age of 60, and men from 65.
And one more disadvantage of the introduced bills for employers themselves: it adds more reports to them and increases responsibility for the regularity of personnel information provided.
Answering the question whether paper work books will be cancelled, we can say that most likely yes, they will be cancelled. The government has been considering implementing these changes since 2017. Another question is how effective the ongoing reform will be. The transition to electronic personnel document flow and its maintenance will be associated for many companies with significant expenditure of resources, which may provoke further evasion by employers from officially registering employees as employees and paying them gray salaries. On the other hand, digitization of personnel data, provided that it is completely preserved, will simplify the procedure for confirming length of service when interacting with government agencies.
Recent proposals to abolish work books have caused much controversy and concern. How to now take into account length of service, display career highs and much, much more. To dispel the most common fears and doubts, we asked a specialist in labor law Elena Gerasimova.
Hello, Elena.
Hello.
Perhaps next year work books will be abolished, but for now this is an initiative. Let's first talk about what this is connected with and what are the main pros and cons?
In fact, not even next year, but after a longer period of time. That is, it is assumed that there will be some kind of transitional period when work books will not necessarily be kept, and in the future, somewhere in 12-15 years, the final abolition of work books will occur, approximately by 2025. And in the interim period, books will be kept at the request of the employee. At the moment there are many technical issues, for example, in which the work book interferes, or at least it is very inconvenient to conduct labor relations with it. For example, sometimes there is a situation that an employer, knowing that a work book is required, threatens the employee, manipulates the employee, demanding something from him, threatens that, and I will make a bad entry in your work book about dismissal under the article, like this we are called, that is, dismissal for cause. With the disappearance of the work book, for example, this opportunity will disappear.
What will happen instead of a work book?
As the Ministry of Health says, for several years work has been carried out to develop a unified electronic system that would allow combining data from the Pension Fund, the Social Insurance Fund, and data, as far as I understand, from the State Tax Inspectorate, which contains information about the size wages. And this integration into a single database will allow us to solve those issues for which a work book was needed.
Let's assume this is the situation. The employer, as often happens, has sunk into oblivion, and the person who worked for him cannot prove this fact. What should he do?
If the question of how to prove the employment relationship arises after the cancellation of the work book, in fact nothing will change for the person, because in the same way the obligation remains and will remain forever and, I hope, in the Labor Code, the obligation to conclude an employment contract with the employee in two copies, one of which must be given to the employee, and draw up other documents about the work: an order for hiring, all orders that record changes in the employee’s status, an order for dismissal.
Without work records, how will they pay for sick leave, calculate pensions, calculate all kinds of bonuses, and so on?
If it seems that at the moment it is possible to calculate the size of pensions with pensions, even with the current system, the electronic system, with the currently operating system of personalized pension accounting, then with benefits today the situation is more complicated. For now, these benefits are paid by the employer. Now, if a transition is made to this unified electronic system, into which information from all state funds who keep records and receive reports from employers, if this information is accumulated in one place, then the Social Insurance Fund will be able to move on to calculating these benefits independently.
The work book also contains information about awards and titles, for example “Veteran of Labor”. What will happen to this information?
You will just have to confirm this with primary documents, as they say, yes. That is, if this is, say, some kind of bonus or announcement of gratitude, then an order on the announcement of gratitude at the place of work, on the assignment of various titles, also with appropriate documents. Another thing is that you will have to spend your whole life collecting these orders quite carefully, employment contracts, orders about everything. About everything, about everything, it seems like quite a difficult task. And the main recommendation is to always keep your work book, even after they are cancelled, they will become optional for quite some time in the most unforeseen situations, it seems to me that the work book may still come in handy.
Based on the data in the work book (hereinafter also referred to as Tkn), the right to a pension and its amount are confirmed. This document can also influence employment with a new employer, the assignment of benefits, etc. It is carefully stored throughout your working life. It is difficult to imagine how otherwise it is possible to systematize and manage the information that is entered into the work book. However, the recent bill to abolish work records destroys years of established traditions and raises the question: how will professional activities be recorded?
This is perhaps the most important document about a citizen’s work and experience. It is made in the form of a brochure with details, empty fields and fields for filling in ink.
Tkn is carried out by organizations and entrepreneurs (employers) for their main work. Data about the employee is entered if he works for more than 5 days.
The 2019 work book contains the following information:
Information in the document is entered according to a strict pattern by personnel officers or the employer’s manager.
During the period of employment, Tkn is in the custody of the employer. After retirement, as well as during periods of temporary unemployment, the document is kept by its owner - the worker.
On July 8, 2019, the Government of the Russian Federation introduced project No. 748684-7 into the legislative body. It is this standard it is planned to abolish paper work books.
The essence of the bill is to introduce amendments to the Labor Code in articles 65, 165, 234, 394, 395, as well as the introduction of a new article 66.1.
The law comes into force on 01/01/2020. However, until 01/01/2021, technical and organizational measures are expected, including the preparation of by-laws, agreements and collective agreements, a pension fund information base, etc.
The project has already passed preliminary review and there is a firm belief that it will soon pass all official procedures.
Therefore, there are prerequisites that soon paper books will become a thing of the past.
The new document will be called “Information on Labor Activities”. It will be maintained personally for each citizen in electronic form. The pension fund will deal with the issues of maintaining, updating, verifying the accuracy and ensuring the safety of this information. At the same time, employers will be required to provide information about their employees to the OPFR. Formats, frequency and methods of transmitting information will still be clarified.
As a result, this will lead to the cancellation of entries in work books. After dismissal (on the day of termination employment contract) the person will be given an extract about his professional employment at this enterprise (date of hire and dismissal, position, transfers (if any), grounds for dismissal, etc.).
If on the day of termination labor relations it will not be possible to issue an extract, for example, the employee did not show up for work, refused to take it, etc., then this information will be sent in certified form to the dismissed person at his postal address.
But canceling dismissal in the work book does not eliminate the maintenance of other documentation, for example, an employee’s statement, an order for the enterprise to terminate a contract, etc.
To see what will change in the work of HR and accounting department employees, watch the video:
There should be no fear that data on workdays will be lost or maliciously not included in the “experience information.” The employee will have the right to control the accuracy of this data. To do this, any citizen will be able to request the information they are interested in at any time. Just contact:
If there are errors or inaccuracies in the information provided, the citizen can contact the pension fund with an application for adjustment.
Therefore, it would be rational to carry out such reconciliations each time when changing jobs in order to control the length of service and records of dismissal.
It's over, for short term It will not be possible to bring everything to one denominator. Two types of work books will coexist for a long time.
The legislator gives the citizen the right to choose which document will be in circulation (for him personally). The decision is made based on what is most convenient for him.
In any case, during 2020, all employers must issue orders to cancel work books and introduce electronic records of length of service. And upon signature, explain to the employee about these changes in legislation. And also about the right to keep the old-style book.
Otherwise (by default), the length of service is transferred to electronic format, and the books will be handed out.
And for those who begin their professional journey in 2021, only electronic documents on experience will be available.
As a public survey showed, 52% of the population want to introduce a new format while maintaining the old one, 21% want to keep only paper ones, 18% want to limit themselves to only electronic ones.
