Giving legal effect. Procedures for giving legal force to various types of documents. Features of registration and giving legal force to statements

In organizations, as part of the production process, employees conduct internal correspondence among themselves. They write statements and inform each other through notifications about the progress of the work done or how it needs to be done. Often such documents are of high importance and therefore must have legal force.

To give a document legal force, the following rules must be observed:

the employer, when creating an internal correspondence document, must adhere to current legislative norms;

an employee can issue a document only within the limits of his competence;

the employer is obliged to comply with the rules for drawing up and processing documents, as well as familiarizing employees with them (if necessary).

Details that give the document legal force

Mandatory details that give the created documents legal force:

1. Author of the document (name of the organization, institution, enterprise, indicating departmental affiliation or legal form). An alternative is to print the document on letterhead. Some documents additionally indicate the city in which the document was issued.

2. Title of the document (order, regulation, etc.).

3. Date of creation of the document, its approval, entry into force.

4. Registration index (number) of this document in accordance with the registration system adopted by the company.

6. Signature of the head of the organization or the person authorized by him. The manager’s signature can be affixed in several forms, in particular:

6.1. Direct signature (as under orders in unified forms - indicating the position, transcript of the signature and the signature itself).

6.2. Straight approval stamp signed by the head (or authorized official) of this organization. The approval stamp is affixed to the upper heading of the document on the right side.

6.3. Indirect approval stamp, mediated, for example, through approval by order. Such a stamp is usually also placed on the upper heading of the document on the right side (as in the unified form T-3 - Staffing table).

6.4. In the form of a manager’s resolution, for example, on an employee’s application. The resolution must necessarily contain four components: the recipient of the resolution, the administrative action or instruction itself, the signature of the manager and the date of the resolution. The resolution is usually written by hand in any free space of the document, but usually in the upper part.

7. Approval visas for those types of documents that without such visas would not have full legal force. For example, approval visas with the primary trade union body, taking into account the opinion of the representative body, agreement with a lawyer, with the chief accountant, etc. Documents requiring approval are determined by the requirements of current legislation, unified forms and internal local regulations of the organization itself, in particular, instructions for office work or regulations for departments, etc. (if any). The approval visa can be in the following types:

7.1. An indication of the document that confirms the approval (unified form T-7). The approval stamp is usually placed in the lower design part on the left side.

7.2. Indication of the wording confirming the agreement, the position of the person or persons with whom the agreement was made, the signature / signatures, their decoding and the date of agreement. The approval visa is usually affixed at the bottom of the document or in any free space.

8. Familiarization visas must appear under all personnel orders and other documents, which in essence must be communicated to a certain circle of employees. This detail also includes the personal affixing of the date of familiarization by the employees under the signed document. The familiarization visa is affixed at the bottom of the document in the center or on the left side.

The unified forms developed by Goskomstat are built taking into account giving documents legal force and contain all the specified details (although there are exceptions, for example, an employee’s personal card - the unified T-2 form does not contain a registration number, since these documents are stored not chronologically, but alphabetically).

An example of all the specified details on a unified form is given below using the example of a unified form T-6 - vacation order.

Giving legal force to internal correspondence documents

Internal correspondence in an organization solves the following tasks:

1. Expresses and documents in writing the opinion, request, proposal of one of the parties, employer or employee, or is in the nature of informing the other party.

2. It is an integral part in the procedure for terminating an employment contract, transferring employees, applying for leave and other personnel procedures.

3. Serves as necessary documentary evidence when considering a labor dispute.

In order for internal correspondence to fulfill all of the above tasks, the following conditions must be met:

1. The document must be correctly executed, with all the necessary details present.

2. The document must have a registration number according to the log of incoming and outgoing documentation.

3. An official response from the recipient party must be given to this document. For example, in the form of a resolution.

4. The document must be stored taking into account established archival requirements.

Most often, the employee conducts internal correspondence through statements, memos and memos, and the employer - in the form of notifications. Internal correspondence documents are drawn up not only if it is necessary to exchange official messages between employees, but also between heads of departments and employees, heads of some departments and others, etc.

At present, most of this correspondence is carried out in in electronic format, by messaging by email . With such messages, it is extremely difficult to prove that this electronic document was created by this particular employee (even when setting passwords, you will have to prove that no one except this particular employee knew the password to access a specific email). Therefore, in the event of a conflict or possible conflict, it is recommended to draw up documents in paper form, certify with your signature, and register through an official officer in the company responsible for registering the document.

Such correspondence can be given legal force if the employee prints out the electronic messages and the official registers them. In addition, the company’s internal documents (internal local regulations) must establish exactly this method of information exchange as a working communication mechanism, as well as the frequency of checking messages.

Let's consider the general principles of giving legal force to documents of internal correspondence - statements and notifications. These documents are often the main evidence in labor disputes, so competent work with them is extremely important to protect the interests of the employer.

Features of registration and giving legal force to statements

It is in the employer's interest for employees' personal statements to be completed by hand. Typically, organizations use template forms in which, at a minimum, the employee’s signature and the date of signing the application must be filled out by hand. Often such filing of statements is interpreted in a judicial conflict as a fact of pressure on the employee.

In principle, the application can be created automatically, but, nevertheless, after that it is printed and signed by the person who draws up the application.

It is desirable that the application, taking into account the above-described procedure for giving documents legal force, contains the following details:

1. The title of the document is “Application”.

2. Addressee - to whom the application is sent, indicating the position in a specific organization, full name. official.

3. Compiler - from whom it is sent, indicating the position and full name. employee.

4. Text of the statement.

5. Signature of the author of the application.

6. Date of application.

7. Signatures of approval (most often with the head of the structural unit - if necessary). This detail is optional. Therefore, its availability is determined by the principles of working with such documents in a particular organization.

8. Application registration number. The number is assigned to the document according to the journal of incoming documentation (or another journal, depending on the design of the registration system in a particular organization), indicating the number, date of acceptance of the document and the signature of the responsible person (for example, a secretary). The person responsible for receiving these documents puts down the number.

9. Resolution of the person to whom the application was addressed or who is authorized to resolve a specific issue. The resolution must contain a handwritten signature, date and administrative decision on the application, indicating the specific official (his name or simply the department) to whom this order is sent and (if necessary) the date by which the order specified in the resolution must be executed.

10. After personnel procedures have been carried out on the basis of this application, notes may be made on it regarding the execution of the manager’s order (see Example 8). They are usually placed at the bottom of the document on the left or in any free space.

11. There may be marks of the case number to which this application was sent.

Let us give an example of an application containing all the necessary details.

Features of registration and giving legal force to notifications

The employer writes notices in order to inform the employee about something. For example, to warn him about the proposed reduction in staff (Article 180 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation), about the upcoming next annual vacation, according to the company’s vacation schedule (Article 123 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation), about the upcoming change in the terms of the employment contract (Article 74 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation), about the fact that the fixed-term employment contract with the employee is being reduced (Article 79 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation), etc.

Official notifications to comply with the procedure provided for by labor legislation must be issued only in paper form, since these documents will confirm compliance with the established procedure, and the employee confirms the fact of receipt of this notification, as a rule, on the document itself.

Below are extracts from the Labor Code confirming the requirement of a written form of notification in some cases of compliance with the requirements of labor legislation.

Document fragment

Labor Code of the Russian Federation

Article 74. Changes in the terms of the employment contract determined by the parties for reasons related to changes in organizational or technological working conditions

(...) The employer is obliged to notify the employee of the upcoming changes to the terms of the employment contract determined by the parties, as well as the reasons that necessitated such changes. writing no later than two months, unless otherwise provided by this Code.

If the employee does not agree to work under the new conditions, the employer is obliged to writing offer him another job available to the employer (both a vacant position or work corresponding to the employee’s qualifications, and a vacant lower position or lower-paid job), which the employee can perform taking into account his state of health.

Article 79. Termination of a fixed-term employment contract

A fixed-term employment contract is terminated upon expiration of its validity period. The employee must be notified in writing of the termination of the employment contract due to its expiration at least three calendar days before dismissal, with the exception of cases where a fixed-term employment contract concluded for the duration of the duties of the absent employee expires.

Article 123. Sequence of granting annual paid leave

The order of provision of paid vacations is determined annually in accordance with the vacation schedule (...).

The employee must be notified of the start time of the vacation for signature no later than two weeks before it starts.

Article 180. Guarantees and compensation to employees in the event of liquidation of an organization, reduction of the number or staff of employees of the organization

(...) Employees are warned by the employer personally and for signature at least two months before dismissal.

In all these cases, the employer will need to confirm the fact of notifying the employee for a certain period of time, which meets the requirements of labor legislation. Therefore, such notices are given to the employee under his personal signature. And the most important thing when delivering a notice is not so much the employee’s signature, but rather the indication of the date of receipt of such a notice.

The notification contains all the same details that should be on any personnel document.

System for registering internal correspondence documents

It will be easier for an employer to defend itself in the event of a labor conflict (including a lawsuit) if the organization has a competent system for document registration. A company registration system is necessary for:

recording the availability of documents and tracking their movement;

giving legal force to company documents;

optimal organization of internal document flow at the enterprise;

protecting the interests of the employer in the event of a legal conflict. In this case, the journal registration system will confirm the fact that the document was created on a certain date.

The number of journals (account books) that need to be kept directly depends on the characteristics of the organization’s activities. In order for the accounting journals (books) to perform not only the function of registering documents, but also, in the event of a conflict, to serve as evidence that the document was actually created in a certain period of time and could not be entered later, it is recommended to follow the following rules for the design of these journals.

Journals must:

have a hard cover (to comply with shelf life);

have an adhesive binding (to prove the impossibility or difficulty of removing a sheet or adding a sheet to an existing journal);

have pages numbered from beginning to end;

be stitched;

be certified by the seal of a legal entity and the signature of the head of the organization (with the exception of the first two books of accounting for work books, which must be certified with a wax seal or seal (clause 41 of the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of April 16, 2003 No. 225 “On work books”).

The internal appearance of the journals, in which internal correspondence documents can be recorded, is developed by the organizations themselves, since there are no standardized forms of journals. Their approximate form is given below.

Copies and duplicates

Often, internal correspondence documents are handed over to officials in the form of copies or duplicates, in particular if the original document was sent to a higher official or filed in the case file, but some further action needs to be taken on the document.

Copy The document can be facsimile or free. Facsimile copy completely reproduces the contents of the document and all its external features - details contained in the original (including signature and seal) or part of them, features of their location. Free copy created on typewriters, contains all the details of the document, but does not necessarily repeat its form.

The employee responsible for the documents certifies the copies. Certification of copies is formalized by affixing the word “Correct” or “Copy is correct” and indicating the signature, its transcript and the date of the responsible person. The certification record is usually placed at the bottom of the document in any free space.

If the document is submitted to other organizations, on copies of documents (extracts from them) must be stamped .

Duplicate - a duplicate copy of an official document that has the legal force of the original.

* * *

So, internal correspondence documents cannot be underestimated - often recognition of the legality of the procedure depends on their correct execution and processing. But it is precisely these documents that employers currently most often do not know how to handle. Such papers are not registered, taken into account, or agreed upon, which negatively affects not only the legal force of the document, but also the management procedures carried out in the company. Often, because of this, the employer cannot prove the guilt of a particular employee and cannot apply legal means of applying disciplinary action or terminating the employment contract with the employee. Many companies begin to build a document management system based on their own mistakes, but it is still better to prevent negative consequences than to deal with their results.

1 Handwritten date

2 Personalized date

The use of written information in management activities is possible subject to certification of its officiality, reliability and authenticity. In order for a management document to be indisputable and binding, it must comply with legal norms, and the official who issued it must act within the limits of his authority. These properties of the document are defined by the concept of “legal force of the document”.

Legal force of the document- a property of an official document conveyed to it by the current legislation, the competence of the body that issued it and the established procedure for execution.

Thus, the governing body or official issuing the document is obliged to:

Comply with current regulations when preparing the document

legislation;

issue documents only within its competence;
comply with current national rules for the preparation and execution of documents.

Consequently, the legal force of a document is determined by both the content and form of the document.

Let's consider the details that determine the legal force of the document.

The previously discussed details of the form (“name of the organization - the author of the document” and “place of preparation or publication of the document”) are also details that give the document the necessary legal status.

Detail 11 “Document date”. The date of the document is the date of its signing or approval, for the minutes - the date of the meeting, for the act - the date of the event. For notarized documents, the date of the document may be the date of its notarization. Documents issued by two or more organizations must have the same (single) date.

The date of the document is written in Arabic numerals in the following sequence: day of the month, month, year. The day of the month and month are written in two pairs of Arabic numerals separated by a dot, the year in four Arabic numerals, for example, 01/12/2007. A verbal and digital method of formatting the date is allowed, for example, January 12, 2007, as well as formatting the date (usually for correspondence with foreign partners) in the following sequence: year, month, day of the month, for example: 2007.01.12.

Detail 12 “Document registration number” consists of its serial number in the registered array of documents (contracts, orders, outgoing letters, etc.), which can be supplemented at the discretion of the organization with a case index by nomenclature, information about the performer, correspondent, etc. This detail is a unique document identifier in the information enterprise array.

The registration number of a document compiled jointly by two or more organizations consists of the registration numbers of documents of each of these organizations, separated by a slash in the order in which the authors are indicated in the document.

Registration of a document, recording the fact of its passage through a given management system, gives the document official character. Simultaneously with the registration of the document, the office management service checks the correctness of the selected form, the authenticity of the signature of the official indicated in the document, the completeness of the document’s endorsement, etc.

Props 16 “Document approval stamp” drawn up on documents that cannot be put into effect by the officials who signed them. Such documents acquire legal force after approval by the head of the organization, a collegial management body or a higher authority or management body.

For example, job descriptions for employees of an enterprise are drawn up on a common form, they are signed by the head of a structural unit and must be approved by the head of the enterprise.

Approval can be carried out in two ways that have equal legal force: by an official or by a specially issued document.

In the first case, the document approval stamp must consist of the word APPROVED (without quotation marks), the title of the position of the person approving the document, his signature, initials, surname and date of approval.

When approving a document by another document: resolution, decision, order, protocol - the approval stamp consists of the word APPROVED (APPROVED, APPROVED or APPROVED), the name of the approving document in the instrumental case, its date, number. The word APPROVED agrees in gender and number with the name of the type of document being approved.

Examples of props design

The document approval stamp is located in the upper right corner of the document (Appendix 7).

When a document is approved by several officials, their signatures are placed at the same level.

After approval of a document, it is not allowed to make changes or additions to it without the permission of the person who approved the document. Responsibility for the quality of preparation of documents and the reliability of the data contained in them rests with the persons who prepared, endorsed and signed the documents.

Props 22 “Document signature”- the most important and ancient requisite of a management document. It is believed that it arose simultaneously with the emergence of writing.

For example, references to the use of signatures are found among the Babylonians in the era of King Hammurabi (c. 2300 BC), in the Bible - in the books of the prophets Daniel and Nehemiah (c. 500-400 BC). In Egypt during the reign of Cleopatra (69-30 BC) and in the Roman Empire under Julius Caesar (102 or 100-44 BC), the signature was already an integral part of documents.

The “Signature” detail includes: the title of the position of the person who signed the document (full if the document is not drawn up on the organization’s letterhead, and abbreviated for a document drawn up on the letterhead); personal signature; decryption of the signature (initials, surname), for example:

Vice President of the Association

regional enterprises AL. Borisov A.A. Borisov

or on a form

Vice President AL. Borisov A.A. Borisov

The details are placed 2-3 line spaces after the text of the document. When transcribing an official's signature, the initials and surname are printed with a space and at the level of the last line of the position title.

When signing a document by several officials, their signatures are placed one below the other in the sequence corresponding to the position held, for example:

CEO M.V. Larin M.V. Larin

Chief Accountant Z.V. Maryash Z.V. Maryash

When signing a document by several persons of equal positions, their signatures are placed at the same level.

The documents drawn up by the commission do not indicate the positions of the persons signing the document, but their responsibilities as part of the commission, for example:

Chairman of the Commission V.D. Banasyukevich V.D. Banasyukevich

Commission members A.N. Sokova A.N. Sokova

O.I. Ryskov O.I. Ryskov

The document may be signed by an acting official. In this case, indicate his actual position (for example, acting director) and the transcript of his signature (initials and surname). It is not allowed to put the preposition “For”, handwritten inscription “Deputy.” or a slash before the job title.

Signature right management documents, as a rule, are the competence of the head of the organization or his deputies in accordance with the distribution of their responsibilities. It is established by organizational (charter, regulations on the organization) and administrative (orders) documents of the organization.

In the organization's charter it is regulated what rights are vested in representative and executive (sole and collegial) management bodies, as well as the signing (approval) of which documents falls within the competence of the relevant body. The procedure for activities and decision-making by the head of an organization can be established in an agreement between him and the participants (founders) of the organization, as well as in local regulatory documents of a legal entity.

The manager manages current activities, he has unconditional right to sign documents(within its competence in accordance with the constituent documents).

Regulation of the right to sign is especially important when there are a large number of documents signed per day. In this case, the manager can (and from the position of effective management is obliged) delegate your powers, those. transfer part of their rights and responsibilities in making decisions (signing documents) and in carrying out their actions to their subordinates, who also accept responsibility for them.

Such a distribution of powers is formalized by an order from the manager, in which he defines the boundaries of decision-making and the degree of responsibility of subordinates. Certain powers can also be transferred on the basis of a power of attorney.

Electronic documents can be signed using electronic digital signature technology, some aspects of the application of which will be discussed in the following chapters of the manual.

Props 23 “Document approval stamp.” Draft documents prepared by one organization and affecting the interests of another can be agreed with it by affixing an approval stamp to the document.

It is drawn up on the last sheet of the document below and to the left of all signatures.

When agreeing on a document with a higher-level organization, a situation may arise that the document will be approved by an official who is higher in the management hierarchy than the manager signing the document. In this case, the advisory nature of the standard allows you to change the position of the details, and the approval stamp can be placed at the top of the document.

The approval stamp includes the word AGREED, which is printed in capital letters and without quotation marks.

When approving a document, an official indicates the position of the manager, containing the name of the organization with which the document is being approved, his personal signature, surname, initials and date.

It is possible to agree using another document: a letter, protocol, etc. In this case, indicate the name of the document, its date and number.

Examples of props design

"Approval stamp"

Props 25 “Seal imprint”. The history of the emergence of a seal as an element of a document, as well as a signature, dates back thousands of years. In ancient times, the use of printing was widespread both in business relations and in personal communication. Very often, the seal replaced the handwritten signature of its owner.

In modern office work, the use of signature and seal is clearly distinguished. The signature can be used both for interpersonal and business contacts, i.e. it is a universal means of authenticating a document and giving it legal status. The seal, as a means of certifying the authenticity of a signature and confirming its legal force, is used only in official documents of the organization.

The seal is affixed to the originals of organizational documents (charters, regulations, rules, instructions), as well as documents certifying the rights of officials, facts of expenditure of funds and material assets, etc. The seal is also used to certify copies of official documents of the organization.

The seal should be affixed in such a way that the imprint captures part of the words of the name of the official signing the document and the beginning of the personal signature. On documents of a financial nature, the seal is affixed to a specially designated place - the symbol “MP.”

Seals are divided into official seals and seals of legal entities. An organization can also use simple seals of individual structural units (HR department, archive) or for individual operations (“for packages”), etc.

The procedure for producing and storing seals is regulated by the legislation of the Russian Federation. The place where the seal is stored and the person responsible for its storage is determined by the order of the head of the organization.

Thus, the officialness and authenticity of the document is confirmed by the presence and correct execution of the details: “name of the organization - the author of the document”, “registration date”, “registration number”, “place of publication”, “signature”, “seal imprint”.

In accordance with legal norms, including local legal acts that define the powers of officials of the organization, to give documents legal force, in addition to the “signature” requisite, approval and approval stamps can be affixed.

The main requisite of the management document - “text of the document” - must also comply with the norms of the current legislation.

Examples of registration of individual details are given using GOST R 6.30-2003 “Unified documentation systems. Unified system of organizational and administrative documentation. Documentation requirements."