Shortened working week. Reduced working hours

The dilemma of a modern employer looks like this: lay off employees or work time? An experienced boss often chooses the latter. According to statistics, today every fifth officially employed citizen works a shortened working week.

Any labor relationship by law must be legally formalized. IN Russian Federation such norms are determined by the Labor Code. It also establishes the concept of a standard working week, the duration of which is 40 hours.

Regulations under the Labor Code of the Russian Federation

According to his 15th chapter, a shortened week is one in which net working time is less than 40 hours for permanent and seasonal subordinates. In this case, such a schedule must be legally formalized by the employer.

Please note that exceeding this number of working hours is unacceptable according to the Labor Code.

The only exception is work on a shift system, where the duration of work and the output schedule are fixed in employment contract.

A reduction in working hours is not always a consequence of a crisis in a company. According to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation (Article 92), it is mandatory in the following cases:

An employee hired under an employment contract has not yet reached 16 years of age. In this case, the maximum permissible number of working hours is 24.
For persons aged 16 to 18 years, the permissible number of working hours is 35.
For employees who have I and II disability groups, it is allowed to set up to 35 hours per week.
If the working conditions have received a 3 or 4 degree of danger, the maximum number of hours allowed is 35.
If the employee is a student in a working specialty - no more than half of the allowable time.

In addition to these requirements, a shortened week can be established at the initiative of the employer for any other category of employees in accordance with the Federal Law of 2006.

Workers are scheduled once a month, quarter or year. The employer undertakes to clearly keep records of the subordinate’s working time and prepare reports for the past quarter. According to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, this indicator is the basis for calculating the amount of wages, vacation pay, sick pay, severance pay, and the like.

Does the employer have the right to introduce such a procedure?

Reducing working hours is normal practice in Russia. According to Article 92, the working week is shortened for disabled people based on age, for harmful working conditions, etc. In addition, the Federal Law of 2006 allows the employer to reduce time on his own initiative. It was he who laid the foundation for the legal right to reduce employees' output by transferring them to a less stressful work schedule.

The duration of the working day, shift or week is initially fixed in the employment contract, which is concluded between the employees and the head of the company. It is possible to change the terms of the agreement under the circumstances set forth in Article 74 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. All of them directly relate to the production process:

change technological process production, technology;
reorganization of production;
other changes.

Reduced working hours in this case are an alternative to staff reduction after the reorganization of the production process, as a result of which such a quantity of labor is no longer needed to complete the assigned tasks. If an employee refuses to switch to a new work schedule, the employment contract with him may be terminated with subsequent financial compensation.

The maximum allowable period of time reduction is 6 months, the employer is also obliged to coordinate any large-scale personnel changes of this type with the trade union organization.

Who is entitled to this by law?

At the request of an employee, the manager can set such work limits for him. According to Article 93 of the Labor Code, the employer is obliged to arrange a part-time/reduced week:

for pregnant women;
if an employee has a child under 14 years of age, one of the parents is allowed to register;
one parent of a child with a disability under 18 years of age;
if a subordinate is caring for a sick relative according to a medical certificate;
if the employee has taken out parental leave while retaining the right to receive state benefit, the rule applies to both parents or guardians in accordance with Article 256 of the Labor Code.

The employer can also make a proposal for reduction, using the same provisions of the Labor Code.

In addition, the management of the organization is obliged to change the cooperation agreement according to the age criterion: if the person engaged in labor activity is under 18 years of age or receives a pension benefit.

Registration procedure

A shortened week requires meticulous preparatory work employer, consisting of several stages:

Necessary issue an appropriate order about upcoming changes to the operating mode with legal and systemic justification. Everything needs to be noted structural units who will be affected by the changes, highlight the new mode of operation. There is no national standard form of the document.
Necessary notify employees. You can assign people responsible for notifying the team about upcoming changes. Official notification must take place at least two months before the planned changes in writing. Each employee must read the document against signature; this is the employer’s guarantee that his decision to transfer to a shortened week will not be canceled in court. If a person refuses to sign a notice, it is enough to draw up it in the presence of 2 more people
Necessary inform the employment exchange no later than three working days after the introduction of changes to the work schedule. This is required by Article 25 of the state law of 1991. In case of violation of this clause, a fine may be imposed on the organization.

Some nuances of working hours and rest are discussed in the following video:

The nuances of remuneration

A decrease in working hours means a decrease in wages under any payment system. Even if you received a fixed salary, its size should decrease in proportion to the new output.

With this transition, employees are paid based on the hours worked or the amount of work completed, depending on the type of contract with the organization.

All other payments: sick leave, travel allowance, vacation pay, etc. remain in the same amount as specified in the contract. The unit for calculation is taken to be a fixed average daily wage as for the usual work schedule.

If the reduction in working hours did not occur at the initiative of the employer, but according to the law (Article 92 of the Labor Code), then the amount of wages does not change, despite the reduction in hours of activity.

Summertime is always a difficult time to work. Situations often arise when the room temperature exceeds the permissible limit, turning work into severe torture (and even breaks in the middle of the day help little). For employees it becomes topical issue Are there any legal requirements regarding temperature standards during working hours in the heat.

For solutions this issue need to contact Article 212 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation . In one of its provisions, it prescribes the employer’s obligation to ensure comfortable conditions labor for each employee. Based on this legal provision, a regulation was developed regarding working hours in hot weather SanPiN 2.2.4.548-96 .

Reduced working hours due to heat

According to established standards for office employees, the maximum permissible temperature indoors in summer should be 28 degrees. The more the actual reading exceeds this standard, the less employees should work.

Order to reduce working hours due to heat

An order to change working hours due to heat is an integral document on the basis of which the schedule is re-issued. This act is drawn up by the employer indicating the reason for the innovations. Experts, however, differ on how to indicate the reasons for changes.

A reduction in working hours due to heat can be documented as downtime either due to the fault of the employer, or due to objective circumstances beyond the control of the parties. The first case is relevant in situations where the organization does not provide adequate conditions for working on the premises. However, on the other hand, it is not always possible to provide for increased temperature regime. As a result, the decision about the reason for such downtime rests with the employer. In both cases, according to Article 157 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation the company is obliged to pay two-thirds of the wages.

It is possible to issue an order indicating objective circumstances and appropriate remuneration. In this case, its size decreases in proportion to the reduction in working time.

How to reduce working hours in hot weather - drawing up an order

An order to reduce working hours due to heat is drawn up according to the basic rules for processing documents. That is, it is similar to those regulations that relate to the issues of reducing work time due to heat.

The main provisions of this document should include:

establishing a new time, indicating breaks for lunch and rest;
an instruction on the need for all department heads to familiarize their subordinates with this order;
providing employees with the opportunity to take unpaid leave;
appointment responsible persons who must monitor compliance with the instructions.

Subscribes this document both the manager and the designated responsible person. It may include additional requirements at the initiative of the employer. For example, the validity period of this resolution, or the provision of means of protection from heat.

The length of the working week can be regulated at the legislative level or by agreement between the parties. In addition to a full workweek containing 40 hours, there is also such a thing as a shortened workweek. Let's take a closer look at what its features are and how it differs from a part-time work week.

What the law says

The working week cannot exceed 40 hours - this is stated by Russian legislation. Moreover, this is true for both a five-day and a six-day working week. For the first case, the working day is limited to 8 hours, but in the second case, each employer sets the regime individually, taking into account the fact that the day before the weekend should not exceed 5 hours.

Based legislative norms Other operating modes can also be calculated.

But at the same time, a shortened working week may be established for certain categories of employees.

Shortened working week

A shortened work schedule implies that the employee will actually work fewer hours compared to the usual schedule for the same period of time. According to Article 92 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, a shortened working week is established for following categories persons:

under 16 years of age (they must work no more than 24 hours a week);
over 16 years of age, but under 18 years of age (they are required by law to work no more than 35 hours);
having a disability of 1 or 2 groups (the work activity of these persons should not exceed 35 hours);
workers whose working conditions are determined to be dangerous or harmful to health (in this case, the work week cannot exceed 36 hours).

This list is not final. It can also be supplemented with facts from federal legislation. For example, the reduced working week for teaching staff is 36 hours, and for medical workers - 39 hours. At the same time, there is a decree of the Government of the Russian Federation, which presents a list of specialties of medical workers and types of medical institutions for which the working week has been reduced to an even greater extent.

Payment Features

A work week of this type will be paid as a full week, but subject to some exceptions. Shortened working week according to the labor code for underage workers will be paid according to the time actually worked or the amount of work performed. In other words, work is paid in proportion to these indicators.

But, despite legal regulations, the employer has the right to make additional payments to its employees who are working short-time. In particular, he can pay for work at the same rate that full-time employees receive, but under certain conditions.

How should additional payments be made? Money, if a shortened work week is regulated for an employee? Payment must be made as remuneration for overtime work.

How does an incomplete week despair of a shortened one?

In some cases, an employee may be given a part-time work week. But this concept differs significantly from the concept of “shortened working week”.

With an incomplete week, payments are made based on the time worked and work performed, and with a reduced time, the work week can be considered full for certain individuals and paid in full. Further, to assign a part-time work week, it is enough mutual consent both parties or the employee’s initiative, while a shortened week is provided to a specific group of people.

An incomplete week can be introduced if the employer is contacted:

an employee in a situation;
one of the parents of a child under 14 years of age;
one of the parents of a disabled child under 18 years of age;
a person who cares for a sick relative, providing a corresponding certificate from a medical institution.

The manager can organize a part-time work week only on the basis of an application from the indicated persons.

At the same time, in work book There should be no entry that the employee has a shortened work week or part-time work.

Time tracking

Taking into account working hours is the direct responsibility of the employer, and not his right or desire. Although many neglect this fact, thereby violating the requirements of legislative acts.

To keep track of the actual time worked by each employee, a special timesheet of the T-12 form is used, which is approved by a resolution of the State Statistics Committee of the Russian Federation. In addition to the fact that this document has its direct purpose, it can also be taken into account as evidence in litigation under labor law.

Shortened working week in hours:

Persons under 16 years old - 24 hours.
Persons from 16 to 18 years old, disabled people of groups 1 and 2 - 35 hours.
Persons working under the influence of negative factors - 36 hours.

If a minor citizen combines study and work, then half the norm is applicable to him. established by law. That is:

persons under 16 years of age must work no more than 12 hours per week;
persons from 16 to 18 years old - no more than 17.5 hours per week.

Establish a shortened working week, taking into account labor law standards and federal laws, is also necessary for the following categories of employees, observing hourly standards:

For teaching staff - 36 hours.
For health workers - from 30 to 39 hours.
For women working in the village - 36 hours.
For women working in the Far North - up to 36 hours.

As a result, all these facts must be taken into account in the time sheet.

Employer initiative

The total length of the working week is one of the main conditions in the text of the employment contract. Let's consider the main reasons why the conditions established in the document may change.

According to Article 74 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, change the initially agreed upon working conditions possible in the event of future technological or organizational changes at the enterprise. These include:

changes in production process technology or in the technology itself;
regular reorganization of the enterprise;
other changes.

If the above changes could lead to large-scale layoffs of the workforce, the employer will shorten the work week or introduce part-time work for employees. In this way, jobs can be saved and financial costs can be reduced to some extent.

In this case, it is legally permitted to introduce shortened workdays for a period of up to 6 months. If it is intended to return to normal mode earlier, this issue must be agreed upon with the trade union organization of the enterprise.

If for some reason an employee refuses to return to full-time work, the employment contract with him may be terminated due to staff reduction. And in this case, the employer will have to follow the procedure for dismissal due to reduction, when the employee is paid all the necessary compensation payments.

Decor

A shortened work week at the initiative of the employer requires adherence to strict consistency in registration. Each stage must be documented exclusively in writing.

In order for an organization to establish reduced working hours, it is necessary:

Issue an order that warns all employees about the change in the working regime. The document must: justify the need to switch to a new regime; list those departments that will work according to the new schedule; specify the specific operating mode. In addition, the document must indicate the start date of work according to the new schedule and the period for which the regime is established. Responsible persons who will notify the team about innovations should be indicated.
Notify the work team. Employees affected by the innovation must be notified of this two months in advance. Failure to comply with established standards may result in litigation. Notices must be in writing. Each employee must sign for receipt of this notice. If you do not want to sign the notice, you must draw up a corresponding act in the presence of two witnesses.
Provide information to the labor exchange. Within three days from the date of the decision to establish a new regime in the organization, management must report this fact to the employment center. If this fact is ignored, the organization may be fined.

Employer's liability

A shortened working week under the labor code presupposes a certain responsibility on the part of the employer. The provisions of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation are applicable to him and it is possible to apply punishment in the following form:

warning or fine from 1 thousand to 5 thousand rubles (for officials);
fine in the amount of 1 thousand rubles. - 5 thousand rubles. (for entrepreneurs who work without forming a legal entity);
a fine of 30 thousand to 50 thousand rubles (for legal entities).

If a person is cited again for a similar violation, he may face a higher fine or disqualification from his position.

What documents is it supported by?

Most often, all the main nuances labor activity employees are enshrined in the company’s local regulations. All working conditions, work schedule and responsibilities are prescribed:

In the employment contract.
In the basic rules that establish work schedule In the organisation.
IN collective agreement.

Considering that a shortened working week is usually temporary, this clause is not included in general local acts, in addition to the employment contract. But in the collective agreement this condition must be prescribed in advance.

All changes to the employment contract must be agreed upon by both parties and entered into the document in accordance with the conditions specified in Art. 74 Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

Advantages

With the introduction of a shortened working week, you can find a lot positive aspects. This applies to both employees and the employer. TO positive aspects shortened time may include:

employees have free time to solve their own personal issues;
the emergence of the opportunity to find part-time work;
the ability to retain employment benefits in full;
an opportunity for the employer to reduce labor costs;
A reduction in working hours can be considered as a non-long-term measure to optimize staffing in order to avoid introducing downtime in production or reducing staff.

Flaws

The main disadvantages of introducing a reduced regime include:

lower wages for work compared to full-time work;
lack of career growth;
increasing the volume of work that does not correspond to the hours of work;
the employer is obliged to provide employees on a reduced schedule with full payment for vacations and sick leave;
a decrease in work time can lead to a decrease in the total amount of work performed, and, accordingly, in profit for the organization.

So, shortened working hours should not be confused with part-time work. Each of these concepts corresponds to different categories of workers and, moreover, payment will be made differently.