Deprived of the bonus: reasons, grounds for deprivation of the bonus, order with familiarization, compliance with the Labor Code and deduction rules

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Each officially working citizen receives remuneration for his activities, represented by a salary. Additionally, any employer has the right on the basis of Art. 191 of the Labor Code to reward their employees with allowances, bonuses or other types of monetary incentives. Company executives can even punish negligent employees with deprivation of payments. Therefore, often citizens are faced with the fact that they were deprived of their bonuses. It is important to understand when such a method of punishment can be applied, how the procedure is formalized, and also what rights the employee has.

Is it possible to deprive employees of bonus payments?

Each employee should understand whether employers can deprive bonuses for various misconduct. If hired specialists for various reasons do not cope with their duties, are late for work or violate the work schedule, then various disciplinary measures may be applied to them. These include:

• reprimand;
• note;
• dismissal in the presence of systematicviolations.

In art. 144 of the Labor Code states that the bonus system used at the enterprise must be prescribed in the employment contract or in a special annex to this contract. The approval of the award is carried out exclusively by the head of the company. There is no precise information in the legislation on the rules on the basis of which the premium is withdrawn. But if violations are detected on the part of the employee, then several types of punishment can be applied to him. If a citizen was deprived of a bonus and reprimanded, then this is a legal action on the part of the employer.

Grounds for punishment

Many employees think about what they can lose bonuses for. Such punishment is used only if there are good reasons. The most popular reasons are:

• the employee causes material damage to the company by his actions, for example, damages the property of the company;
• recorded systematic minor violations, represented by being late for work, failure to perform official duties at the appointed time or altercation with management;
• truancy;
• violations related to internal regulations in the company;
• refusal to perform direct duties specified in the job description;
• failure to complete the task set by the manager, and there are no good reasons for this.

If the employer decides to use monetary punishment, then this should be provided for by internal regulationscompanies. Additionally, this method is approved by the bonus system adopted in the organization.

When is it not allowed to use this method of punishment?

Any employee who makes a mistake while working, thinks about whether the employer can deprive the bonus. Under certain conditions, this method of punishment is legal, but there are situations when it is not allowed to use this method. These situations include:

• it is allowed to apply a reprimand and deprive the bonus at the same time, so if an employee has already been punished for any misconduct, the employer can additionally deprive him of bonus payments, but both punishments must be properly executed;
• the bonus is part of the salary, so it does not act as an additional reward;
• There are situations in judicial practice when employees challenged the punishment in the form of deprivation of cash payments due to violation of the requirements of the dress code introduced in the company, since the appearance of a hired specialist in no way can affect the quality of the work performed;
• it is not allowed to use this method of punishment for conflicts that arise between members of the team, since it is almost impossible to determine exactly who the instigator and culprit is.

Often, employers do not take into account the above rules and violate the requirements of the law. If the employee tries to appeal against such actions in court, the judge will take his side, so the head of the enterprise will be brought to justice.responsibility. Therefore, he will have to pay a fine, remove the punishment from the employee, and often even pay compensation for the moral damage caused to the specialist.

Design rules

Is it possible to deprive an employee of the company of bonuses for various violations? If this method of punishment is provided for in the internal regulations of the enterprise, and the bonus is only a reward, and not part of the salary, then this method of influence does not contradict the law. But for its application, it is required to competently draw up the deprivation of bonus payments. To do this, the employer performs the following actions:

• it is initially 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 memorandum is usually formed by the head of a particular department;
• this note contains the full name and position of the employee who caused the unpleasant situation at the enterprise;
• the employer is studying the factors for which bonuses and incentive payments are calculated, and this information is contained in the local regulations of the enterprise;
• an explanatory note is drawn up by the guilty employee, which indicates the reasons for the violations;
• the received package of documents is sent to the personnel service and the accounting department of the company;
• after studying the documentation, officials make a decision to apply various disciplinary measures or punishment in the form of deprivation of monetary reward to the violator;
• after this decision is made, an order is issued on the basis of which a bonus is not paid to a specific employee;
• this order is sent to the employee for review, after which the document enters into legal force.

Only under the condition that all the above requirements are met and the necessary actions are taken, the citizen is deprived of bonus payments if there are good reasons. If the employer has deprived the bonus without issuing an appropriate order, then this is a direct violation of the rights of a hired specialist, so he can appeal such a decision in court or can file a complaint with the labor inspectorate.

Rules for preparing an order

Can an employee's bonus be withdrawn? If this payment is an encouragement, and not part of the official salary, then it is allowed to use this method of punishment if there are good reasons. To do this, the head of the company must issue an appropriate order.

There is no exact form of such a document in the legislation, so many employers make serious mistakes when drawing up an order.

Information must be entered into the document:

• provides grounds for accrual of bonus payments;
• lists the reasons why a particular employee is deprived of his bonus, and they mustbe really weighty and serious for the whole company;
• references are given to laws that allow the employer to use this method of punishment;
• required to indicate the name of the company and its legal form;
• given the title of the document submitted by the order;
• lists personal information about an employee who violated the terms of an employment contract, so different pen alties 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 was replacing the main employee, then this information is written in the order;
• indicate in words the amount of the bonus that the specialist was deprived of.

It is recommended to leave references to federal laws or internal company regulations at the end of the document. As soon as the document is drawn up, it is submitted for signature to the head of the enterprise. Additionally, for review, it is provided to an employee of the company.

The order is made in several copies, as one is sent for storage in the archive, and the other is attached to the work file of a particular employee who was deprived of bonuses for serious violations.

Can multiple punishments be combined?

Often an employee's violations are really serious, so the manager decides to combine several types of punishments. The most commonly used reprimand and deprive the bonus. This decision is legal.

Some features of the process are taken into account. It is possible to combine punishments only if the bonus is not prescribed in the employment contract, therefore it acts as a reward for overfulfilling the plan or other significant actions of the employee. Therefore, if he commits any violations, then he is simply not assigned a bonus payment that is not part of the basic salary. Under such conditions, the employee will not be able to sue for being deprived of the bonus by 100 percent, since such payment is only the prerogative of the employer, and not his responsibility.

Do I need an explanation?

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 is not a pen alty under the law, it is not required to carry out a check in advance. Therefore, the employee is not required to receive an explanation or find out for what reasons a particular violation occurred.

The bonus is only a consequence of the behavior and work of the employee. Therefore, if the manager is disappointed with the results of cooperation, then he simply does not charge bonus payments. At the end of each month, the heads of different departments make special offers to encourage certain employees. Employees usually do not know exactly what 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 transmitted to the CEOcompanies. It can express disagreement with the decision of the authorities.

What to do in case of illegal actions of the leadership?

Initially, the employee must understand whether they have the right to deprive bonuses for certain 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 TK. Therefore, the following actions are performed:

• initially it is recommended to ask the head of the company about the reasons for such a decision;
• if there are no significant grounds for applying such a punishment, then a complaint is made to the labor inspectorate;
• other documents are attached to this complaint, indicating that the citizen was illegally deprived of a well-deserved promotion, but this is possible only if the citizen was not really familiar with the order or there is other evidence;
• based on such a complaint, the labor inspectorate will conduct an unscheduled inspection of the company to establish the fact of illegal deprivation of bonus payments;
• during the check, all grounds for de-bonding are examined;
• if it really turns out 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 bonus without an order, so if the employee was not familiar with such a document, then he hasthe opportunity to challenge the punishment.

Nuances of going to court

If indeed the punishment in the form of deprivation of the bonus payment is illegal, then the employee can go to court. Not only the transfer of the due amount, but also the payment of compensation for the moral damage caused can act as claims. In order to win the trial, it is necessary to submit to the court the evidence of the claimant's innocence. Therefore, the following documents are collected and transmitted:

• copy of the employment contract, which indicates information on the appointment of a pension for certain achievements of the employee;
• Regulations on bonuses and salary assignment;
• order, on the basis of which the citizen was deprived of the award, and this document can be replaced by a memo;
• explanations made by an employee after a specific violation was identified;
• an act whereby an employee was punished with some form of disciplinary action.

All of the above documents must be handed over to the employee by the employer within three days after the first request. The claim indicates the name of the company, as well as full name and position of a citizen in the company. Direct claims submitted by the recovery of the premium with reference to federal law or internal regulations of the company are given. 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 court session are covered by the employer.

Time limits for appeals

A lawsuit against 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 Magistrate's Court.

To win the case, the applicant must have a really impressive evidence base, which confirms that he was deprived of payments illegally. Based on the court decision, the company, the order and other documents are being checked.

If the outcome of the case is positive, the employee can expect to be reinstated, receive the due amount, transfer compensation for moral damage and hold the employer liable. Therefore, employees should know whether employers can deprive bonuses for certain misconduct, as well as how such punishment is drawn up.

Conclusion

Many employees wonder if they will be deprived of bonuses for reprimand. The employer can 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 of a particular employee.

If the employee is sure that he was deprived of the payment illegally, then he can challenge such a punishment. To do this, a complaint is filed with the labor inspectorate or a lawsuit.