In today's article we will talk about what to do in a situation when problems arise with work books?
One of these problems is
the inability to transfer the work to its legal owner, that is, the employee.
But sometimes it happens that after dismissal, an employee rushes to settle his affairs, receive a payment, and completely forgets that he left the work book in the employer’s archives. It would seem that there is nothing easier than throwing away an unnecessary document, but the legislator prohibits such an action. Moreover, labor legislation provides for a number of rules that tell you what to do in a situation where an employee has not collected a work book.
Our task today is to carefully consider such a problem as returning to an employee his work book, which for some reason was left with the employer. Let's figure out how this action occurs, as well as by what rule it is performed.
Is it possible to send a work book by mail?
As you know, a work book is an incredibly important document , something akin to a passport of the Russian Federation. In accordance with the law, the work book reflects the total work experience of a citizen, that is, his work experience.
Such information is extremely important and should always be with the owner of the work permit, because it is the work record that can provide the citizen with a decent pension.
But what should an employer do if he discovers that his employee has not collected his document ? This question is answered by both the Labor Code and the rules for storing and maintaining work books.
How to send?
In order to correctly send a work permit by mail, you need to perform a number of actions .
Firstly, you need to make sure that the work book really belongs to the employee who is not behind it. If the book has only been with you for a few days, you shouldn’t immediately rush to the post office. Perform a series of sequential actions.
Secondly, check to see if the employee is still in the city or has time to report for work. To do this, you need to call the employee and ask him to come for the document.
If you cannot contact the employee, you can try, if possible, to notify his relatives.
When all the steps have been completed, but the result is still unattainable due to the fact that you were unable to contact the employee, do not despair. The first and most correct thing you can do is to go to the post office and send your work .
Why can’t you keep a document for a long time? The fact is that, out of good intentions, you can leave the book with you, hoping that in the coming days the former employee will come to his senses and return. Also, the employee himself may ask you to hold the document.
But in fact, this may turn out to be a fraudulent act of unscrupulous workers who are trying to profit from your trust.
They will sue you for withholding their documents, and you will be forced to pay a fine and moral damages to the employee, as well as, possibly, lost profits.
Therefore, to avoid getting into such a situation, go to the post office.
Only after you make sure that the employee did not receive the letter, which means the notification was sent back, can you keep the work record, but under no circumstances get rid of it. Your task is to wait until the employee remembers his document .
This is where the actions that the employer has the right to carry out end.
How to properly send a work book by mail
If written consent is received from the employee, you must send the work book to him by mail.
| Procedure | Note |
| It is necessary to draw up an act | If an employee refused to pick up a work book, or did not show up for work to pick it up, then it is necessary to draw up a report. The act must be drawn up in the presence of witnesses. The above act is needed in order to confirm the innocence of the organization and its employees in the delay in issuing the work book. If there is such a possibility, then a copy of the act must be given to the former employee against signature. If on the day of dismissal the employee was not present, but a situation resulted in which the act was not certified, then in this case you need to act as follows: · send a notice to the employee with an offer to either pick up the work book from the organization or give his consent to have it sent by mail; · if the employee does not respond to this notification in any way, the work book will remain in storage in the organization |
| An order must be issued | Based on the act, an order is issued, in which it should be noted that the organization did not have the opportunity to familiarize the employee with the dismissal order and hand him the work book in person |
| Send your work book by valuable letter with notification | The work record book must be sent by valuable letter. It must be sent by a valuable letter, because it is made with an inventory. The notification will allow you to determine for sure whether the employee received the letter or not. |
| Be sure to make an inventory | The inventory indicates what exactly is sent in the letter, so the employee in the future will not be able to blame the organization for the fact that the letter did not contain a work book |
| The second copy of the inventory with the date, postal stamp and signature of the postal employee remains in the organization | By law, a postal employee is required to check the contents of a letter with an inventory before sending, he also certifies the inventory, so it can be evidence in court |
| It is recommended to make photocopies of all sheets of the work book before sending it by mail | If the work book is lost during shipment, photocopies will come in handy |
It is recommended to send letters to all known addresses where the employee may be. Also, you cannot transfer an employee’s work book to other people without a notarized power of attorney from him.
How to pick up from another city?
If an employee left the city and only later realized that his work book remained with the employer, there is no need to despair. In this situation, there are two options, one of which you can use.
The first option is the opportunity to send the employee a representative in his place with a power of attorney drawn up by a notary. Of course, this method is very expensive, because you will have to pay for the power of attorney.
But an employee can also ask the employer to send him a work report, and according to the rules of the Labor Code, such an action is provided for immediately after the employee stops communicating.
How to receive it by mail?
Application for forwarding
application must be written in advance , which is submitted by the employee to the personnel department. The application is drawn up in any form.
In its text, it must contain the name of the organization, as well as contact information about the organization and the employer. It is also worth remembering that the application contains information about the employee. This is done so that if problems arise with the shipment, you can immediately contact the employee.
Application form
In the application, the employee formulates a request according to which on a certain date the employer must send him a work book by letter to the specified address.
The application must be clearly formulated and written, either by hand in neat and legible handwriting, or on the computer in a standard font.
How to write?
The application must be written in any form , but if the organization’s local regulations provide for the possibility of drawing up such an application according to the appropriate sample, you must contact the organization’s personnel department and do everything in accordance with their requirements.
This application is accepted by the HR department and, if agreed, a copy is made of the application, and the employer’s seal and signature are also affixed.
Sample application for sending a work book by mail.
How to write a notification letter
It should be said that a document such as a notification of receipt of a work book does not imply a single regulatory standard; however, it must be drawn up within the framework of the rules for conducting business correspondence in compliance with the necessary structure.
As a rule, notification of a former employee about the receipt of a work book is carried out on the organization’s standard letterhead, however, labor legislation allows it to be written by hand.
The structure of the notification letter is as follows:
- The header of the document indicates the name and details (legal address, telephone and e-mail) of the organization acting as the sender of the notification.
- On the right side, slightly lower in the text, the addressee's data is indicated: full name of the former employee, his previously held position, structural unit of the company, postal address of the recipient. Under this information, enter the registration number of this sample of outgoing correspondence, the type of notification letter, and the date of its sending.
- The main part contains the essence of the notification, namely, an appeal from an authorized HR specialist on behalf of the employing company to a former employee with a call to obtain his personal document recording work activity and length of service, indicating the reason for this need (for example, in connection with the termination of an employment contract). This part of the letter must indicate the coordinates of the place and time - where and at what time the former employee will be able to pick up his work book.
When drawing up a notification about the receipt of a work book, the personnel officer must include a reminder here that in the event of an employee’s failure to appear, the employer will insist on the owner’s written permission to mail his document.
The notification letter is endorsed by the head of the organization; the name of his official position is also fully indicated here. A sample notification can be downloaded from this link.
Thus, sending a notification about the need for the timely receipt of the work book by its owner upon dismissal is a regulatory requirement that is put forward to the employer when registering the termination of the employment relationship. In case of violation of this rule, the employing company may incur administrative penalties and be required to pay a financial fine, in accordance with the provisions of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.
If you want to find out how to solve your particular problem, please contact us through the online consultant form or call:
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Dear readers, the information in this article may be out of date. If you want to find out how to solve your particular problem, call:
- Moscow.
- Saint Petersburg.
Consent to shipment
Consent to send a work book by mail is another type of document that is responsible for transferring the work book into the hands of the employee. One way or another, if there is no need to draw up an application, then you can use simple consent to such a shipment.
Consent is written in the form of a receipt , that is, the employee’s passport data is entered and a phrase is written stating that he agrees to the forwarding of the work. The receipt is also certified by the seal of the organization and the signature of the employer.
Notification letter
Sending a letter notifying an employee’s work record by mail is a fairly wise step, because this way you will always know where the message you sent is located, and if the employee receives it, you will be the first to be notified about it.
You need to choose to send it in the form of a notification letter, and also evaluate the value of the letter so that it is sent with special care in the mail. To do this, you will need to pay the cost of the valuable letter and the notification letter.
As a rule, if the employee receives a letter addressed to you, they will receive a notification that the action has been taken. Even if an unscrupulous employee wants to sue you and claim that you have lost his employment, you can submit a notice as proof.
If the letter comes back to you, ask the post office to draw up a document that will indicate the route of the letter with all the dates, and also put the stamp of the post office.
Sample notification (application) for the return of a work book by mail upon dismissal.
