Staff reduction is a complex and multi-stage process that must be carried out in accordance with the requirements and conditions of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. Each organization independently determines its structure and staffing, so staffing changes can be made up to four times a year if required by the boss. However, employees have their rights, including early dismissal at the request of the employee.

Early layoff at the request of the employee is not prohibited in the Labor Code of the Russian Federation

Let's consider the following questions about removing an employee from a position when changing the staffing table:

1. Conditions for dismissal in case of staff reduction.
2. Dismissal by at will.
3. Completing an application is your guarantee.
4. Retirement due to staff reduction.
5. Terms of termination employment contract and payments.

Conditions for dismissal in case of staff reduction

If the decision to reduce the number of employees or staff has already been made, vacant positions in the organization are subject to liquidation, after which the number of employees is reduced.

Many employees of the organization who are to be fired may be subject to reduction, but some of them are protected by law (pregnant women, women with children under three years of age, employees with disabled minors, single mothers or single fathers with children under 14 years of age). Reduction is permitted only if the employee does not have a preferential right to remain in the position.

After candidates for dismissal have been selected, the employer is obliged to notify everyone in writing of the upcoming layoff. This must be done two months before the official termination of the employment contract. Sometimes it is possible to carry out early layoffs at the initiative of the employee. This procedure has its own characteristics.

Dismissal at your own request

According to Article 81, paragraph 2 of the first part of the Labor Code, when the number of employees is reduced, dismissal is allowed no earlier than 2 months from the time of written notification. However, sometimes there are cases when an employee wants to terminate an employment contract ahead of schedule because he has found new job and does not want to lose this opportunity.

Early dismissal at your own request, with reduction possible. In this case, the employee will be dismissed as with a regular application “at his own request.”

But this affects the calculation of the following payments:

• severance pay}
• payment of average earnings during unemployment)
• compensation.

An employer has no right to prevent an employee from resigning. In turn, the employee has the right to submit an application for termination of the employment contract at any time. Still, there is a certain risk in this method of dismissal: the employee cannot count on the benefits provided to him under Article 81 of the Labor Code, Part 2 of Article 1. Thus, voluntary dismissal during a reduction is fraught with the lack of severance pay.

• remember that termination of the contract is not mandatory until the period stipulated by the staff reduction has expired)
• the initiative to terminate the contract from a legal point of view is assigned to the boss, and the subordinate can only agree with him or not)
• the employee may initiate the termination of the contract and hope to receive all the payments provided for in Article 180.

Completing an application is your guarantee

Dismissal of one's own free will during layoff deprives one of the right to certain payments.

Competently drafting a resignation letter plays a huge role. If early layoff at the request of the employee sounds like dismissal, then it will be calculated in accordance with Article 77 of the Labor Code, first part, paragraph three. Thus, the employee is deprived of all compensation and benefits provided to him when he is laid off. For this reason, the subordinate must be able to correctly express the essence of the statement. This will avoid litigation and other unpleasant moments.

The text may be something like this: “On September 10, 2013, I, against signature, familiarized myself with the notice of being laid off on November 10, 2013 and of my dismissal on this occasion no later than the appointed date. In this regard, I ask you to dismiss me on September 12, 2013, before the expiration of the period specified in the notice of dismissal in connection with my reduction, and to make compensation payments due to me.” In this case, dismissal can only be made with the consent of the employer.

Therefore, the employee’s desire to resign early must be expressed in writing. As often happens, during a period of mass layoffs, the employer is interested in dismissing employees at their “own request,” since in this case they will not have to pay compensation.

For this reason, they can be used different ways psychological pressure per employee. Very often, an employee cannot stand it and resigns of his own free will, and then goes to court to clarify the wording of the application and recover due payments at early dismissal, claiming that his boss forced him to write such a statement. But the responsibility to prove this fact lies with the employee.

During the trial, the reasons that prompted the employee to write a statement are examined. In this case, the circumstances and true intentions of the employee are taken into account. When considering a claim, it is mandatory to study the text of the application and the indications in it of the mandatory details (date of writing, signature, date of receipt of the application by the boss, resolution).

If the employee is able to prove in court that the resignation letter was not “of his own free will,” that is, written under pressure, the termination of the employment contract will be considered illegal. Therefore, it is advisable for the boss to terminate the contract in such a way as to avoid future litigation.

Retirement due to staff reduction

According to Article 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, part one of the second paragraph, it follows that the contract can be terminated by the employer if the staff or number of subordinates is reduced. However, employees who have reached pre-retirement age and whose employment contract was terminated as a result of layoffs have certain guarantees:

1. Citizens who have not reached retirement age and have 25-20 years of insurance experience and compulsory length of service, which gives the right to early assignment of an old-age pension, have the following benefits: mandatory monthly payments of benefits in connection with temporary unemployment during the year. At the same time, the period for paying unemployment benefits should be increased, and in addition to the mandatory 12 months, two more weeks will be accrued for each year of work exceeding the insurance period.
2. The employment service may offer a pension for the period before retirement age, in accordance with Article 32 of the Employment Law.
3. Upon reaching retirement age, a citizen has the right to be transferred to a pension.

Thus, early retirement due to layoffs is not such a problem.

Conditions for termination of the employment contract and payments

Dismissal of one's own free will during a layoff may result in a lack of severance pay.

After the new staffing table has been published and employees have been notified of the upcoming reduction and dismissal, two months must pass before the employees are paid. At the same time with written notice about dismissal, the boss must offer a transfer or notify about the impossibility of transfer due to the lack of vacancies.

Next, the employer is obliged to notify the trade union committee. To do this, he sends an example of an order and receives a response within a week. The employer must also provide the employee with the opportunity to look for a new job. For this he can provide Extra time, and free the person from work for three hours a week.

After two months, the employee is dismissed and all mandatory compensation is paid to him. Also, against signature, the employee’s work book is issued and a corresponding note is made in the registration log. The employee is considered officially dismissed, and his file is transferred to the organization’s archives.

Last modified: January 2019

Parting with an employer is not always caused by the employee's decision. Sometimes the question arises about reducing the rate associated with optimizing the company's activities. Since the employer is obliged to notify the employee 2 months in advance, in some cases an option such as early dismissal of the employee before the expiration of the notice period is considered. This measure is not prohibited by law, subject to certain rules.

The question arises of how early termination of work is considered if the Labor Code of the Russian Federation provides for the need for preliminary notification long before the event. The leadership often uses the norms specified in Article 180 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, but do not forget about the clarification of the application of this article by the Constitutional Court.

Is it possible to retrench early?

Reducing the number of hired personnel is a frequent measure that allows the administration to make important personnel changes that have a positive impact on the overall activities of the company. When management decides to reduce individual positions, the reduction procedure begins.

Since this decision often goes against the plans of the employee himself, there is a need for coordination of actions, registration of compensation payments and other processes accompanying dismissal. The law provides the laid-off employee with the opportunity to continue working for another 2 days, allowing the person’s further personal and professional plans to be adjusted with subsequent new employment.

It should be remembered that the Labor Code of the Russian Federation protects the rights of individual categories citizens (workers during pregnancy, with young children under 3 years of age or with disabilities, when raising dependents under 14 years of age alone). It will be possible to lay off an employee only if he is not provided with a preferential right to remain in the same position.

The main provisions regarding termination of an employment contract due to redundancy are described in Art. 180 labor legislation, however, there are some ambiguities in the wording that the parties to labor relations could interpret differently if not for the clarifications of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation. According to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the employer has the right to lay off an employee if he has the latter’s consent. As a consequence, the wording of the article does not imply the possibility of dismissal due to reduction before the expiration of the notice period with receipt of the required compensation.

Using the right to dismissal under Article 180 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation before the expiration of the required two-month period, the employee loses the right to receive compensation.

To eliminate the ambiguity of interpretation, in determination No. 1881-O the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation clarified that the application of Article 180 does not provide obstacles to early termination of employment relations at the initiative of the employee, requiring only the consent of management.

Based on this, the conclusion follows: if one of the parties to the labor relationship has a desire to terminate the contract early, the second must give consent to this.

Process description

The process of terminating an employment contract begins with prior notice to the person. The law requires this to be done a couple of months before the official separation from the employee. The Constitutional Court supplements the definition of the period by defining 2 months as the minimum permissible period. The longer the period before dismissal, the greater the chances of successfully finding a new place of employment.

Exceptional cases when the warning period is reduced concern such design options as:

• Seasonal work - according to Art. 296 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the minimum period before dismissal is 1 week;
• Fixed-term contract– according to Article 292 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, with notification 3 days before the event.

After the employee is notified, if they intend to leave early, the parties take the following actions:

1. Expression of the will of one of the parties. Depending on the situation, the employer or employee expresses their intention to resign before the expiration of the notice period. This may be written or oral notification, at the discretion of the parties.
2. Approval procedure. The parties have the right to separate ahead of schedule only if there is a mutual agreement. If the court subsequently determines that the consent of the other party was not obtained, the dismissal is revoked. Eliminating the risk of later claims, the enterprise administration obtains the written consent of the employee. If the desire is expressed by the employee, written permission is not required from the enterprise, because further steps in the procedure will in themselves indicate agreement with early termination of the contract.
3. Issuance of an order for early dismissal on the basis of Article 84.1 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. The employee must familiarize himself with the order, as evidenced by his signature at the end of the document. A specialist from the HR department prepares a calculation note and makes last entry to work.
4. Payment of compensation is carried out in accordance with the provisions of Article 140 (accrued wages for last period, payment for days off annual leave, compensation). If in the process of performing work duties a person causes some material damage, the amount is deducted from the money issued.
5. The last steps in connection with early dismissal are to obtain employment documents, certificates from the accounting department, and other documents if they were kept by the employer.

Since the layoff involves the payment of compensation, writing a resignation letter before the end of the two-month period plays an important role. The correct wording determines whether the employee will receive upon termination labor agreement additional monetary compensation.

In most situations, an employee is accustomed to writing a resignation letter of his own free will, but such wording when drawing up a layoff letter is unacceptable. It deprives a person of the right to receive legal compensation.

If there are doubts that the employer will honor the promises made during the process of agreeing to an early separation, you should not write a statement. After the expiration of the due period, the dismissal will still take place, with guaranteed monetary compensation for the reduction.

If the initiative comes from management, the employee has the right to express his agreement or disagreement.

If the employee takes the initiative himself, when writing the application, please Special attention on what the basis looks like in the document. Having indicated in the application the intention to resign, they will apply the provisions of Part 1, Clause 3, Article 77 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, to legally depriving the employee of the right to claim compensation. It is important to reflect in the text of the application the fact of the upcoming layoff at the initiative of the employer and your consent to formalize this event in a more detailed manner. early date, with mandatory payment of due compensation.

During mass layoffs, the employer often insists that employees write statements of their own free will when reducing staff, saving money on compensation payments. In fact, mass dismissal of employees without good reason actually means layoffs, and the employer has no right to force termination of an employment contract upon application at his own request.

The fate of his future depends on the further actions of the employee himself. monetary compensation. If, having succumbed to pressure and threats from the employer, a person nevertheless writes a statement with the wording “of his own free will,” all that remains is to try to restore justice through the court, where a statement of claim is filed with documentary evidence that there was pressure from management.

When considering the case regarding the circumstances of the dismissal, the court will definitely consider the text of the application and the wording used in it, paying attention to the true background of the events. If the proceedings are successfully completed, the employee will be forcibly reinstated at work, and management will have to resolve the issue of layoffs, taking into account the requirements of the law.

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Under certain conditions, it is possible to issue early dismissal due to reduction. Let's look at how to do this correctly to avoid a legal dispute.

Staff reduction remains the most popular cost optimization measure among employers. By general rule, O upcoming dismissal on this basis, employees are warned personally and against signature at least two months in advance (clause 2, part one, article 81, part two, article 180 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

Under what conditions can you apply? early dismissal

In the text of the notice of dismissal or in another document, the employer has the right to offer the employee to terminate the employment contract before the two-month warning period expires (part three of Article 180 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). You can be fired early if two conditions are met:

• the reduction is carried out in accordance with the procedure established by law;
• the employee agreed to resign early with additional compensation.

Legality of reduction. Labor Code regulates in detail how to carry out reductions. Thus, the decision to reduce staff must be notified to the employment service and the trade union (if any) no later than two months, and if mass layoffs are planned - no later than three months before the start of termination of employment contracts (part one of Article 82 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, Article 25 of the Law of the Russian Federation of April 19, 1991 No. 1032-1, determination of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation of January 15, 2008 No. 201-O-P).

It is necessary to take into account the preferential right of employees to remain at work, to offer vacancies to those being dismissed (part three of Article 81, Article 179, part one of Article 180 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

Employee consent. The employee must give written consent to early dismissal. This may be an inscription on a notice or a separate document. To prevent the employee from making mistakes, offer to write a statement indicating the grounds for dismissal, details of the notice of reduction and the date on which he agrees to resign early (sample below).

Consent to early dismissal

If the employee does not indicate the date or reason for dismissal in the application, the court has the right to declare the termination of the employment contract illegal (appeal ruling of the Moscow City Court dated June 2, 2016 in case No. 33-14856/2016).

The law does not prohibit an employee from revoking consent to early dismissal. However, the employer is not obliged to follow his lead. Revocation of consent is not significant, since the employee is dismissed due to staff reduction, and not at his own request.

Therefore, the employer has the right not to take into account the change in the employee’s position and dismiss him on the agreed date. This also confirms arbitrage practice(decision of the Moscow City Court dated May 26, 2011 in case No. 33-15827).

Sometimes the employee himself demands to be fired early. If we interpret the Labor Code literally, the employer is not obliged to do this (part three of Article 180 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). Until the notice period for layoffs has expired, the employee has the right to resign at his own request (Clause 3, Part 1, Article 77 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). But then he will lose the right to severance pay and average earnings for the period of employment (Articles 178, 180 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

Therefore, this situation will inevitably lead to conflict and litigation. Therefore, we recommend that you agree to dismiss an employee early due to layoffs if such an initiative comes from him.

How to issue a dismissal order

The dismissal order is drawn up using unified form No. T-8 or another developed by the organization (sample below). The employment contract is terminated under paragraph 2 of part one of Article 81 of the Labor Code. The basis documents include a notice of upcoming dismissal due to staff reduction, a written consent (application) of the employee for early dismissal.

* Click on the image to enlarge

What payments are due to an employee in case of early dismissal?

On the day of dismissal, the employee is paid the final payment (Article 84.1, 140 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). It includes salary, compensation for unused vacation, severance pay in the amount of average monthly earnings.

A laid-off employee retains his average monthly salary for the period of employment, but not more than two months from the date of dismissal (including severance pay). In exceptional cases, the average monthly salary is maintained for the third month from the date of dismissal.

The decision on this is made by the employment service. In practice, the question arises from what date, in the event of early dismissal, to calculate the period of employment for which the employee is entitled to an average monthly salary. After all, the date of dismissal differs from that indicated in the notice. As follows from the Labor Code, this period is calculated from the actual day of dismissal, and not from the date established in the notification (Article 178 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

In addition to the listed payments, upon early dismissal, the employee is entitled to additional compensation. It is calculated from average earnings in proportion to the time remaining until the end of the notice period for dismissal (formula below). To calculate the average daily earnings, the procedure established by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of December 24, 2007 No. 922 is applied.

Example:

On September 14, 2016, accountant Olga M. was given notice of dismissal due to staff reduction on November 15, 2016. The employee agreed to early dismissal on October 3, 2016. The average daily earnings is 1138 rubles. Olga works according to a five-day calendar working week. Therefore, additional compensation must be calculated 30 working days in advance.

The amount of compensation will be 34,140 rubles. (RUB 1,138 × 30 days).

If the employer does not pay additional compensation, this will not affect the legality of the dismissal. However, the dismissed employee will be able to recover the amount of compensation through the court (appeal ruling of the Moscow City Court dated October 6, 2015 in case No. 33-36827/2015).

How to make an entry in a work book and personal card

The work book is filled out in accordance with the Rules for maintaining and storing work books, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of April 16, 2003 No. 225 and the Instructions approved by Decree of the Ministry of Labor of Russia of October 10, 2003 No. 69.

The entry in the work book of an employee dismissed early due to staff reduction will not differ from the entries in the work book of employees dismissed on the same basis within the period specified in the notice (sample below).

Sample of a work book

* Click on the image to enlarge

The entry in the employee’s personal card will also be standard (sample below). IN work book and the personal card is not entered with information that the dismissal was early.

Entry in personal card

* Click on the image to enlarge

If the dismissal of an employee does not occur on his initiative, then it is always unpleasant and offensive for the employee. Most people try to avoid this situation. However, there are times when dismissal is inevitable. This happens when the company's workforce is reduced. If you have received notice of dismissal due to redundancy, then early dismissal may be a good alternative.

Resign voluntarily?

According to the Labor Code, when an employee is dismissed due to a reduction in the company's staff, the employee is given a notice of the upcoming reduction of position and dismissal of the employee no less than 2 months before the scheduled date of dismissal. But quite often a situation arises when an employee himself asks for an earlier termination of the employment contract. This could be due to a number of reasons. One of them is that a person has found a new job. Fearing that the vacancy will be filled by another applicant, he strives to begin his duties as soon as possible.

On what basis in this option should an employee resign? After all, he expressed his own desire, at the same time this desire was caused by staff reduction. The basis for dismissal determines whether severance pay and average salary for the duration of employment will be paid, additional compensation calculated in proportion to the time not worked by the employee before the end of the layoff notice period.

The Constitution of the Russian Federation and the Labor Code guarantee all citizens the right to work. And where exactly, in what organization, company, firm the employee will exercise his right depends on him. Therefore, the employer cannot interfere with the employee’s desire to resign before the date of dismissal due to redundancy. An employee can submit a corresponding application at any time.

In this case, the employee must clearly understand that upon dismissal of his own free will, he does not lose the right to the guarantees and compensation that would be provided to him upon dismissal due to staff reduction. At the same time, this early dismissal is not caused by the employee’s “own desire”, but is a forced, “hidden” dismissal due to staff reduction.

Early termination of the contract due to staff reduction

The Labor Code of the Russian Federation makes it possible to dismiss a redundant employee before the deadline that determines the notification of early dismissal. According to Part 5 of Art. 180, an employer may terminate an employment contract with an employee before the expiration of the term with his written consent.

Thus, according to this article, the right to early termination of the contract is granted to the employer, and not to the employee, although the employer can exercise it only with the consent of the employee. That is, initially it is the employer who decides on the advisability of working out the entire period indicated in the notification.

But this provision cannot prohibit an employee from initiating the process of terminating an employment contract early. Moreover, the Labor Code does not force the employer to necessarily satisfy this request of the employee. Therefore, in order to terminate the contract for staff reduction early, both parties must be interested in this. And the employer comes first, since it largely depends on him whether this reduction will occur or not, and the employee retains the right to agree or refuse this proposal.

Application for early termination of an employment contract due to staff reduction

An employee can also come up with an initiative for early termination of the contract in compliance with all possible legal guarantees provided for in Article 180 of the Labor Code. Whether to agree to this offer is the prerogative of the employer. In this case, in order to make the right decision to lay off an employee, a large role is given to the application for early termination of the contract.

To dismiss an employee not on the basis of his own desire, but due to staff reduction, the application must be written correctly. Its text must exclude double interpretation. The request must be stated in detail and clearly.

It is necessary to indicate that the employee is familiar with the beginning of the procedure for his dismissal in connection with the upcoming reduction in staff, indicating the date specified for this. It is necessary to indicate whether he was offered vacancies, and if so, which ones. It is imperative to indicate that he wants to resign before the expiration of the appointed dismissal period due to staff reduction, and that he is claiming the compensation payments due. In this case, dismissal is impossible without the consent of the employer.

Payments upon dismissal due to reduction before the expiration of the reduction period

It is clear that it is more economically profitable for the employer to fire workers during the layoff period at their own request. In this case, he should not make compensation payments. Some dishonest employers even use threats and methods of psychological pressure to force employees to quit on their own.

p style="text-align: left;">If an employee is dismissed early, then the following payments are provided for him upon dismissal due to reduction before the expiration of the reduction period, which are paid by the employer:

• wages for the time actually worked in the month of dismissal;
• compensation for all vacations that the employee did not use;
• severance pay equal to the average monthly wages(only if early dismissal is initiated by the employer);
• additional compensation equal to the average earnings for the time remaining before reaching the appointed date of dismissal due to staff reduction (if this is specified in the collective agreement);
• for the period of employment - average monthly earnings, but this period should not exceed two (in some cases, by decision of the employment center - three) months from the date of dismissal.

Going to court

There are often cases when an employee, succumbing to pressure from the employer, writes a statement during a period of staff reduction with a request to dismiss him “at his own request.” Then he can apply to the court to change the wording of the reasons for dismissal and to recover the payments due to him, claiming that the administration forced him to write a statement. In this case, it is the employee who must prove that coercion on the part of the employer took place.

When considering a claim, the court examines:

If in court the employee proves that this statement was written by him under pressure from the employer and does not correspond to his wishes, then the termination of the contract will be considered illegal. In such a case, the employer is obliged to change the wording of the grounds for dismissal, as well as make all required payments, including compensation for moral damages and expenses caused by participation in court hearings. It is possible for the court to make a decision to reinstate the employee to his position and pay for forced absence.

by virtue of Art. 180 of the Labor Code can be initiated by the employer, having secured the consent of the employee, however, the Constitutional Court gave its interpretation of this norm. Read about this and other nuances of early dismissal during staff reduction in this article.

How can you terminate a contract with a redundant person: only at the initiative of the employer or also at the employee’s own request

The right to early dismissal when an employee is laid off or an employer is liquidated is provided for in Art. 180 TK. Moreover, it is formulated as the right of the employer, with the consent of the employee, to terminate early labor Relations, which gave rise to some uncertainty.

There is an opinion that such wording excludes the employee’s right to demand early termination in accordance with Art. 180 Labor Code, i.e. with retention of the right to additional compensation. An employee can express a desire to resign based on Art. 80 TK. If the worker voices such a desire during the period allotted for notice of layoffs, the employer dismisses him without paying additional compensation.

Clarity in the interpretation of Art. 180 of the Labor Code was introduced by the Constitutional Court. 09.29.2015 in determination No. 1881-O, indicating that there are no obstacles to workers filing an application for dismissal. In this case, the employer's consent will be required.

Conclusion: both parties can initiate early termination of the employment relationship, but dismissal is possible only with the consent of the opposite party. This ensures a balance between the interests of the employer and employee.

Step-by-step instructions for early termination of an employment contract

It is possible to begin the early dismissal procedure only after warning the employee and before the dismissal.

According to Art. 180 of the Labor Code, the employer personally warns each dismissed employee 2 months in advance about the planned reduction or liquidation of the company. The ruling of the Constitutional Court dated September 24, 2013 No. 1246-O states that a 2-month period is the minimum. The possibility of warning the employee in advance is not excluded; on the contrary, such a warning will provide more favorable conditions for new employment of the dismissed person.

The Labor Code has established shortened warning periods in 2 cases:

• for seasonal workers - a week (Article 296);
• for a fixed-term employment contract - 3 calendar days (Article 292).

After a warning, the procedure for early dismissal consists of 5 steps:

Step 1: expression of initiative by the employee or employer.

The Labor Code does not contain requirements for the form of expression of such an initiative. Accordingly, it can be expressed orally or in writing.

Step 2: approval.

To terminate the relationship early, the parties must reach an agreement. If the court finds that the second party lacks consent, most likely a ruling will be made to cancel the dismissal (for example, this is what the Moscow City Court decided in its appeal ruling dated August 16, 2013 No. 11-26551).

In Art. 180 of the Labor Code states that an employer who has expressed a desire to terminate a contract early must obtain the written approval of the worker.

The Labor Code does not contain any indication of the form of consent of the employer when putting forward an initiative by an employee. It seems that obtaining written consent from the organization when reaching an agreement is not necessary, since moving to the next step may serve as evidence of the employer's intention to terminate the contract early.

IMPORTANT! When reaching an agreement, the employee must understand the consequences of early termination. For example, the Moscow City Court, in its appeal ruling dated July 10, 2014 No. 33-27118, concluded that after receiving the employee’s consent to dismissal before the warning period expires, the employer is no longer obliged to offer him vacancies.

Step 3: registration.

Grounds for dismissal under Art. 84.1 of the Labor Code is an order for early dismissal, drawn up in free form or according to T-8, approved. Resolution of the State Statistics Committee of the Russian Federation No. 1 of 01/05/2004. The employee signs the order, thereby confirming the fact of familiarization with it. If desired, the employee can receive a copy of this document.

In addition to the order, the personnel service draws up a calculation note and makes an entry about the dismissal in the work book.

Step 4: calculation.

On the last day of work, calculations are made according to Art. 140 TK:

• the employer pays the employee:
  - unpaid wages, vacation pay, etc.;
  - additional compensation.
• the employee pays the employer:
  - compensation for actual damage caused directly by the employee.

Step 5: issuance of documents.

Simultaneously with the payment, the employee receives his work book, and, upon a separate request, also certified copies of documents.

Sample application for early dismissal upon dismissal due to staff reduction

The employee expresses a desire to terminate the contract early orally during a conversation with the manager or in writing by sending him an application.

There is no unified application form, but practice is based on the following content:

1. Standard header in the upper right corner containing the names of the parties:
   • an indication of the head of the organization to whom the application is sent;
   • position and name of the employee being laid off.
2. Heading "Statement" in the center.
3. Directly a statement indicating:
   • information about the order in accordance with which the employee is being laid off;
   • request to terminate the employment relationship early on the basis of Art. 180 TK;
   • an indication of the need to provide the required benefits to the dismissed employee labor guarantees, namely, to pay additional compensation.
4. Details: date, signature.

A sample application is available on our website.

IMPORTANT! The employee, in accordance with Art. 80 of the Labor Code, upon dismissal of his own free will, he has the right to withdraw his application until the warning period has expired, if his position has not been offered in writing to another person by way of transfer. The right to return an application also applies to an employee’s application for early dismissal due to staff reduction or liquidation of the employing organization.

Compensation for early dismissal upon liquidation of an employer or layoff of an employee

According to Art. 180 of the Labor Code, an employee dismissed early receives compensation. Its size is approximately equal to the earnings that the employee would have received if he had worked the remaining time before the reduction or liquidation of the organization. The exact amount of compensation is calculated as follows:

Compensation = average earnings × time until notice expires.

Average earnings are defined as the ratio of the entire amount earned in relation to the time worked over the past 12 months (Article 139 of the Labor Code).

The time remaining until the warning period expires is indicated in days. Usually it does not exceed 60, but, as the Moscow City Court indicated in the appeal ruling dated December 4, 2012 No. 11-26294/2012, the Labor Code does not limit the period for which compensation is calculated to 2 months. This period is set as minimum term warnings.

Therefore, if the employer warns the employee about the upcoming dismissal, for example, 4 months in advance, and a month later the parties agree on early dismissal, then the compensation will be calculated based on the 3 months remaining before the end of the notice period.

Let's summarize. When an employer is liquidated or an employee is laid off, the dismissed employee or his employer has the right to express the initiative to terminate the employment contract early. For early dismissal, it is necessary to obtain the consent of the other party.

An employee who is dismissed early is entitled to additional compensation. It is calculated by multiplying average earnings by the remaining days until the expiration of the warning period.