In the course of production activities, an enterprise often suffers damage due to the negligence of its employees. In cases where it is not possible to delineate the liability of employees for the damage that has occurred, collective liability may be introduced in a number of structural divisions. It is usually set for employees transporting, storing, selling products, raw materials, equipment and other production facilities. Let us further consider the features of concluding a collective liability agreement. A sample document will also be presented in the article.
Mandatory conditions
Each manager choosing a form of responsibility (collective or individual) must take into account a number of important circumstances. In particular, full individual liability can only be established if:
- Due to the nature of the work, you can determine the degree of guilt of each individual employee.
- Values are taken under the report of a specific employee. Accordingly, it was he who was entrusted with the duty to ensure their safety.
- For processing, storage, sale, etc., the employee is provided with an isolated room or its enclosed part for storing objects. At the same time, he must independently report to the accounting department for the values transferred to him under the report.
These conditions follow from the contents of the model contract on individual liability, approved by the Ministry of Labor Decree No. 85 of 2002. Meanwhile, the above requirements are not always observed in practice, which, in essence, entails the contestability of contracts concluded with employees.
Complete collective liability
It involves the transfer of values to a group of specially designated persons. Property may be taken for storage or for other purposes. The transfer of values can be carried out to the entire team of the enterprise, a separate team or working group. Moreover, all members are responsible for the safety of the facilities.
Appointment
Collective (team) responsibility is widespread at enterprises engaged in various sectors of the economy, in particular, processing materials and materials. Its implementation ensures the functioning of an effective mechanism for mutual control of workers.
General rules of use
In order for collective responsibility to serve the implementation of tasks to ensure the complete preservation of values, the head of the enterprise must follow the procedure and principles for its introduction. They are enshrined in Articles 244-245 of the Labor Code and other legal documents containing labor law standards.
Full collective responsibility may apply to work contained in a special List approved by the above-mentioned Resolution of the Ministry of Labor. It should be noted that it indicates the same types of activities that are provided for establishing full individual responsibility.
Documentation: order, agreement (samples)
Collective liability can be introduced only on the basis of the order of the head. The contents of the order are communicated to all members of the collective. A copy of the order must be attached to the agreement on full collective responsibility.
The execution of the agreement involves the assignment of responsibility to all members of the brigade (team) for the loss or shortage of values.
The order of the head of the enterprise determines the composition of the team and its immediate superior. In addition, the order should appoint an employee who will perform the duties of a team leader during his absence due to illness, on vacation, on a business trip.
Brigade rights
In accordance with the standard model of a collective responsibility agreement, employees can:
- Participate in the acceptance of entrusted values, carry out mutual control of the storage, processing, sale, transportation and use of property during the production process.
- To get acquainted with reports on the remains and movement of materials entrusted to the brigade.
- Participate in the audit, inventory, and other safety checks of the state of values.
- If necessary, require the tenant to conduct property inspections.
- To declare challenges to individual members of the brigade, including its leader, if, in the opinion of the employees, these persons are not able to ensure the safety of property.
Team Responsibilities
The collective liability agreement may provide for the following requirements for employees:
- Carefully treat the entrusted brigade (team) of values, take the necessary measures to prevent damage.
- Keep records, generate and timely transmit reports on the balances and movement of property in the prescribed manner.
- Immediately inform the employer of all circumstances that create a risk to the preservation of values.
Employer Responsibilities
In accordance with the collective liability agreement, the tenant must:
- Provide the team with conditions for the proper safeguarding of property.
- Timely take measures to identify and eliminate the causes that create obstacles for the brigade to fulfill its responsibilities, identify employees who are responsible for the damage, hold these citizens accountable, in accordance with applicable law.
- To acquaint the members of the brigade with applicable laws and other regulations on collective responsibility, the procedure for processing, storage, transportation, sale and use of property in the production process.
- Provide the team with the conditions required for timely accounting and reporting on the balances and movement of property.
- Evaluate the validity of the team’s demand for an audit of the values entrusted to it.
- Consider the challenge in the presence of the workers on whom they were filed. If the statements are justified, the head takes measures to exclude the employee from the team, decides on his further stay in the enterprise, in accordance with labor standards.
- Examine the team’s reports on factors that threaten the safety of entrusted property.
The basis for sanctions
The agreement on full collective material liability obligatory establishes the conditions for imputing punishment. The basis for applying the sanctions is the actual direct damage that arose either directly as a result of the actions of the collective, or, if necessary, to compensate the harm to another person.
Property losses can be detected, for example, during the inventory or audit of goods and materials. Scheduled inspections are carried out at intervals fixed by local documents of the organization. Unscheduled inventories are carried out in the event of a change of team leader, the withdrawal of more than half of its members from the team, as well as at the request of one or more responsible employees.
Features of the application of measures
An agreement on full collective material liability may stipulate that in the event of property damage, team members, by agreement with the employer, have the right to establish the degree of guilt of an employee. In accordance with it, employees can voluntarily compensate property damage. If the recovery of damage is carried out in court, then the degree of guilt, as well as the amount of compensation, is established by the court.
Nuances
It must be said that the collective liability agreement may provide for a clause on the possibility of reducing the amount of recovery. However, this provision can be applied only after determining the exact amount of the amounts to be reimbursed by each employee. The fact is that the degree of guilt and other circumstances may be different. For example, one employee actively tried to prevent damage, and the other showed indifference to what was happening.
It should be taken into account that a decrease in the amount of recovery from some members of the collective cannot serve as a basis for increasing the amounts to be reimbursed by other employees.
In case of gross violation of the regulations, which entailed serious damage, the perpetrators can be dismissed from the enterprise. However, this does not relieve them of the obligation to compensate for the harm caused.
Damage confirmation
Collective liability of employees occurs only if the fact of causing property damage and its size are recorded by documents drawn up as a result of the audit. In confirmation of this can be an act of inventory, which established a lack of values, a defective statement, which reflects damage (marriage) of the product.
The signing of supporting documents is carried out by members of a special commission formed for the audit, as well as financially responsible employees. At the same time, the latter give a receipt that the checked property was actually transferred to them for storage, an inventory was carried out in their presence and that they have no complaints. If any objections arise, information about this is reflected in the inventory act or defective statement.
It must be said that the absence of documents proving the fact and the reasons for causing property damage deprives the employer of the opportunity to assign collective responsibility to employees.
Establishment of damage: general rules
It should be guided by the provisions of article 246 of the Labor Code. In accordance with the norm, the amount of property damage incurred by the employer in the event of damage or loss of values is calculated based on actual losses. They are calculated on the basis of the market value of the relevant products operating in the area on the day the damage is caused. However, the amount should not be less than the price of the property according to accounting documents, taking into account depreciation.
Accordingly, the general procedure provides for 2 options for assessing damage:
- For actual losses based on market prices.
- Based on the value of the values, according to accounting.
The market recognizes the most probable cost at which the object can be sold in a competitive open market, when participants act reasonably, have all the necessary information, and no emergency circumstances are reflected in the transaction amount.
Special order
It applies when:
- Property damage caused to the employer as a result of intentional damage, theft, loss of values.
- The actual amount of harm is higher than its nominal size.
The application of a special procedure is carried out in accordance with federal law. So, in accordance with Federal Law No. 3-FZ, collective liability arises for harm caused to the employer if improper performance or failure to fulfill obligations entailed a shortage or theft of psychotropic / narcotic drugs. A 100-fold amount of actual harm may be recovered from team members.
In accordance with the provisions of Federal Law No. 41-, when transactions with precious metals permitted by the legal norms are made, payment is made taking into account prices established on the world market. Settlements in transactions with precious stones are carried out at prices determined by experts on the basis of price lists similar to those that operate on the world market. At the same time, market fluctuations in value at the date of sale are taken into account. This procedure is widely used in determining the amount of damage resulting from the theft or shortage of precious metals and precious stones.
Features of the conclusion of the contract
The collective liability agreement is executed in writing. It can only be concluded with those employees whose professions are on the List approved by the Ministry of Labor Decree No. 85. If the agreement is concluded with other employees, the head of the enterprise is liable, in accordance with applicable law.
The document should reflect information regarding the rights, duties of the team and the employer. It is possible to conclude an agreement on collective liability during the execution of an employment contract or directly during the transfer of values.
It is worth noting that employees are not entitled to refuse to sign the contract. If the storage of property is the main function of the employee, then the refusal to sign the agreement will be regarded as evasion by the person of his duties.
Document structure
The following sections are included in the model contract:
- Subject of the agreement. This section contains information that the team assumes responsibility for ensuring the safety of the values entrusted to it and is ready to compensate for the damage that arose through its fault.
- Obligations and rights of the parties. It describes the legal capabilities of the parties to the agreement that they are endowed with in accordance with the local acts of the enterprise. In addition, obligations are indicated here, failure to fulfill which entails liability.
- The procedure and conditions for damages.
additional information
As a rule, the management of a team (team) is assigned to the head of a structural unit or an employee who is senior in position. This employee should have not only relevant skills and knowledge (the fact is that management itself complicates work responsibilities), but also a certain authority.
The staffing of the team is based on voluntariness. If new workers are included in the brigade, then the opinion of its current members is taken into account.
The specifics of the inventory
As practice shows, most often a shortage of property entrusted to the team (team) is detected during the audit. It must be said that such checks should be mandatory elements of the accounting policy of the enterprise.
The head of the organization determines the audit procedure. It sets the number of inspections per year, specific dates for their implementation, a list of obligations and values to be audited, etc. In this case, one should be guided by the Methodological Instructions approved by the Ministry of Finance in 1995.
In accordance with the provisions of Federal Law No. 129-FZ, an inventory is required:
- In the provision of values for rent, their sale, redemption, as well as in the case of transformation of a municipal or state unitary enterprise.
- Before the formation of annual reporting.
- When changing a financially responsible employee.
- When establishing the facts of damage or theft of property, abuse of authority.
- In case of liquidation or reorganization of the organization.
- Before concluding collective liability agreements.
- In other cases provided for by law.
The audit can be carried out for all departments of the enterprise or only for some of them.
As a rule, a permanent inventory commission is formed in organizations. Its composition and chairman are determined by the head. The fact of creating a commission is fixed by order. It should indicate the specific employees that make up its composition.
The basis for the audit is also the order of the head of the enterprise. Its contents should be familiar to all members of the team, as well as their immediate supervisor (team leader). Workers have the right to participate in the inventory and familiarize themselves with its results against signature.
The advantages of team responsibility over individual
It is worth saying that after the conclusion of collective responsibility agreements, there has been a significant increase in the efficiency of staff.The fact is that employees have more opportunities to concentrate on fulfilling the tasks assigned directly to each of them. At the same time, team members can maintain a balance between the speed of production operations and the likely risks.
At the same time, the company has the opportunity to implement a variety of collective projects. If the responsibility is individual, engaging in work on the same machines may require management to comply with an excessive amount of formalities. If subsequently there is a basis for applying liability measures to employees, conducting a trial and identifying the culprit will be extremely difficult.
Under collective responsibility, the employer may recover significant amounts in his favor. The fact is that in the case of applying individual measures, the maximum amount of compensation is limited to the average salary of the perpetrator. If the liability is collective, the amount is limited only by the amount of actual damage.