Valid reasons for absenteeism at work according to the Labor Code

Missing work time may be grounds for disciplinary action by the employer. However, there are good reasons for not showing up for work that justify the employee under certain legal provisions. To eliminate the risk of undesirable consequences from the administration, and also to be able to justify the position at work, the employee should carefully study the circumstances under which absence will not become a violation of labor discipline.

The employer sometimes experiences difficulties with the correct interpretation of situations in which an employee is absent from the workplace, because there is no direct explanation on this issue in the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

What can be considered absenteeism?

Some business managers joke that only death can be a valid reason for absenteeism from work. But quite often you have to avoid going to the place of employment for a huge number of other reasons.

Illnesses, force majeure dangerous situations, problems with loved ones, accidents, thefts - all these are quite common cases for modern people. They often become a reason for not showing up for work at the right time.

Let's figure out what constitutes absenteeism, what kind of circumstances are really considered valid and allow absence, and what kind of circumstances do not deserve the attention of the employer.

Absenteeism is the absence of an employee from the office or enterprise for more than four hours. When calculating this time, the lunch break allotted to each employee by law must be deducted.

If an employee was absent from work for less than the specified time, this is not automatically considered absenteeism, but can be regarded as ordinary tardiness.

Accordingly, absence from the place of employment for four hours or longer will, quite legally, be regarded as absenteeism. But strictly on the condition that the absentee did not provide any evidence that he was absent for compelling reasons. It is this factor that proves that the reason for absence from the office or enterprise was not valid.

Absenteeism, according to its characteristics, is divided into two main categories:

• without legal grounds - such a phenomenon may be a reason for dismissal. In some situations, a manager will assign a different form of punishment to his employee;
• for good reasons - when a citizen was forced due to certain circumstances to be absent from work for some time, but was unable to provide evidence.

In practice, difficult situations when a person was unable to go to work often arise. However, employers are very strict about this. The reason for absence is often not recognized as a valid reason, despite the arguments presented by the employee.

If the reason is valid, if there is evidence of this factor, but the employer still fired, you need to file a claim in court. The decision will most likely be made in favor of the dismissed citizen.

Disrespectful motives

First of all, we will identify the reasons for absenteeism that do not deserve attention, so as not to dwell on them later.

So, the most common reasons for absence from work, which, according to employers, are gross violations, are the following:

• overslept/did not wake up;
• forgot;
• I didn’t have time because I was deciding personal matters;
• they locked the houses from the outside;
• caring for a sick relative in a hospital if this is not necessary;
• failure to provide sick leave;
• celebrated my birthday yesterday, today I have a headache;
• treatment of “mental” wounds, etc.

Such reasons and explanations look as if a small, dependent and disorganized child were writing about them, and not an adult, so management often does not pay attention to such replies and treats them with skepticism.

After all, an adult is able to predict: set an alarm early to be on time, set a reminder, resolve his personal affairs in his free time or during work, but with the permission of management.

A separate issue is always the topic of traffic jams. If you know that there are always a lot of cars in a particular area at this time, you need to leave early to be on time for work. If an accident occurs, so much so that you stand on the road for almost half a day in a hopeless situation, or you are injured in an accident, you should immediately warn management. This will be a force majeure event, to which the employer usually reacts loyally.

Valid reasons for absence

So, let's look at the main reasons for missing a place of employment, which, if there are certain documentary justifications, can be regarded exclusively as valid.

Personal reasons

These include the following factors:

1. Injury or illness. Here, absenteeism from work is based on the fact that the person has health problems. Usually he goes to the clinic, but does not issue an official sick leave. Often it is simply not required, because there is an understanding that you won’t have to sit at home for more than one day. And also does not issue sick leave in order to maintain the required salary. But then you will need to take a statement from the doctor, which will indicate the date of your visit to the hospital and the reason.
2. Passing a medical examination. If a citizen works with children, in a store, if the man is a military man, a rescuer or a firefighter, a medical examination must be completed. An employee can legally skip work to pass it. An exception is the situation when a person independently prescribed a medical examination for himself and did not present a certificate that he was examined.
3. Illness of a relative or child. This situation is quite common, and it must also be confirmed by a certificate from medical staff. This could be a doctor who was visited in the hospital or emergency personnel if they were called to a home due to the deterioration of the health of someone close to them.
4. Failure of house utilities. This includes such troubles as a broken water supply system, heating system, dangerous gas leak, or fire.
5. Participation in certain government events and processes. These types of events include being in court on a pre-sent summons. A citizen can be summoned not only as an accused, but as a plaintiff, a witness in a case, or a juror. According to Article 46, prescribed in the Russian Constitution, such a reason will be considered justified by law and valid. Anyone can legally appear in person at court proceedings.
6. Delayed salary If it exceeds 15 days, this is also a valid reason. Every citizen has the right not to go to the place of employment in such a situation. But the main condition is to warn the employer about this factor in writing. This rule is spelled out in Art. 142 of the Labor Code of Russia. It states here that you don’t have to go to work until the due salary is paid.

Road accident

Such an incident is considered a valid reason for absence from work. It doesn’t matter whether you are the culprit of the accident or not.

If this happens, you should call your employer at the first opportunity and report this fact.

If this is an accident, you should definitely record the event: issue a certificate from the traffic police or fill out a European protocol, shoot a video, take a photo.

Subsequently, if questions arise from the employer, you will be able to justify yourself using the specified documents.

This group can also include the situation of traffic jams due to accidents between other participants. To confirm this circumstance, you can provide a certificate from the traffic police.

External factors

A person can miss work not only for personal reasons, but also for factors completely beyond his control that occur from the outside. In other words, these are situations that can be safely classified as force majeure. Their very presence can automatically be considered a valid factor for preventing a person from coming to an office or enterprise. Here are some examples of such situations:

• malfunction of the elevator, when a person got stuck in it, was waiting for help, and therefore could not come to work;
• an accident if the employee was driving his own vehicle to work;
• malfunction of the vehicle, with the simultaneous inability to transfer to another vehicle. This is very typical for a situation where an employee travels to the enterprise every day by train or intercity bus;
• various natural phenomena - hurricane winds, floods;
• a complex infectious or epidemiological situation that has arisen in the city or vaccination carried out by employees of medical institutions;
• a significant delay in the departure of the aircraft, which created certain insurmountable obstacles and prevents a timely return from the trip;
• not a delay, but a complete lack of tickets at the box office, when a person does not have the opportunity to return home by air, water or any other type of road transport.

If, upon arriving at work, an employee provides documentary evidence of one of the listed factors, the employer, by law, will not be able to fire him or fine him.

Participation in government processes

This includes not only judicial proceedings, but also investigative actions, summonses to regulatory and supervisory authorities.

So, a person cannot be fired for absenteeism if he:

• took part in the court hearing as a plaintiff, defendant, witness, victim, juror, third party, etc.;
• was involved in an investigative experiment, as a witness during a search, arrest and other actions;
• was summoned to give explanations to the tax, traffic police, labor inspectorate, military registration and enlistment office and other authorities.

As confirmation, the employer may be presented with a summons or any other official document confirming his presence in government agencies at a specific time.

Advance reasons for missing work

Sometimes the direct reason for missing work may be other circumstances that are known in advance and are not unexpected. Among them are joyful and sad moments, such as:

• wedding;
• the birth of a baby;
• death of a relative who was previously ill.

In the above circumstances, the employee not only has the legal right not to come to work, but can request additional days off from the employer. Here you need to understand that they will not be paid, but they are also not recognized as absenteeism.

In order to receive such legal, but unpaid days off, the employee must notify his employer in writing that such circumstances have arisen that several days of rest are required. If it is not possible to warn in advance, which is typical for the birth of a child or the death of a relative, then the employee must call the company and verbally notify the employer.

In such situations, the employee cannot be denied days off. But their number should not exceed 5 days.

Regulatory regulation

Regulatory regulations are documents with the structure, functions and legal status of employees.
They are developed on the basis of legislation, so they must be adhered to. There is all the information about managers and employees. And this is where the certificates and statements you provide will be located. List:

• documents related to labor standards;
• documents on the structure, departments and number of employees in the company;
• documents related to working conditions, organization of workplaces, etc.;

Special categories of persons

The Labor Code provides protection to the most vulnerable categories of workers and is a guarantor of normal labor relations between the employer and subordinates. Before embarking on the process of early termination of the contract, the manager must find out which category of persons the person belongs to.

The legislative framework prohibits the dismissal of the following employees under the article:

• Pregnant women. It is worth considering that if the employee was pregnant at the time of dismissal, but did not know about it, then after presenting a certificate of pregnancy, the boss is obliged to reinstate the employee in her position. Moreover, even after the expiration of the employment contract, upon presentation of a certificate, the agreement will have to be renewed. But this does not mean that an employee can miss work without a good reason with impunity. No one has canceled disciplinary sanctions, therefore, in the absence of a medical report about poor health or other exculpatory documents, the manager can fine the employee, issue reprimands, and enter them into his personal file.
• Individuals who are officially employed in an organization, but have not yet reached the age of 18. Thus, Article 269 of the Labor Code allows for early termination of a contract at the initiative of the employer in case of absenteeism, but this will require additional procedures. It is necessary to obtain the consent of the labor inspectorate and the Council, which specializes in cases of minors.

In other cases, you should be guided by good or bad reasons for absenteeism. To protect yourself from illegal actions on the part of management, you should carefully study reviews about the organization. If you miss work due to poor health, you should notify the head of the department about the current situation and be sure to open and close your sick leave.

Procedure for dismissal for being late

Dismissal for the reason in question must occur on the basis of termination of the employment relationship. The initiative for action comes from the employer. Lateness, according to Art. 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, clause 5, may become grounds for dismissal if a person has an outstanding disciplinary sanction. This provision is confirmed by judicial practice (see the appeal ruling of the regional court of Orel, case No. 33-877/2013).

When dismissing an employee, an employer must also rely on other circumstances. For example, on the latter’s attitude towards work in general, the circumstances in which the offense was committed. Dismissal is a common reason for people to go to court. The employer acts on behalf of the defendant in the process. The burden of proving one’s case, most importantly, the legality of imposing a penalty, lies on the defendant.

Is it possible to fire someone for being late?

If a person is systematically late, for example, more than three times, then he may be fired. A similar measure is applied to employees on whom a penalty has already been imposed; it has not been repaid at the time of the repeated violation.

The second delay, like the subsequent one, is processed in accordance with the first. After the third time, the employer has the right to issue an order establishing the procedure for terminating an employment contract with a citizen. The reason is a systematic violation of labor discipline.

PLEASE NOTE: the law does not establish an obligation for the employer to urgently take punitive measures against the offender. The deadlines are established in the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. In particular, the boss has the right to punish a person within one month after his misconduct is discovered, as well as within 6 months.

For an offense, the employee bears one punishment. For example, a person is late. The reason is not considered valid. His boss does not have the right to first reprimand him and then fire him.