Is there liability for having two work books?

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Published: 06/20/2018

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A work book is the main document containing information about a citizen’s work activity. According to the legislation of the Russian Federation, the main functions of this document are limited to reflecting the actual length of service, reasons for dismissal from each place of work, as well as information about education, qualifications and the presence of labor incentives or penalties.

• Work book: practical purpose and maintenance procedure
• The employee has two work books. Deliberate concealment of the fact of having a valid work book.
• Loss of work record
• Work abroad

A work book is created when a citizen is first officially employed, after which it accompanies him throughout his working career. All operations for maintaining and storing these documents are carried out by employees of the personnel services of employing organizations in accordance with the legally approved Rules for maintaining and storing work books.

No formal ban

To date, the labor legislation of the Russian Federation does not provide for the imposition of sanctions against an employee who has two work books. Experts note that the fact of owning two employment forms is not considered a violation of the law, but an abuse of right.

In Soviet legislation, there was a law “On Labor Books of Workers and Employees,” according to which persons using a counterfeit or forged book had to be held accountable for violations. Today, a correctly completed second work report, which contains reliable information, does not provide for punishment from the authorities.

Having reached retirement age, a person can independently decide which form of work book he can present to confirm his work experience. If several working periods coincide in time, the pension will be accrued only according to the one chosen by the citizen.

Part-time workers can abuse the possession of two work books. Since a collective agreement or internal regulations of an organization may provide benefits for part-time work, the part-time worker himself is able to take advantage of this for his own purposes, violating the local order. In this case, punishment for this violation is also provided in accordance with the internal procedure of the enterprise.

Is the employment document properly formatted?

The work record book is the main confirmation of the employee’s work experience. It is issued at the first enterprise where a citizen is employed. After dismissal and entry to the next place of work, the same employment form is provided to the HR department.

The reasons why you have to draw up a new work book may be different. The most common is the loss of the form and its subsequent discovery. In some cases, the employee wants to hide some facts about his work activity indicated in the document.

The main reason why the second work book cannot be called false is that it was filled out correctly (in the event that false information was not indicated in it). The accuracy of the information is confirmed by the signatures of personnel employees and the corresponding seals.

However, there is a nuance in which the registration of a second work book may occur with violations. For example, an employee can report to the HR department that his form is missing and write an application for a new one. If it was really lost, then there will be no problems in this case. If the book has not disappeared, and the employee provided false information during employment, then for 2 work books, liability is provided in the form of dismissal.

General concepts

A work record book (TRK) is an official document that is provided by a citizen upon employment as confirmation of experience and qualifications for performing their direct duties in the future. It reflects all promotions, demotions, awards and penalties that were in the previous place.

The work book is created at the enterprise (if this is done for the first time) and is stored at the main place of work. The HR department is responsible for making records and keeping them safe. All this is regulated by the Rules for the Management of Trade and Commercial Complexes, approved by the Government of the Russian Federation (No. 225 of April 16, 2003).

It is important to know! A second workbook is created if the sheets in the first one run out, the document is lost, or there is an unpleasant entry. But sometimes such a step is taken when applying for another job, so that the bosses at the main place do not find out about the part-time job. Such actions lead to certain consequences.

Two labor and tax deductions

Another issue related to the fact that an employee has two work books is a tax deduction. Usually it is carried out at the main place of work, but this issue is not spelled out in the legislation. In order for the deduction to be carried out by the tax agent at the choice of the employee’s place of work, it is necessary to draw up an application, attaching the relevant documents to it.

The issue of tax deduction is also important for the enterprise where the employee is employed. An employer whose subordinate is registered in his organization as the main place of employment will be able to reduce the amount of tax paid.

To ensure that owners of two or more work books do not have problems with the law, they should not claim tax deductions at two enterprises at the same time. Otherwise, if such a fact is revealed, the employer has the right to recover the deduction amount from the subordinate. The same applies to other guarantees that are provided at the main place of employment. For example, if an employee takes study leave at his main place of work, then here it will be registered as paid, and at an additional place of work it will be taken “at his own expense.”

Results

Now you know the answer to the question “ Is it possible to have two work books at the same time ?”
It is not prohibited by law to have several work books, but at the same time, the company and the employee have a lot of problems taking into account personal income tax, length of service for calculating pensions and sick leave. In addition, deceiving an employer during employment and concealing a valid work record are reasons to fire an employee. And an attempt to receive social benefits from the state as an unemployed person under one work book, while working in another company under a second work book, is a criminal offense. You can find more complete information on the topic in ConsultantPlus. Free trial access to the system for 2 days.

Registration of pension

The introduction of a system such as personalized accounting leads to the fact that the work book may lose its significance as a document recording work experience. In addition, reforms in pension legislation lead to the fact that the size of the pension will be based not only on length of service, but also on the basis of financial receipts to the personal account of citizens in the Pension Fund.

Today, it is impossible to register a pension without submitting a work book to the fund. Moreover, not only its copy, but the original must be presented. According to the current legislation, pensions are calculated only for one book, and not for both. Therefore, the citizen must choose the form that is more beneficial to him and attach this document to the application.

What will the Pension Fund say?

The Russian Pension Fund is not interested in supporting citizens by fraudulently trying to increase their income and pension. Therefore, the calculation of pension savings will be done from only one document based on the principle of more work or at the request of the employee.

If an employee declares that he once lost his work book and now it has been returned, but he did not use it because he started a new one, then the pension fund may decide to sum up the length of service, but we will talk about this in more detail in the paragraphs below.

Two work books for part-time work

According to the Labor Code, a citizen can find employment in two organizations at once. The phenomenon of working simultaneously in two places of official employment is called part-time work. In addition, part-time work can be arranged in the same organization where the citizen already works.

Registering a part-time job involves maintaining a work book at one of the enterprises. In the second, an employment contract is drawn up. As stated in the Labor Code, the employee is obliged to notify his employer that he has an additional source of income. Therefore, it is assumed that when applying for an additional job, a part-time worker does not provide a work book, but documents that prove his identity, and, if necessary, information about his education.

As practice shows, it is often more convenient for an employer to register a new employee using a work book. In this case, the question of the legality of issuing the second employment form concerns not only the individual employee, but also the employer, who requires part-time employees to submit this document to their HR department.

Calculation of benefits and pensions for those with two labor codes

Owners of two TCs face difficulties in calculating benefits and pensions. The fact is that the document is submitted to the Pension Fund for calculating length of service and pension. Providing two or more TCs leads to confusion. In addition, problems also arise with benefits for temporary disability, since when calculating for overlapping periods of work activity, information from only one Labor Code will be taken into account. Moreover, you cannot receive sick leave for two places of work. If the employee still manages to do this, the deception will become clear when the employer applies to the FSS for reimbursement of insurance costs. Then the dishonest employee is obliged to return the funds received. In the interests of enterprises, it is necessary to identify employees who have two labor codes: the consequences for the employer from such fraud can be serious.

Responsibility for violations

In some cases, the use of two work books may be clearly fraudulent. For example, if a woman who is currently on leave to care for a child, draws up a new form of work book and gets a new job using it. Receiving an official salary through such a scheme is illegal.

In addition, many try to evade payments to the tax service by filling out a second form of work book. If an employee has two work books, then liability for a number of such violations is not too serious, but in some cases the owner will have to pay a fine.

general information

In an effort to protect themselves and their rights, citizens study the legislation and also make excellent use of various legal methods to protect their interests.

In the labor sphere, the legal literacy of citizens is growing by leaps and bounds. Employees know how many vacations they are entitled to per year, what hours of work can be considered overtime, and what they are entitled to a bonus for.

Also, many, trying to circumvent the law and possessing irrepressible energy, try to work two jobs at once. Two work books - is it legal or not? We will tell you in our article how legal such actions are and until what point a second work book has the right to exist.

Calculation of benefits

Most often, benefits are paid for reasons such as temporary disability or pregnancy and subsequent childbirth. The amount of payments depends on the employee’s insurance length. Information about this experience and all the nuances associated with it are displayed in the work book. The insurance experience includes:

• municipal service}
• civil service}
• civil service}
• work under an employment contract}
• periods during which the employee was subject to compulsory insurance.

Each owner of two work books should be aware of the choice of one of the periods counted in his insurance record. Cash payments related to pregnancy and the postpartum period or illness are accrued only for one official place of employment. If this condition is not adhered to, the employer may decide that accrual on both work books is a desire for illegal enrichment at the expense of one or another enterprise.

A pregnant woman must understand that, having two books at the same time, she will receive benefits on the basis of the sick leave certificate issued to her, which indicates for which place of work this document is presented. In accordance with current legislation, there can be only one such sheet - the issuance of two or more sick leave sheets at different official places of employment is prohibited.

On the merits

According to Article 66 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, a work book is the main document about an employee’s employment and length of service. It is issued and executed by the first employer, after which he ensures its storage and completion until dismissal. After dismissal, the document is handed over to the employee. Upon subsequent employment, he presents the book as a document confirming his experience. Working two jobs officially with two work books is not prohibited by law. The second copy appears in a person for various reasons:

• due to the loss of the first one and its discovery after the issuance of a duplicate;
• as a result of the desire to hide unpleasant facts that were written down.

The Pension Fund of the Russian Federation does not see anything illegal in the fact that an employee has a second period of work, but warns that if several periods counted in the insurance period coincide in time, only one of them is taken into account at the choice of the insured person (clause 2 of Article 16 of the Federal Law of December 29, 2006 No. 255-FZ).

Registration of the second labor

When hiring a new employee, the HR department employee checks the authenticity of the work book. The information is compared with the information specified in the applicant’s personal documents. If inconsistencies or false data are found, the personnel officer refuses to make a new entry in this work book.

The second work book is prepared in the same way as the first. The title page contains information about the employee, the stamp of the organization where it is issued, and the signature of the employer. If the previous entry is not closed, the next one about hiring is not made (except in cases where this is a part-time activity).

All entries must be made in the appropriate columns and sections. The personnel officer cannot record information about hiring or dismissal in the section reserved for indicating awards. Another work book upon completion of the previous one is not issued to the employee. Instead, the new employer must issue an insert. It is filled out in the same order as the employment form. If an employee finds a previous book that was lost due to his fault, then the entries made in it are not entered into the new form.

If the loss occurred at the current workplace, the employer is obliged to issue the employee a new book, and include in it all the entries that were made in the previous document. Information about work is entered on the basis of documents provided from previous places of employment.

Why are two copies of the document issued?

Despite the ban on having two documents, cases of drawing up a second copy are not uncommon, for different reasons - selfish goals or loss of the opportunity to use the primary document.

Such moments include:

1. Loss of labor

This circumstance occurs when the document is actually lost or in the process of deliberate concealment. In this case, when applying for a job at a new enterprise, a citizen writes an application to open a new document due to the loss of the previous one.

How to restore your TIN if lost and what documents you will need - read here.

The personnel employee does not have the right to refuse, and draws up a duplicate on the basis of orders and contracts from his previous place of work.

1. Hiding information

This fact happens for many reasons:

• Dismissal due to scandal or article;
• A radical change of profile to a less prestigious one in order to avoid questions;
• During his studies, the student earned extra money through non-core work.

For example, a university teacher decided to work as a driver for good reasons, so as not to become the object of unnecessary questions and perplexed glances, he hides information about his previous place of work and work experience.

When is it possible to have two workers?

1. Work activity in several places at the same time

The law does not limit the number of jobs for an employee, and all of them can be official, but instead of complying with the requirements of the Labor Code, employees create several documents at once, hiding their other employment from each employer.

What are the rules for filling out a work book upon dismissal? Read the publication at the link.

Are such actions legal?

According to the law, there is no clear regulation on the number of books opened, but there are certain requirements for the execution of part-time documents, according to which the employee must use one document to make entries.

In addition, there are no penalties, however, maintaining documents for personal gain is punishable by law and entails a fine.

Work activity in several places

As already mentioned, a citizen is allowed to work in several jobs and their number can be so large that the employee’s needs are fully satisfied.

At the same time, the Labor Code of the Russian Federation clearly regulates the following employment:

• To have additional income, you must initially get a job at your main place of work;
• Next, find an additional place of work; you do not need to provide a work book there; an identity card and a document on education are enough;
• The work record book is kept at the main place of work;
• If you need to make a record of all part-time jobs, it is enough to bring the employment order and contract to the HR department.

You can find out how a work book is issued upon dismissal and where to apply here.

What are the risks of having two documents?

The legislation does not provide for the use of two documents at once, which means there are no options for direct liability.

However, their use can be complicated:

1. Providing deductions - an employee can have two books, but he has the right to count on receiving guarantees only for one place of work; additional leave for training must be paid for by only one employer.

Important: if an employee hid the fact of the existence of additional work from all employers and receives benefits in all places of work, he may be forced to compensate for losses.

1. Registration of a pension - if an employee retires upon reaching retirement age, he needs to provide a work book to the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation to confirm his length of service, while the fund has its own data regarding his work experience; when comparing facts that may diverge, the citizen will have to explain to officials.
2. Receiving payments - when applying for sick leave for temporary disability or when receiving maternity benefits, you need to contact only one employer; to indicate the name of the enterprise in the form of the sheet, there is a column where it is permissible to enter the data of only one enterprise.

In any case, when finding out the information, employers will demand a refund from the employee for vacation pay or tax deductions, since it is unknown whether the employee, according to the law, worked only at one enterprise full time or this time was taken into account at several enterprises at once.

What is the responsibility?

Important: this violation requires the dismissal of the employee in accordance with clause 11 of Art. 81 Labor Code of the Russian Federation. In addition, the employee may be held criminally liable for forgery of documents in accordance with Art. 159 and 327 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Criminal Code of the Russian Federation Article 327. Forgery, production or sale of counterfeit documents, state awards, stamps, seals, forms

1. Forgery of a certificate or other official document granting rights or exempting from obligations for the purpose of its use, or the sale of such a document, as well as the production for the same purposes or sale of counterfeit state awards of the Russian Federation, the RSFSR, the USSR, stamps, seals, forms – shall be punishable by restriction of freedom for a term of up to two years, or forced labor for a term of up to two years, or arrest for a term of up to six months, or imprisonment for a term of up to two years. 2. The same acts committed with the aim of concealing another crime or facilitating its commission are punishable by forced labor for up to four years or imprisonment for the same term. 3. Using a knowingly forged document is punishable by a fine in the amount of up to eighty thousand rubles, or in the amount of the wages or other income of the convicted person for a period of up to six months, or by compulsory labor for a term of up to four hundred eighty hours, or by corrective labor for a term of up to two years, or arrest for up to six months.

For selfish motives regarding tax deductions, Art. 122 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, according to which the employee will return 20% of the unpaid amount in the form of a fine if he fails to provide a certificate to the employer about the absence of a tax deduction at another place of work.

Among other things, if an employee has opened a second book in order to have an advantage over part-time workers at the enterprise in accordance with local regulations, he must be punished when the facts are revealed in accordance with the provisions of the same local acts.