A bonus is a welcome event in the life of any employee. It's safe to say that employees expect a bonus much more than a fixed part of their salary. Salary is a constant phenomenon. Another thing is a bonus, when you receive an increase based on your own merits and production results. The main question for the employer is: how to properly issue a bonus so that there are no disputes with employees and inspection bodies?

General requirements for bonuses

The employer rewards employees who conscientiously perform their job duties. In particular, by paying bonuses. He has the right to establish various bonus systems, incentive payments and allowances (Article 135 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

When paying bonuses and developing documents for bonuses to employees, the following must be taken into account.

1. Local regulations, including those on bonuses, should not worsen the employee’s position in comparison with the current legislation (Article 8 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

2. A mandatory condition for inclusion in any employment contract is the condition on remuneration (Article 57 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation), therefore the employer must indicate the possibility of making incentive payments in the text of the employment contract. In addition, the employer cannot unilaterally cancel bonuses if they are provided for in the employment contract.

3. Labor costs include bonuses for production results, bonuses to tariff rates and salaries for professional excellence, high achievements in work and other similar indicators (Article 255 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, hereinafter referred to as the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). That is, the employer must establish production indicators for which bonuses are provided. These may, for example, include: for a sales manager - the number of concluded and actually executed contracts, for a lawyer - the amount of debts collected in court or through claims, VAT amounts recovered through administrative or judicial procedures, disputed amounts of additional taxes and fees, fines and etc. Such indicators can be established in plans and confirmed by reports on work performed.

4. Expenses must be economically justified and documented (Article 252 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Therefore, if a company suffers losses, then the payment of large bonuses for production indicators by the tax authority may be considered unlawful.

Regulations on bonuses

Many companies do not have bonus provisions. It is believed that a reference in the employment contract to the fact that the employee has the right to receive a bonus in a certain amount, for example 50% of the salary, is sufficient. However, in practice, this is clearly not enough to establish an effective bonus system. The positive aspects of developing bonus regulations are:

1) establishing the frequency of bonuses;

2) determining the criteria for the existence of grounds for bonuses, for example, making a profit by the company, implementing a new project, etc.;

3) reduction of subjective factors for assigning bonuses, such as the will of the immediate supervisor;

4) providing evidence of the legitimacy of bonuses in the event of a tax audit or inspection by the labor inspectorate. There is no unified form for the bonus regulations, so each organization develops it independently. The document can be drawn up as a separate local regulatory act (see example 1) or in the form of a corresponding section of a collective agreement/section of a local regulatory act - regulations on remuneration.

Please note that the content of bonus rules may also vary. We recommend reflecting the following points:

— bonus indicators;

— bonus conditions;

— circle of employees receiving bonuses;

— amounts of bonus payments;

— procedure for calculating bonuses;

— frequency of bonuses;

— sources of bonuses;

— a list of circumstances in the presence of which the bonus is paid in a smaller amount compared to the base amount or is not paid at all;

— a list of payments for which a bonus is accrued and for which it should not be accrued.

Example 1. Fragment of the bonus provision.

APPROVED

By order of Stik LLC

From 01.09.2014 N 28

REGULATIONS ON REWARDS

1. General provisions

1.1. This Regulation is being introduced in order to increase the efficiency of each employee, structural divisions of the enterprise, and the material interest of the enterprise’s employees in obtaining the maximum effect from their activities.

1.2. The provision applies to all employees on the staff of the enterprise, including workers under fixed-term employment contracts, and does not apply to those working at the enterprise under civil contracts.

2. Bonus indicators

2.1. The basis for calculating the bonus is the data of accounting, statistical reporting and operational accounting.

2.2. Decisions on paying a bonus to a specific employee are made on the basis of plans and reports on the employee’s work activities, approved in the manner established by the enterprise.

2.3. Bonuses are not paid if a negative economic effect is achieved for the enterprise as a whole, the criteria for which are defined in the local regulations of the enterprise.

3. Circle of employees receiving bonuses

3.1. Bonuses are paid to all employees, regardless of position (profession).

3.2. For employees of the enterprise who have worked for less than a full month due to conscription into the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, transfer to another job, admission to an educational institution, retirement, reduction in number or staff and for other valid reasons, bonus payment is made for the time actually worked in a given accounting period .

3.3. Employees of the enterprise who are newly hired are paid a bonus for the time worked in the first month of work if the time actually worked in the calendar month is at least half of the billing period (except for bonuses accrued for meeting and exceeding production standards).

4. Amount of bonus payments

4.1. When performance exceeds the target by 20%, a bonus is paid in the amount of 100% of the salary.

4.2. When targets are achieved by 100%, a bonus is paid in the amount of 50% of the salary.

4.3. If the planned indicators are not achieved, the bonus is not paid.

5. Bonus frequency

5.1. The bonus is paid once a quarter if the indicators and bonus conditions established by these Regulations are met no later than five days after the end of the corresponding quarter.

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When developing a local regulatory act regulating bonus issues, the following features must be taken into account.

1. The bonus regulations must be written in clear and concise language. Its content should be understandable to all employees, regardless of their education and position (profession) in the company.

2. In the bonus regulations, it is possible to establish both one and several types of bonuses, in particular for:

— intensity and high results of work;

— quality of work performed;

— continuous work experience, length of service;

— results based on work results for a certain period.

3. When adopting a bonus regulation, the procedure for approving this document should be taken into account.

4. In the bonus regulations, it is advisable to indicate that the organization has the right, but is not obligated, to pay bonuses to employees.

Judicial practice. The indication in the regulations on wages, bonuses and benefits in relation to the company's employees that the company has the right, but not the obligation, to make an additional payment to the employee, defined as the difference between the official salary and the amount of temporary disability benefits, does not indicate that each employee of the company such additional payment is guaranteed (Resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Moscow District dated March 26, 2014 N F05-1712/2014 in case N A40-171364/12).

Employment contract

Let us remind you that mandatory conditions for inclusion in an employment contract include the condition on remuneration, including incentive payments (Article 57 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). A bonus as an incentive payment of a stimulating nature is an integral part of wages (Article 129 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

Therefore, provisions on the very possibility of bonuses and a reference to a local regulatory act, which specifies the specific procedure and conditions for payment, must be included in the employment contract.

Let us note that the employer, having the freedom to establish incentive payments, is at the same time limited in unilaterally changing them, since in accordance with Art. 72 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, changes in the terms of the employment contract determined by the parties are allowed only by agreement of the parties to the employment contract, with the exception of cases provided for by the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

Thus, if a company cancels bonuses or reduces their size, it is necessary to prepare additional agreements for employment contracts (Part 2 of Article 74 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). In some situations, you will have to take into account the opinion of the representative body of employees (Article 8 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

Typically, employment contracts establish bonuses for production performance. At the same time, there is no need to clearly state the procedure for their payment if it is regulated by a separate local regulatory act, for example, a regulation on remuneration.

Judicial practice. If the amount of the bonus is specified in the employment contract, then it is also necessary to provide links to local regulations that specify the conditions for bonuses, or reflect them directly in the document. This must be done so that the bonus is not considered an integral part of the salary and is not paid without fail (Determination of the Leningrad Regional Court dated October 14, 2010 N 33-5015/2010).

Order on bonuses

Bonuses are awarded on the basis of an order. The order, as a rule, is prepared by the human resources department and signed by the head of the organization or a duly authorized person. The document can be drawn up either on the basis of a unified form or in accordance with the form approved in a particular organization.

When drawing up a bonus order, you must also remember the following.

1. Decisions (orders) of the person exercising the functions of the sole executive body on bonus payments to employees are recognized as invalid if they do not comply with internal regulations, other local regulations governing the wage fund in the organization, employment contracts and the collective agreement (if any) (Resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the North-Western District dated September 24, 2013 in case No. A56-32267/2012).

2. A bonus order alone is not enough to assign a bonus. Bonuses that are not provided for by either labor or collective agreements are not taken into account for tax purposes (clause 21 of Article 270 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, Letter of the Federal Tax Service of Russia for Moscow dated 04/05/2005 N 20-12/22796).

3. If the order for bonuses is drawn up in its own form, then it must contain the mandatory details provided for in Art. 9 of the Federal Law of December 6, 2011 N 402-FZ “On Accounting”.

4. The order of the bonused employees must be familiarized with a personal signature.

Confirmation of production indicators

For bonus purposes, it is necessary to confirm the production indicators on the basis of which bonuses are awarded to employees. This is important both for the purposes of management reporting and to avoid conflicts with the employees themselves, as well as with inspection bodies.

Plans and reports can be daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly, based on the results of the year. Filling out plans and reports too frequently distracts employees from their work. However, if reports and plans are prepared quarterly or annually for annual bonus purposes, they may be formal.

Strict requirements for reports and plans are not set out in legislation, so companies can develop them on their own. There are several general recommendations.

1. Reports and plans are necessary to confirm the legality and validity of awarding bonuses. When applying incentive measures, the employer must comply with the requirements of current legislation, in particular, not allow discrimination when rewarding employees (Articles 2, 3 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). And the absence of discrimination can be confirmed with the help of reports and plans. They will allow you to avoid a biased attitude towards the employee if the reports are signed not only by the immediate supervisor, but also by the person who evaluates the personnel and can act as an independent expert.

2. Reports must reflect real indicators, for example, the company needs to confirm the actual production of goods and execution of sales transactions.

3. In practice, the employer often makes the amount of wages dependent on the conscientious performance of work duties. And conscientiousness is a moral, evaluative category, therefore, to reveal its content, the easiest way is to turn to already established judicial practice.

Judicial practice. The Cassation Board of the Supreme Court of the Udmurt Republic in its Decision dated 04/04/2011 in case No. 33-1160/11 made the following conclusion. The employer has the right, at its own discretion, to establish the procedure for paying bonuses to employees. This right is not unlimited, since the adopted local regulations by virtue of Art. 8 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation must comply with labor legislation and other regulatory legal acts containing labor law standards. Deprivation of a monthly bonus for one year on the basis of disciplinary action is contrary to the principles of legal regulation of labor relations. Therefore, a penalty applied to an employee in one month cannot be a basis for depriving him of a bonus based on work results subsequently.

Judicial practice. The Judicial Chamber of the Moscow City Court in the Appeal ruling dated June 28, 2012 No. 11-11954/2012 indicated that a reduction in a bonus or deprivation of a bonus to an employee must be justified; the current labor legislation does not allow an arbitrary reduction of a previously accrued bonus.

Judicial practice. The Moscow City Court, by a ruling dated May 28, 2012 in case No. 33-11166, recognized as correct the conclusion of the judge of the Zamoskvoretsky District Court about the discriminatory nature of the norm of the employer’s local regulatory act, which provided that in the event of an employee’s dismissal after the end of the motivation period (month, quarter, year), but Until the bonus is paid to the employee, the bonus is calculated and paid only by a separate decision of the General Director on the proposal of the head of the structural unit/supervising manager.

Therefore, keep in mind that depriving an employee of a bonus may lead the employer to court.

In conclusion, it should be noted that the friendly atmosphere in the team, the ability to eliminate staff turnover, and the absence of conflicts with the employer depend on how the establishment and payment of bonuses are formalized and how transparent the mechanism for calculating them is. On the other hand, correctly executed documents make it possible to prove the legality of bonuses for tax purposes in court, as well as in the event of an audit by the labor inspectorate.

), it can be established by the employer, but is not mandatory.

Depreciation or deprivation of an employee's bonus is not a disciplinary punishment (Article 193 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation), therefore it is impossible to leave an employee without such payment due to any disciplinary offense.

Bonuses can be general (for all employees) and individual (for individual employees, for good work). They can also be one-time in nature or permanent, included in the remuneration system (monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, annually).

What documents regulate employee bonuses?

The Labor Code of the Russian Federation does not detail the question of how and on what basis bonuses are paid to employees, giving the right of regulation to the employers themselves (Article 135 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

Typically, the nuances of the bonus system in an organization are established in the collective agreement, regulations on bonuses, internal labor regulations and other internal governing documents.

In order to avoid disputes with employees regarding the accrual, size, and reasons for deprivation of bonuses, it is recommended to stipulate as fully as possible all the details in the organization’s documents.

There are several principles that developers of local organization documents on bonuses should rely on:

• the calculation of bonuses to employees should be as transparent as possible - it is important that each employee can independently calculate the amount of their bonus;
• absence of a subjective moment - the issue of bonuses for an employee cannot be left to the “discretion” of his immediate superior;
• certainty of the grounds for non-payment of bonuses - the employee must clearly understand why the amount of incentives for work may be reduced.
• clarity of wording - regulations should not contain “floating” conditions that can be interpreted in two ways. Example: if an organization pays a bonus only to employees who actually worked for the entire month, then this must be stated separately, and not limited to the general phrase that at the end of the month all working employees receive bonuses, since the category “working employees” also includes vacationers and those on sick leave.

A one-time or individual bonus is usually issued by order: either for each employee individually, or in general; it indicates the grounds for calculating the premium and its size.

Reasons for awarding and deprivation of bonuses

The law does not limit the employer in choosing the basis for calculating the bonus, as well as its size. The organization is free to build its own bonus system at will.

The following main reasons for awarding bonuses to employees can be identified::

1. A bonus can be awarded to an employee for good performance (compliance with the plan, absence of disciplinary action).
2. The bonus can be awarded on holidays, including corporate holidays or the employee’s birthday.
3. You can give bonuses to employees for full time worked (no sick leave, no time off at your own expense).

The grounds for deprivation of bonuses must also be reflected in regulatory documents. They may be:

• absence from the workplace for reasons beyond the control of the employer (the employee was on vacation, sick, studying, etc.);
• receiving a disciplinary sanction (reprimand or reprimand);
• failure to perform or improper performance of a job function (failure to develop a plan, receiving complaints from clients);
• dismissal before the payment deadline.

It should be remembered that deprivation of an employee’s bonus can be challenged in court.

Premium disputes

If an employee does not agree with the accrued bonus amount or its complete absence, he has the right to appeal to the court or the state labor inspectorate. Practice shows that the general wording of internal regulatory documents is interpreted in favor of the employee.

In other words, if the documents do not contain information about non-payment of a bonus to a dismissed employee, but it was not paid, then you can safely appeal the actions to the State Labor Inspectorate or the court. Any reduction in bonuses included in the remuneration system, not on the grounds specified in the internal governing documents, is controversial.

A dispute about the amount and calculation of bonuses is recognized as an individual labor dispute (Article 381 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). The employee’s demands, if recognized as legal, are fully satisfied (

A bonus is a monetary payment that is assigned to an employee in addition to his salary. The purpose of assigning a bonus is, as a rule, to motivate an employee to achieve better results.

Knowledge of the classification of various types of bonuses is important for any manager, because this is an important theoretical basis for developing your own bonus system.

Awards are divided into types on the following basis:

• individual and collective
• bonus for results or not tied to a specific result
• cash bonus or tender
• According to the calculation method, there are absolute premiums or relative premiums.
• systematic bonuses or one-time bonuses
• Let's take a closer look at these types of bonuses.

Individual and collective awards

Individual Award is a bonus that is assigned to one specific employee. It can be assigned for the achievement of indicators or for some memorable date (20 years of work in the company). The main thing is that this is a bonus for one employee, and not for everyone.

Collective Award– on the contrary, it is prescribed to a large number of people at once. A bonus can be assigned, for example, to the sales department for fulfilling the plan or to the entire accounting department for successfully submitting reports (without penalties).

Result-based or non-result-based bonus

The performance bonus means the following action plan:

1. An employee (or group of people) is told in advance that they need to achieve certain results.
2. It is also announced that upon achieving these results they will be paid a bonus
3. Further, if the results are achieved, the bonus is paid; if the results are not achieved, the bonus is not paid.

There is an alternative option when the bonus is not tied to a specific result.

There are such awards, for example:

• for length of service (25 years in the profession)
• in connection with holidays (company anniversary)
• just based on the results of the year (13th salary)

Cash bonus or affectionate

With a cash bonus everything is clear.

A non-monetary bonus is any non-material incentives, such as:

• sending for training
• gifts (but not money, but, for example, household appliances or an iPhone)
• memorial signs
• and so on

Absolute premium and relative

This division is based on the principle of calculating the premium.

• Absolute- this is when a fixed amount is determined in advance to be paid as a bonus. For example, there will be 10 sales - a bonus of 50 thousand rubles.
• Relative- This is a bonus that depends on the result. For example, when a salesperson is given a bonus as a percentage of sales, i.e. It is impossible to say in advance what size the premium will be.

Depending on the situation, it makes sense to vary the methodology for calculating bonuses. For some situations, an absolute bonus is more suitable (for example, a bonus for length of service), and for some, a relative bonus (sales, customer service)

Systematic bonuses or one-time bonuses

Systematic awards- These are bonuses that are valid for a long time and are awarded several times during this time.

As a rule, systematic bonuses are:

• monthly
• quarterly (4 times a year)
• semi-annual (2 times a year)
• annual (once a year). Annual bonuses are often called “bonuses.”

One-time bonuses- These are bonuses that are calculated and assigned once. For example, a bonus for 10 years of work in a company or a bonus for completing a project.

As a rule, bonuses are an integral part of the remuneration system. The list and amount of incentive payments is determined by each employer independently or in cooperation with representatives of the workforce. The regulation on bonuses is a local regulatory act on the rules for assigning bonuses at a particular enterprise. Let's consider the procedure for its preparation.

All local regulations can be divided into two groups - mandatory and optional. Mandatory ones include:

Internal labor regulations (part 4 of article 189 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation);

Staffing table (provided for by Resolution of the State Statistics Committee of Russia dated January 5, 2004 No. 1 “On approval of forms of primary accounting documentation” and is mentioned in Articles 15 and 57 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation);

Vacation schedule (Part 1 of Article 123 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation);

Regulations on the procedure for working with employee personal data (Article 87 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation);

Rules (instructions) on labor protection for workers (Part 2 of Article 212 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

The Labor Code does not contain any requirements for the need to develop and have available provisions on bonuses. So why is it necessary?

WHY DEVELOP REGULATIONS ON BONUSES?

Why pay premiums? You can set the salary once and not waste time and money on developing regulations, assigning or refusing to assign bonuses to specific employees, and then the accounting staff will not have additional workload. However, despite all these advantages of a non-bonus remuneration system, the overwhelming number of enterprises do not refuse bonuses.

Why is it profitable to pay premiums?

The bonus can be assigned or not and thus stimulate the labor activity of employees and their achievement of high results. For significant achievements in work, employees are paid a bonus. If success is small, no bonus is given.

With the help of a bonus system, an employer can save wages and reduce its costs. If the amount of earnings is divided into at least two parts - salary and bonus, it becomes possible not to spend money on paying bonuses, leave them in the company's turnover legally, or redistribute the bonus fund between individual employees, groups or categories of employees.

It is obvious that no matter what motives employers have, a bonus as an element of the wage fund is beneficial to them.

Regulations on bonuses to protect the interests of the employer

The employer will be able to benefit from bonuses only if he carries out any action to assign or refuse to assign a bonus within the framework of the current legislation - labor, tax, and administrative violations. And for this it is necessary to develop a normative act in which the requirements of the law would be fully linked to the goals pursued by the employer himself. Such a document will allow:

Avoid claims from tax authorities regarding the inclusion of bonuses in labor costs when calculating income tax;

Do not enter into disputes with social insurance inspection authorities regarding the calculation of temporary disability benefits;

Do not separately describe issues of material incentives in the texts of employee employment contracts. This is important because, in accordance with Article 255 of the Tax Code, only those bonuses that are provided for either by employment agreements (contracts) and (or) collective agreements, or directly by the laws of the Russian Federation can be included in labor costs. Therefore, to justify income tax expenses in employee employment contracts, it is enough to make reference to existing provisions on bonuses. This opinion is also confirmed by officials (letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated August 22, 2006 No. 03-03-05/17).

WE ARE DEVELOPING REGULATIONS ON BONUSES

Each organization has a specific system of material incentives for employees, determined by the technological, production and organizational characteristics of the work. You can approach its design in different ways.

A separate act or section of another act

Each organization decides independently how to draw up bonus regulations. It could be:

Section (appendix) of the collective agreement;

Section of the regulations on remuneration;

An independent regulatory act.

The choice of a specific option depends on many conditions. If the provision on bonuses becomes a section of the collective agreement, it will be subject to the same rules for concluding and introducing (if necessary) amendments as the agreement itself. That is, the participation of representatives of the workforce will become mandatory. It will be necessary to take into account the opinion of the elected body to which the right to develop a collective agreement is delegated.

From the point of view of preparation technology, this is not the most convenient option. It is much easier to instruct the labor and wage department or a labor economist to give written form to those ideas that the employer himself would like to include in the procedure for assigning bonuses. At the same time, we must not forget that from the point of view of tax legislation, a collective agreement has more weight than any local regulatory act approved by order of the general director. Therefore, in certain cases, it will be preferable to ensure that bonus payments are included in labor costs by including a section on bonuses in the collective agreement. However, in most organizations, bonus issues are spelled out in separate local regulations.

Content and structure of the bonus regulations

What should be stated in the bonus clause? There are no legally established rules. But practice allows us to conclude which elements must necessarily be contained in this document.

Required content elements. The bonus regulations for each bonus payment must indicate:

Bonus indicators;

Bonus terms;

Circle of bonus workers;

Amounts of bonus payments;

The procedure for calculating the premium;

Frequency of bonuses;

Sources of bonuses;

List of production omissions for which no bonus is awarded;

List of payments for which bonuses are accrued and for which they are not.

Structure of bonus regulations. Typically, the document consists of several sections:

section 1 - general provisions;

Section 2 - types of bonuses (according to bonus indicators);

sections 3, 4, 5... - procedure for assigning and paying bonuses (by type of bonus);

the last section is the final provisions.

General provisions

General provisions on bonuses include, first of all, a description of the status of this document and the purpose of its adoption.

In many large organizations, bonus regulations are adopted for a specific division or a number of divisions, the general bonus indicators of which may be similar in characteristics.

For a sample of section 1 of the regulations on bonuses for employees of the marketing and sales center, see p. 97.

Sample regulations on bonuses for employees of the marketing and sales center

SECTION 1. General provisions

This bonus regulation is a local regulatory act regulating:

Employee bonus indicators;

Amount and procedure for assigning bonuses;

Other issues related to bonuses for employees.

The regulation is being introduced in order to increase the material interest of employees of the marketing and sales center (CMIS) in the results of their work.

The number of bonuses includes all engineering and technical employees of TsIIS, including the manager and part-time workers.

Types of bonuses, bonus indicators

Section 2 defines the types of bonuses and, accordingly, bonus indicators. The text should be structured in such a way that it is clear why the bonus is awarded. It is in the employer’s interests to draw up a document in accordance with the requirements of paragraph 2 of Article 255 of the Tax Code, which refers to incentive bonuses, including for production results. Among them, the Tax Code names “additions to tariff rates and salaries for professional excellence, high achievements in work and other similar indicators.” Section 2 of the bonus regulations may also include bonuses for holidays and other remunerations that are paid from profits.

When denoting one or another type of bonus, one cannot be guided by general phrases like: “for conscientious fulfillment of job duties, established labor standards, compliance with labor discipline, labor protection requirements and internal labor regulations.” These terms may be included in the text of this section as an informational component.

Specific bonus indicators must be clearly listed and differentiated by employee categories and departments.

Perhaps the bonus rate will be single. For example, the following indicator is set for workers in the workshops of an enterprise: fulfillment of the production plan in a given volume.

If one indicator is not enough to assess the quality of work, two or more criteria can be taken as a basis.

For example, bonus indicators for accounting employees are:

Timely submission of tax and accounting reports;

Absence of errors in accounting and calculation of taxes and fees based on the results of tax and audit audits.

For a sample of section 2 of the bonus regulations for employees of the marketing and sales center, see below.

Sample of section 2 of the regulation on bonuses for employees of the marketing and sales center

Bonus indicators

Managers and specialists of CMIS are rewarded for receipt of revenue from the sale of finished products, subject to compliance with labor discipline, labor protection requirements and internal labor regulations.

For managers and specialists of CMIS, the following bonus indicator is established: receipt of funds from the sale of marketable products.

If the type of bonus is the only one, in the same section you can indicate all the mandatory conditions for the bonus, including the basic amount of the bonus, which is established subject to the fulfillment of a specific bonus indicator.

However, when drawing up bonus regulations, it is more correct to reflect information on the amount of the bonus in the following sections devoted to the procedure for calculating a bonus of a particular type.

The procedure for calculating and approving the amount of the bonus

First of all, based on the type of premium indicated in the title of the section, the circle of awardees workers. It is necessary to specifically stipulate the procedure for calculating bonuses to employees who either joined the enterprise or quit. For example, when assigning bonuses based on the results of work for the year, which are accrued after the end of the calendar year.

In the same section indicate conditions bonuses and list of production omissions, for which the premium is not assigned or is reduced. This:

Disciplinary measures such as reprimand, reprimand, transfer to a lower-paid job;

Omissions related to the employee’s duties provided for in the job description, failure to perform or improper performance by the employee of his duties;

Violations of internal labor regulations, safety regulations and fire protection, gross violation of labor protection and industrial sanitation requirements;

Failure to comply with orders and instructions from management and other organizational and administrative documents of the enterprise;

Absenteeism, as well as showing up at work while intoxicated or being absent from the workplace without good reason for more than three hours continuously or cumulatively during the working day, drinking alcoholic beverages during working hours;

Loss, damage or damage to the property of the enterprise or other damage caused by the guilty actions of an employee.

Premium amount can be determined as a flat amount or as a percentage of some base. For example, for fulfilling the plan 100%, workers in a carpentry shop receive a bonus of 2,000 rubles. per month. Another option: if the manager ensures receipt of above-plan revenue, he is paid a bonus of 10% of this amount. If the regulations establish any bonus percentage, for example, 50% of the official salary per month for completing a planned task, the employer cannot reduce the amount of the bonus at its own discretion. This is only possible if the employee has made a production omission, for which the bonus amount is reduced. The legislation does not provide for a procedure for depriving employees of bonuses in whole or in part. To avoid a labor dispute, it is necessary to provide a record that if the employee has violated labor discipline, then the bonus will not be awarded to him or not in full. In this case, the bonus provision can include a percentage reduction in the bonus for each of the violations committed. For example, if there is a disciplinary sanction, the amount of the employee’s bonus is reduced by 50% of the amount of the bonus accrued to the employee depending on his labor contribution. The reduction in the amount of the bonus is made in the billing period in which the omission was made.

If the size of the bonus is difficult to determine based on quantitative indicators, the bonus regulations can determine its lower and higher limits. For example, the monthly bonus amount is from 10 to 20% of the employee’s salary. The size of the bonus can be clearly tied to bonus indicators or at the discretion of the head of the department (enterprise). The immediate supervisor, who supervises the work of his subordinates, within the lower and higher limits, himself determines the size of the bonus for a particular employee based on the quality of his work.

If bonus indicators are subject to quantitative calculation, the amount of the bonus varies depending on this indicator. For example, a publishing house employee writes articles. In this case, the size of the premium will depend on the number of articles. Up to five articles per month - the bonus amount is 20% of the salary, from five to seven articles - the amount is 30% of the salary, etc.

You can also enter additional criteria for determining the size of the bonus. For example, length of work experience in the organization, performance of particularly complex work, etc.

When describing the procedure for assigning a bonus of a specific type, indicate its methodology calculation. The bonus fund is allocated to the team as a whole or individually for each employee, if it is possible to compare individual work with the results of the organization’s activities.

If the premium is defined as a percentage or range of percentages, it is necessary to list which premium payments are included in source base and which ones are excluded from the base for calculating bonuses, planned or actual indicators are used (taking into account the reduction in payment for unworked time - vacation pay, sick leave, etc.).

If bonuses are paid from special purpose funds or earmarked proceeds, it is necessary to indicate sources of bonuses. Since this kind of bonuses are not taken into account in expenses for the purposes of calculating income tax (clause 22 of article 270 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

In the same section they write decision making mechanism on the assignment or non-assignment of a bonus: who makes the decision on bonuses to employees and determines the final amount of the bonus, if a range of values ​​is provided, and how this decision is communicated to the accounting department.

As a rule, the decision on bonuses is made by the executive body of the enterprise (director, general director, president, etc.) on the basis of internal memos from department heads. A number of organizations may create an economic (coordination) council, which decides on the issue of awarding bonuses.

When describing a specific type of award, you must indicate frequency of its accruals- monthly, quarterly, at the end of the year, etc. It is also necessary to reflect the timing when the decision to pay the bonus should be made. For example, when determining the size of the premium for the current month, the decision on its accrual in a specific amount is made before the 30th day. In this case, the results of the department’s work for the past month are taken into account.

Final provisions

As a rule, this section contains rules on the procedure for entry into force and the validity period of the document.

The moment the provision on bonuses for employees comes into force can be determined in the text of the document itself or in the order of the head of the organization.

The validity period of a local act of an organization in the absence of a mention of this in the text is unlimited. The regulation on bonuses may be in force until it is canceled or until a new local act regulating bonus issues is adopted.

The effect of a bonus provision may also be limited in time by establishing in the provision itself the period of its validity. If the bonus provision is an integral part of the collective agreement, it ceases to be valid simultaneously with the expiration of the period for which the agreement was concluded.

• Motivation, Incentive, Remuneration, KPI, Benefits and Compensation

Issues of remuneration are traditionally one of the most conflicting within the framework of the relationship between employees and the employer. And if the size and procedure for paying salary (official salary) are fixed, then the procedure and size of bonuses remain at the discretion of the employer.

The absence in the current legislation of norms that make it possible to clearly define the procedure for the implementation of bonuses for employees of organizations that are not related to state and municipal institutions is explained by the objective impossibility, both at the state level and at the level of local government, to provide for all the nuances of remuneration systems that may occur in a particular organizations.

In practice, this leads to the need to regulate the conditions and indicators of bonuses directly at the organizational level. And those few rules on bonuses that were provided for in the original version of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation (hereinafter referred to as the Labor Code of the Russian Federation) have undergone changes since October 2006.

At the same time, errors made in the process of documenting both the bonus procedure and the payment of a specific bonus can have consequences for the organization not only in the form of claims from employees and administrative liability for violation of labor laws, but also cause claims from the tax authorities.

Considering the importance of the employer developing the correct approach to the development, adoption and implementation of provisions on bonuses, the author of the article offers readers an analysis of the norms of the current labor legislation on bonuses and reveals the practical aspects of the preparation and adoption of these acts.

Essence and types of awards

Issues of bonuses within the framework of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation are regulated by the norms of Articles 129, 135, 191 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

In accordance with Article 132 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the salary of each employee depends on his qualifications, the complexity of the work performed, the quantity and quality of labor expended. In addition, any discrimination in establishing and changing working conditions is prohibited.

The previous edition of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation separated the concepts of “remuneration” and “wages”, indicating that remuneration is a system of relations associated with ensuring the establishment and implementation by the employer of payments to employees for their work in accordance with laws, other regulatory legal acts, collective contracts, agreements, local regulations and employment contracts. According to the current version of Article 129 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the concept of “wages” has become synonymous with “employee remuneration” and includes an indication of the following components:

Remuneration for labor depending on the employee’s qualifications, complexity, quantity, quality and conditions of the work performed;

Compensation payments;

Incentive payments (additional payments and bonuses of an incentive nature, bonuses and other incentive payments).

Thus, the version of Article 129 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, in force since October 2006, classifies bonuses as a type of incentive payments. And they, in turn, are a type of incentive payments, along with additional payments and allowances.

Incentives are made in order to establish the employee’s material interest in the final results of work. In this regard, the following are distinguished:

a) bonuses paid in addition to the main part of earnings based on pre-established indicators and conditions - this is an integral part of the time-bonus or piece-bonus wage systems, the size of which depends on the fulfillment of certain indicators and conditions. These bonuses are paid periodically (monthly, quarterly, etc.) based on the results of work for the corresponding period and can be a variable part of the salary;

b) bonuses issued on the basis of a general assessment of the work of employees outside the remuneration system are one-time in nature and are paid not for pre-established indicators and conditions, are entered into the work book as an incentive measure in the prescribed manner .

The previous version of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation made it possible to clearly distinguish between these two types of bonuses based on a comparison of the norms of Article 144 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, which provided for bonuses as incentive payments within the framework of the bonus component of the remuneration system, and the norms of Article 191 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, in which bonuses related to another category of payments - incentives of a one-time nature. Now the line between these types of payments, which are different in essence and purpose, has been erased.

Therefore, it is all the more important to determine their features and payment procedure in relation to the conditions of a particular organization.

Methods for documenting the procedure and conditions for paying bonuses

Before starting to write draft documents that would establish the types, frequency, size and procedure for paying bonuses in an organization, it is necessary to determine the most suitable way for the organization to regulate them.

Guided by legal norms, in practice there are several ways to fix the rules for awarding bonuses.

First way

This is the easiest way. It consists in the fact that When a decision is made to pay a bonus to certain employees, separate bonus orders are issued indicating the type of bonus, the grounds for payment of bonuses, the list of persons subject to bonuses, the amount of bonuses and the timing of payments.

This approach to awarding bonuses has the following positive aspects:

Does not require detailed regulation of the procedure for awarding bonuses;

It does not provide for agreement with each employee on the amount of upcoming payments, but only for bringing to the attention of the relevant orders under the personal signature of the employee;

Separate orders in the organization can be used to time the payment of bonuses to coincide with anniversaries, holidays, and other memorable dates. You can also issue incentives for work when performing particularly important and complex tasks in accordance with Article 191 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, etc. At the same time, the employer is not obliged to undertake the obligation to make such payments every time the relevant events or actions on the part of employees occur.

At the same time, there is also negative consequences using separate orders to process bonus payments:

This method is suitable only for those organizations that do not intend to provide systematic bonuses. This means that it is not acceptable in relation to time-bonus and piece-rate wage systems, when the bonus may be a variable part of the workers’ wages and is paid periodically;

An attempt to disguise a periodically paid bonus as a one-time bonus in order to provide the employer with the opportunity at any time to make a payment in a smaller amount or to deprive the employee of the bonus as a whole causes criticism from the inspection authorities. In addition, if an employee defends his right to receive a bonus in a fixed amount in court, then the employer’s actions may “not be liked” by the court (magistrate). Such payments will be considered taking into account their essence in order to determine their legal nature regardless of how specifically they are named;

The lack of documentary justification for the difference between the bonuses of individual employees can be qualified as a violation of labor legislation regarding discrimination in establishing and changing wage conditions. After all, wages (including incentive payments, which include bonuses) depend on the qualifications of the employee, the complexity of the work performed, the quantity and quality of labor expended (Article 132 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

At drafting orders it is necessary to be guided by the unified forms No. T-11 and T-11a, approved by the State Statistics Committee of January 5, 2004 No. 1 “On approval of unified forms of primary accounting documentation for the accounting of labor and its payment.” In the instructions regarding the rules for filling out these forms, the State Statistics Committee establishes that these orders:

They are used to formalize and record incentives for success in work;

Compiled on the basis of a proposal from the head of the structural unit of the organization in which the employee works;

They are signed by the head of the organization or a person authorized by him and announced to the employee(s) against signature. Based on the order (instruction), a corresponding entry is made in the employee’s personal card (form No. T-2 or No. T-2GS (MS) and the employee’s work book.

Second way

This method requires include provisions on the amount of bonuses and the procedure for awarding bonuses in the texts of employment contracts concluded with each specific employee hired by the organization .

Among advantages In this approach, we can highlight the literal fulfillment of the requirement of Part 2 of Article 57 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, according to which incentive payments relate to the conditions of remuneration that are mandatory for inclusion in the employment contract. This excludes the detection of violations of labor legislation by inspection and judicial authorities in this part.

However, this method of fixing the rules for awarding bonuses has a number of significant shortcomings and often does not fully reflect the interests of the employer:

If the employer includes the rules for bonuses in the employment contract, he will be deprived of the opportunity to change these rules unilaterally (including changing the size and procedure for bonus payments) without signing amendments to the current employment contract with the employee, and the employee may refuse to make changes that worsen his situation;

Organizations often use developed forms of employment contracts, into which it is difficult to add provisions for bonuses due to the need to fix different approaches to bonuses depending on the category of personnel and working conditions for each position (if the organization uses a differentiated approach to rewards).

And the inclusion of an indication of the entire set of sizes, conditions, bonus indicators, bonus payment terms in each employment contract makes it cumbersome in scope. The absence of this information may raise questions from inspectors regarding compliance with labor laws and judicial authorities regarding the validity of differentiation in the payment of bonuses in relation to individual employees;

Agreeing on the specific amounts of bonuses to be paid and the frequency of their payments automatically entails the employer’s obligation to comply with the terms of the concluded employment contract in this part. Any discrepancy in the direction of worsening the employee’s situation may entail both financial and administrative liability for the employer. The absence in the employment contract of an unambiguously interpreted list of omissions in which the employee does not have the right to a bonus or the bonus may be paid in a different amount than in the absence of these omissions entails the illegality of reducing the amount of the bonus paid or its non-payment in general. To provide for the specified circumstances in the text of each employment contract means, as already mentioned, to significantly increase the scope of the latter.

Thus, the inclusion of provisions on the payment of bonuses in the texts of employment contracts is advisable in those organizations where the bonuses included in the remuneration system are not differentiated, have a pre-fixed amount and are part of the wages that the employer pays along with the main salary, and one-time bonuses are paid in predetermined cases and sizes.

Third way

This method involves enabling types, sizes and other rules for the implementation of bonuses directly into the text of the collective agreement concluded in the organization and (or) its branch, representative office .

This approach has all those positive features that are typical for the inclusion of bonus provisions directly in the text of the employment contract. Compared with the previous method of fixing the types, sizes of bonuses paid and the rules for making payments, other pros :

The inclusion in the texts of employment contracts of references to the implementation of bonuses in the manner established by the collective agreement in force in the organization makes it possible to exclude these rules from the texts of individual employment contracts and eliminates the need to make significant changes to it when changing the provisions on bonuses;

The structure of the collective agreement makes it possible to clearly and in detail reflect in its text both the types, frequency of payment and amounts of bonuses (including by establishing a differentiated scale, conditions, bonus indicators linked to the results of workers’ work), and a list of omissions in the presence of which workers do not have rights to receive a bonus or the bonus is paid in a different amount. Therefore, the rules for the implementation of bonuses for employees can be fixed in the structure of the collective agreement, both in the section devoted to remuneration (Article 41 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation), and placed in a separate annex to the collective agreement, which has the appropriate name (“Regulations on remuneration”, “Regulations on bonuses”, “Regulations on labor incentives”, “Regulations on incentives”, etc.) and is an integral part of the collective agreement.

However, this design method also has a number of significant shortcomings, namely:

Not all organizations have the practice of concluding collective agreements;

The procedure for concluding a collective agreement involves agreeing on its text with the employees of the organization represented by their representative (primary trade union organization or other representatives elected by employees); it is necessary to comply with the procedure for conducting collective bargaining established by the Labor Code of the Russian Federation (Articles 36–38). At the same time, bonus issues related to wages are the most controversial and it is often difficult for the parties to come to a compromise;

If the employer decides to make changes (additions) to the current collective agreement before its expiration, then he must agree on these changes with the employees represented by their representatives either in the manner established by the Labor Code of the Russian Federation for its adoption, or in the manner provided for by the collective agreement itself ( Art. 44 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

The last rule compares favorably with the norm that was in force before October 2006, when changes (additions) to the collective agreement were possible only in the manner prescribed by the code for concluding a collective agreement. Therefore, at present, the text of the collective agreement can provide for a simplified procedure for making changes (additions) to it, but subject to consent to the inclusion of this provision on the part of employees represented by their representatives. However, it should be remembered that in this case, not only the employer, but also employees, represented by their authorized representative, have the right to use the simplified procedure, putting forward their demands regarding the implementation of incentives for work.

Fourth method

It consists in the fact that types, sizes and other key aspects of bonuses in an organization can be regulated by a local regulatory act - the Regulations on bonuses, adopted in the manner established by current legislation. The name of the act itself in this case may be different: “Regulations on remuneration”, a separate section of which is directly devoted to issues of bonuses, “Regulations on stimulating the labor of employees”, “Regulations on incentives”, etc.

Among benefits, which is provided by the presence of a competently drawn up and approved in the manner prescribed by law local regulatory act on bonus issues, the following can be distinguished:

The possibility of including in the texts of employment contracts (if any, and collective agreements) only references to the implementation of bonuses in the manner established by this local regulatory act (indicating its name and date of approval) in force in the organization. This will exclude a detailed presentation of the issues of payment of bonuses from the texts of individual employment contracts (collective agreements) and eliminate the need to make changes to it when changing the bonus rules;

The ability to provide for all the nuances associated with bonuses that are characteristic of the organization, which allows the organization to introduce a mechanism for real increase in labor productivity as a result of improving payment and reward systems for work;

There is no need to agree on the terms and conditions of the amount and procedure for paying bonuses with employees, only compliance with the procedure for taking into account the opinion of the representative body of the organization’s employees (if there is one).

This approach is not without some cons :

The need for strict compliance with the conditions and obligations assumed by the employer as specified in the Regulations. At the same time, the payment of the bonus depends on compliance with the conditions, bonus indicators and the absence of predetermined omissions in the work, which reduces this negative aspect to a minimum;

If a local regulatory act on bonus issues is adopted by an organization for the first time, then it is advisable to make changes to existing employment contracts with employees (see Example) with references to the effect of this act in relation to the types, amounts and procedure for bonus payments.

When making a decision on the implementation of bonuses on the basis of a separate local regulatory act - we will further call it traditionally “Regulations on bonuses” - as a next step, it is necessary to determine what types of bonuses this provision will apply to.

As already mentioned, there are two main types of bonuses. In this case, the following approach is often used: bonuses, which are an integral part of the remuneration system, are included in the regulations, and in relation to one-time bonuses, reference is made to the possibility of their payment on the basis of individual orders of the head of the organization or persons authorized by him, as well as linkage to anniversaries and holidays , other memorable dates, performing special tasks, assignments and other things.

Structurally, the Regulations on bonuses may consist of the following sections:

1. General provisions.

This section records:

1.1. Purposes of adoption of this provision.

Thus, motivation for increasing labor productivity, encouraging highly productive and proactive work, stimulating the timely and high-quality performance of each employee’s work duties, increasing the responsibility of employees in achieving high final results of work, creating conditions for the manifestation of creative activity of each employee, etc. can be indicated here. .

For example, “A bonus is a sum of money that can be paid to employees in excess of their salary (official salary) in order to encourage achievements in work under the conditions and in the manner established by these regulations.”

1.3. The scope of the provision, including the main issues that are subject to regulation: types and amounts of bonuses, indicators and conditions of bonuses, the procedure for calculating, approving and paying bonuses to employees, etc.

1.4. Information about which categories of personnel this provision applies to.

1.5. Sources of payments taking into account certain types of bonuses.

2. The procedure for calculating, approving and paying monthly (quarterly, etc.) bonuses.

Within the framework of this part, provisions relating to the payment of bonuses, which are an integral part of the time-bonus or piece-bonus wage systems, can be grouped. Their size depends on the fulfillment of certain indicators and conditions.

If an organization has decided to provide bonuses based on work results for different reporting periods (for example, to establish both monthly and quarterly bonuses simultaneously), then the regulations must economically justify the presence of several payments, linking them to the achievement of various bonus indicators in order to the inspection authorities did not get the impression that in this way the employer was trying to legalize the delay in paying the bonus that the employee is entitled to in addition to his salary (official salary).

So, in this section you need to indicate:

2.1. Reporting period (periods) for bonus payments - month, quarter, etc.

2.2. For what results in general are bonuses awarded (this could be the results of production, production and economic, management, etc. activities).

2.3. Prize amount.

There are several options available for specifying the amount of premium to be paid:

Indicate in the regulations specific bonus amounts for all employees, including differentiated ones, using a developed scale for personnel categories and individual structural units;

Indicate in the “plug” position, including differentiated ones, to individual structural units. In accordance with it, the specific amount of the bonus must be established by employment contracts with the organization’s employees (often this is done to avoid publicity of the amounts paid to each specific employee of the organization as bonuses). At the same time, the regulations may provide for the right of the head of the organization or persons authorized by him to increase the amount of the bonus by his decision, formalized by an order for the organization.

In addition, the rules for calculating bonuses should be provided here: in a fixed amount, as a percentage of the salary (official salary), with or without taking into account established allowances and additional payments, for the time actually worked in the reporting period. And also indicate whether the employee is entitled to a bonus if he did not actually work the entire reporting period.

In practice, in many provisions, if there are good reasons, the list of which is also advisable to provide in advance in order to avoid further disputes, the issue of paying a bonus is decided either by the employee’s immediate supervisor, or by the head of the organization or a person authorized by him, who signs the order for the next bonus.

Thus, the issue of paying a bonus to an employee who quit before the end of the reporting period at his own request is traditionally considered taking into account the valid reasons established in Part 3 of Article 80 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

Regarding the question of whether it is generally necessary to fix in any way the amount of the bonus paid on the basis of the provision, it is necessary to note the following within the framework of labor legislation:

Bonuses provided as part of remuneration, according to Article 57 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, are mandatory conditions for inclusion in an employment contract (of course, if the organization has a bonus system);

The implementation of bonuses for the purpose of encouragement, the establishment of a material interest in the results of work can be carried out provided that the employee is aware of what successes to what extent (amount) he can be awarded, and what violations and omissions may result in non-payment of the bonus or its payment in another way size;

An employee does not have the right to a bonus in the absence of bonus conditions and indicators. However, if we are talking about depriving a bonus, then you can only deprive that payment, the specific amount of which is predetermined. Therefore, either the employment contract or the Bonus Regulations must establish the basic amount of the bonus.

In the event of a trial, in the absence of a basic amount, the court (magistrate) will be forced to assess what size bonus the employee is claiming. The employee will present his arguments, including referring to the amount of payments made to him previously, or to bonuses paid to employees with similar qualifications to him. And if these arguments are not adequately rebutted by the employer in the form of documents and other evidence of the quality characteristics of the work, the court may satisfy the employee’s demands.

2.4. Necessary conditions for bonuses.

In this case, each organization must develop its own conditions that would reflect the economic feasibility of expenses, for example, the implementation of a production program, product sales plan, etc.

2.5. Mandatory bonus indicators (indicators are also developed individually, taking into account the specifics of the activity being carried out).

Such indicators can include, for example, the implementation of approved work plans of departments; execution of the organization's document flow sheets, regulations, provisions, instructions, procedures, etc., manifestation of reasonable initiative, creativity, application of modern methods of labor organization in work, etc.

If, for objective reasons, there are no grounds for paying a bonus (namely: the indicators and conditions previously appropriately specified in the Regulations have not been achieved), the employee does not initially have the right to a bonus.

2.6. A list of omissions in work, the presence of which in relation to a particular employee may reduce the size of the bonus or not pay the bonus at all.

It is possible to develop a special scale that would show how certain types of omissions in work affect the final amount of the bonus paid.

Let's give an example: “The size of the bonus for a particular employee is reduced in the event of failure or improper performance by the employee of his job duties established by the employment contract, job description, Internal Labor Regulations for employees, other local regulations of the organization, orders and instructions of authorized persons, including as a result of violation of established deadlines for completion or delivery of work. In case:

In case of a single omission or violation in work during the reporting period, the amount of the bonus of a particular employee provided for by this regulation (employment contract) is reduced by 25 percent;

Repeated omissions or violations in work during the reporting period, the amount of the bonus of a particular employee provided for by this regulation (employment contract) is reduced by 50 percent;

Three or more repeated omissions or violations in work, as well as gross violation by the employee of labor duties, no bonus is paid for the reporting period.”

This list makes it possible to distinguish between cases when an employee does not initially have the right to a bonus (failure to comply with bonus indicators and the absence of its conditions) and when the bonus is not paid or its size is reduced (for failure to fulfill any job duties, regulations, individual instructions and instructions from management) , which is also recognized by judicial practice.

If the employer associates the payment/non-payment of bonuses with non-fulfillment/improper fulfillment of job duties, regulations, individual instructions and instructions from management, then if a dispute arises with the employee in the framework of legal proceedings, the organization will have to prove the validity of its actions. And the employer can do this more or less confidently, first of all, if he has properly drawn up documents that record the fact:

Instructions to carry out any job duties, regulations, individual instructions and instructions from management;

Failure to fulfill any official duties, regulations, individual instructions and instructions from management, the degree of participation in the performance of certain works.

In this case, it is better to clarify the method and procedure for recording the fact of an omission, the list of persons authorized to control this issue, since it can be provided that an omission does not necessarily entail the application of a disciplinary sanction to the employee in accordance with Article 192 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

We recommend avoiding the use of the term “deduction of bonuses”, since inspection authorities often associate it with deductions from wages, the use of which is limited by law. It is also unlawful to use “fines” for violation of labor discipline (lateness to work, unauthorized increase in lunch break time, etc.), during which the amount of wages paid is unilaterally reduced by an amount corresponding to such a fine. This type of “liability” also contradicts the norms of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation on the cases and procedure for making deductions from wages (Articles 137–138 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

Separately, it should be emphasized that it is unlawful to classify non-payment of a bonus or its payment in a reduced amount as disciplinary sanctions, since the list of types of disciplinary sanctions is provided for in Article 192 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation with reference to federal laws and is not subject to broad interpretation.

2.7. Grounds for awarding bonuses:

Relevant data on the existence of bonus conditions and the fulfillment of its indicators - as a rule, the accounting and financial services of the organization, as well as the office (secretariat), are responsible for the presentation of such data;

Information about the absence of omissions and violations that, according to the Regulations, may affect the employee’s right to receive a bonus in a specific amount, as well as persons who are authorized to provide such information (usually it comes from the immediate supervisors of the employees receiving bonuses).

We also recommend that the Regulations provide clear deadlines for the provision of such data, otherwise the issue of payment of the bonus may be resolved untimely and will entail financial liability of the employer for the delay in payment of wages in the manner established by Article 236 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

In addition, the Regulations should indicate:

The responsible department (usually the personnel or accounting department), which ensures the collection and processing of the submitted data, the compilation of a list of employees receiving bonuses, indicating the bonuses due to them, and their submission within the established time frame to the person authorized to issue the bonus order;

The person(s) authorized to make the final decision and issue an order on the next bonus, and the basis of his authority.

If the procedure for making a decision on the payment or non-payment of a bonus and its amount is not properly spelled out in the Regulations, then the inspection authorities, and in the case of referral of the dispute to the court (magistrate) - the judge (magistrate), may have questions regarding the validity payment of a premium in a certain amount or non-payment of a premium. When considering a dispute, the court (magistrate) will be forced each time to summon to the court hearing the officials who made the decision on non-payment of the bonus or on the specific amount of the bonus and its amount. Otherwise, other evidence of the validity of non-payment or payment of a certain bonus amount disputed by the employee may not be taken into account.

3. The procedure for calculating, approving and paying a one-time bonus.

In this section you can provide:

3.1. List of cases when an employee may be paid a one-time bonus.

For example, for the prompt and high-quality implementation of particularly important production projects or particularly urgent instructions from management, the development of new ideas, the introduction of new, resource-saving technologies, increased productivity, initiative, efficiency, as well as for anniversaries, professional holidays, and other memorable dates.

3.2. Estimated payment amount: specific, indication of the maximum amount, etc.

3.3. Grounds for considering the issue of a one-time bonus for an employee.

The grounds may include a motivated appeal (report, memo) from a person supervising the execution of a particularly important task (project), particularly urgent work, one-time assignment, personnel issues, etc. addressed to the head of the organization or his authorized person.

3.4. The person authorized to make a decision on the payment of a one-time bonus and its specific amount and the time frame for making such a decision, as well as the procedure for submitting a draft bonus order for signature.

4. Final provisions.

This section regulates the following main issues:

4.1. Establishing a person responsible for the correctness of calculations and accrual of bonuses.

4.2. Establishment of the person exercising control over the correctness of calculations and accrual of bonuses.

4.3. The procedure for agreeing and approving the regulation, introducing changes and additions to it.

4.4. The date of entry into force of the provision, and, if necessary, the period of its validity.

4.5. The procedure for bringing the situation to the attention of employees of the organization.

As can be seen from the presented material, when preparing the Regulations on bonuses, it is advisable to involve specialists from the personnel, accounting, financial and legal services of the organization.

When determining the person authorized to sign the Regulations on bonuses on behalf of the employing organization, one should be guided by the norms of Part 6 of Article 20 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

Thus, the Regulations can be signed by the head of an organization acting on the basis of the organization’s charter (another constituent document of a legal entity), by another person who has the right to act on behalf of a legal entity without a power of attorney based on an indication of this in the organization’s charter (another constituent document), as well as persons authorized by them in the manner established, inter alia, by the local regulations of the organization.

Taking into account the opinion of the representative body of employees when adopting the Regulations on bonuses

After the content of the future Regulations on bonuses has been determined, before its final approval it is necessary to follow the procedure for its adoption.

The fact is that, according to Article 8 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, this local regulatory act contains labor law norms. And he is subject to the rule of Article 135 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, according to which local regulations establishing wage systems are adopted by the employer taking into account the opinion of the representative body of employees (if there is such a body). The procedure for taking into account opinions is provided for in Article 372 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation for the elected body of a primary trade union organization (by analogy, it is also used when taking into account the opinions of another representative body) and boils down to the following (see Figure).

Drawing

Employer's liability related to violation of bonus rules

With regard to issues of possible liability in connection with violation of the rules on the implementation of bonuses, the following can be noted.

Violation of labor legislation in this part may entail:

Administrative liability in accordance with Part 1 of Article 5.27 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (hereinafter referred to as the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation). Violation of labor legislation entails the imposition of an administrative fine on officials in the amount of up to 50 minimum wages. A person who has previously been subjected to administrative punishment for a similar administrative offense entails disqualification (according to Part 1 of Article 3.11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, this is the deprivation of an individual of the right to occupy leadership positions in the executive body of a legal entity, etc.) for a period of 1 to 3 years years (part 2 of article 5.27 of the Administrative Code);

Failure to pay a bonus may be considered by a court (magistrate), taking into account the delay in payment of wages and other violations of remuneration (Article 142 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). According to Article 236 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, if the employer violates the established deadline for payments due to the employee, the employer is obliged to pay them with interest (monetary compensation) in the amount of not less than 1/300 of the refinancing rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation in force at that time for amounts not paid on time for each day delays from the next day after the due date for payment up to and including the day of actual settlement;