Material liability of the storekeeper
The position of a storekeeper is included in the list of categories of employees with whom agreements on financial liability are concluded, determined by Order of the Ministry of Labor No. 85. The responsibilities of storekeepers include:
- acceptance for temporary storage and issuance of valuables of the organization, its employees and clients;
- placement and movement within the warehouse territory;
- ensuring the safety of storage of entrusted valuables.
If, due to incorrect performance or failure to fulfill official duties, the storekeeper caused damage to the property of the enterprise, management has the right to recover from him the cost of the loss in monetary terms. Withholding in full occurs if there is a concluded agreement. The assessment of harm is calculated taking into account average market prices, but not lower than the values given in accounting. If the lost values included foreign currency, then its value is determined in accordance with the current exchange rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation.
ATTENTION! Compensation for damage occurs only for lost valuables. Lost profits as a result of loss are not actual damages and are not subject to recovery.
How to conclude an agreement on collective liability
The employer's decision to establish full collective (team) financial liability is formalized by order or directive. Team members must be familiarized with the document and signed.
Since there is no unified form of the order, the employer has the right to develop it independently. The order (instruction) should reflect the following information:
- about the formation of the group;
- on the appointment of a team leader;
- on concluding an agreement on full collective (team) financial responsibility.
Here is a sample of filling out an order establishing full collective financial responsibility.
The order must be attached to the concluded agreement on full collective (team) financial liability (paragraph 2, clause 1 of Appendix No. 4 of Resolution of the Ministry of Labor of Russia dated December 31, 2002 No. 85).
Types of financial liability
Resolution of the Ministry of Labor No. 85 implies for storekeepers the obligation to compensate for the damage caused by them in full only if there is a formalized contract. Warehouse workers of one company can be brought to justice as a whole team, but only if an agreement on collective financial responsibility is concluded with them.
In the absence of a contract concluded with an employee, he is subject to limited liability. Then the amount of damage to be paid is determined according to the rules set out in Articles 81 and 241 of the Labor Code. Partial compensation agreements for warehouse workers are not provided.
The procedure for collecting damages under a collective liability agreement
If damage is identified that is subject to compensation by the group, the employer is obliged to:
- Document the amount of losses.
- Request an explanation from all team members regarding the existence of damage.
- Establish a cause-and-effect relationship between the infliction of losses and the performance/non-performance of official duties by employees.
Losses to be compensated by the team are distributed among team members in proportion to the monthly tariff rate (official salary) and the time actually worked for the period from the last inventory to the day the damage was discovered (clause 7.3 of the Instructions). Judicial practice recognizes this method of calculating damages as logical and lawful (clause 14 of the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of November 16, 2006 No. 52, Determination of the Moscow City Court of June 29, 2010 in case No. 33-16601).
IMPORTANT!
It should be taken into account that, according to Part 4 of Art. 245 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the degree of guilt of each member of the team (team) is determined by agreement between all members of the team (team) and the employer. Consequently, the employer must draw up an agreement with the members of the team (team), which will indicate the amount of compensation for each specific member of the team (team).
The very amount of damage to be paid by a specific employee, in accordance with clause 7.3 of the Instructions, can be determined using the following formula:
Р1 = С × З1 / (З1 + З2 + … + Зn),
Where:
- P1 - the amount of compensation for damage by the first member of the team;
- C - the amount of damage caused by the brigade;
- Z1, Z2, Z3, ... Zn - wages of team members for the inter-inventory period based on salaries taking into account the time worked.
When calculating the amount of compensation for damage, wages do not include bonuses received by employees, as well as severance pay, compensation and other payments, which, according to the law, are not subject to recovery.
Accordingly, after determining the amount of compensation for damage, a written agreement is drawn up on the amount and procedure for its repayment. The agreement is drawn up by all team members and signed by them and the employer.
If losses are recovered in court, the degree of guilt of each team member is determined by the court (Part 4 of Article 245 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).
Current legislation does not provide for joint liability of employees with whom an agreement on collective financial liability has been concluded in case of harm to the employer.
Agreement on material liability of the storekeeper
To draw up an agreement on the full financial responsibility of the storekeeper, as for other positions from the list of Order of the Ministry of Labor No. 85, a universal form is used. The regulations for its application are specified in Appendix No. 2 to this order.
Enterprises may supplement the provisions of the standard form of agreement. The only condition: the use of additional items must be regulated by the company’s internal regulations.
Content
The content states:
- date and place of conclusion of the contract;
- full name of the enterprise indicating the form;
- Full name of the manager and employee;
- subject of the agreement;
- duration of the contract (if implied);
- a brief description of working conditions;
- a list of obligations of both parties to the agreement valid during working hours;
- the consequences of violating the provisions of the contract for both parties;
- algorithm for determining the amount of harm caused and the procedure for compensation;
- taking into account possible force majeure circumstances;
- signatures of the head of the enterprise and the storekeeper employee.
A sample agreement on the material liability of a storekeeper can be downloaded from the link.
The agreement is approved by a separate order: only in this case will it be legally significant. The order specifies the details of the enterprise, a link to the act being put into effect, the date of preparation and signatures of the parties involved.
What are the responsibilities of warehouse workers?
Article 22 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation provides for bringing warehouse workers to financial liability. This right, firstly, serves to protect the employer from dishonest actions of hired warehouse personnel; secondly, it disciplines the workers themselves
This article also defines the meaning of the term “material liability”. According to Article 22 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, this is a type of liability that occurs when damage to an enterprise is caused by a warehouse employee in relation to goods and materials entrusted to him.
Options for financial liability of a warehouse worker
Liability can be limited or full. The differences between these concepts are as follows:
- The limited liability of a full-time warehouse employee, unlike full liability, does not provide for the conclusion of a liability agreement.
- In the event of a precedent involving loss or damage to inventory items, limited liability allows you to recover from a warehouse worker’s salary an amount equivalent to his average monthly income. Moreover, this amount must be withheld no later than the month following the occurrence of the precedent.
- Full liability allows you to recover the entire amount of material damage from the warehouse worker’s earnings. If this amount is more than the monthly salary, then the deductions are divided evenly over several months.
Considering the high cost of inventory and materials, it is advisable to conclude agreements on full financial liability with warehouse employees. Such agreements can only be concluded with adult warehouse employees. At the same time, it is recommended to withhold damage amounts based on the inventory of goods and materials. That is, initially an order to conduct an inventory is prepared, then an inventory list and a statement of shortage of goods and materials are drawn up.
As for the options for full financial responsibility, it can be collective or individual.
Collective financial liability of warehouse workers
Such responsibility arises when these employees jointly perform a set of works related to the reception, transfer, storage, warehousing and processing of inventory items. The corresponding agreement is often drawn up with individual shifts or teams of warehouse workers. The application of this type of liability must be formalized by order or regulation of the enterprise.
In the case of individual financial liability, the contract is signed by a specific warehouse employee. This could be the boss or warehouse manager, storekeeper, picker, packer.
Under what circumstances does financial liability arise?
Damage due to violations committed by:
- intentionally;
- drunk;
- after hours.
Liability also arises if damage to the employer’s property is caused by:
- disclosure of corporate secrets;
- violation of the law;
- the consequences of the action taken;
- failure to fulfill official duties.
IMPORTANT! However, the employer is obliged to make every effort to preserve its values. For example, if a warehouse worker performed his duties, but due to the absence of an alarm system in the premises, the warehouse was robbed, then the warehouseman cannot be held accountable.
How to recover material damage from an employee
The procedure for recovering damage caused by an employee’s actions obliges the employer to:
- document the fact of damage to property;
- organize a commission for internal investigation;
- familiarize the employee and the trade union with the results of the audit;
- issue an order for damages.
The commission's job is to conduct an audit to determine:
- the employee's guilt;
- real damage;
- the cause-and-effect relationship between the acts committed by the storekeeper and the consequences;
- the presence or absence of circumstances precluding the possibility of attracting an employee.
Based on the results of these procedures, the head of the enterprise issues an order on financial liability and familiarizes the employee with its contents. The storekeeper can either agree with the requirements for compensation for damage or refuse to fulfill them. In the second case, according to Art. 392 of the Labor Code, an organization can go to court for forced collection within one calendar year. The limitation period begins from the day the damage to the company's property is discovered.