Features of minimum wage payment
There are two types of “minimum” wages:
- federal - established at the state level and uniform for all subjects of the Russian Federation;
- regional - depends on the characteristics of a particular region, is developed by officials at the local level and is mandatory for use only in one specific territory, and it cannot be lower than the federal one.
It should be noted that not all enterprises are required to comply with the regional “minimum wage”.
If, for any legal reason, an organization refuses to properly pay employees the local minimum wage, it has every right to apply the federal minimum wage.
Important points before calculation
Thus, it is necessary to state the fact that it is legally permissible to approve salaries for employees at an enterprise below the minimum wage level. But in this case, the difference must be compensated by other payments.
As mentioned above, these may include allowances and bonuses. However, if even taking into account these additional charges, the amount of the total salary remains below the minimum, then you can issue an additional item as an additional payment to the minimum wage.
In any case, if a person has worked the amount of time established by the standards, he cannot receive income below the minimum wage. This norm is guaranteed by the state, and its failure to comply entails administrative punishment of the responsible persons, which we will discuss below.
Administrative responsibility may also be assigned to the chief accountant or other person responsible for calculating and paying wages to the personnel of the enterprise.
In addition, it should be taken into account that the accrued salary with all additional payments and allowances should not be less than the minimum wage, but the actual income paid minus taxes and fees may be less than the minimum wage.
The next step is the signing of the order by the director. Based on it, the accounting service calculates the additional payment up to the minimum wage. This is the generally accepted norm.
Moreover, it is not necessary to issue a special document to justify additional charges to the level of the minimum wage. For these purposes, you can use a general order on the minimum wage at the enterprise. But a prerequisite is the presence in it of a clause that would oblige the accounting department to accrue the appropriate amount to employees who have an income less than the established norm.
A sample order for additional payment up to the minimum wage is given below.
In addition, all calculations for calculating the corresponding salary increases for each employee must be detailed and attached to the order journals for the period being calculated. If necessary, they are provided to regulatory authorities.
However, as practice shows, ideal conditions are not always found, and in order not to get into trouble with additional amounts to the minimum wage, you need to have a good knowledge of labor legislation and be able to use its norms in the appropriate situation.
This methodology is valid in cases where both additional payments to the minimum wage for external part-time workers and internal ones are calculated. We’ll talk about specific nuances a little below.
Nowadays, economic efficiency should be at the forefront of every enterprise. Not least in this matter is the rational and practical use of labor. The easiest way, of course, is to save on payroll by simply cutting the salaries of specific employees, but you can also use other management tools, and many managers use them.
For example, it is quite beneficial for an enterprise to use internal part-time workers in its work, especially in types of work that do not require full-time employment. Not every person, for example, will agree to work for half the minimum wage. But if this person already works at your company, receiving a fairly decent salary, then he can happily take on several additional functions for a small additional payment, and often without increasing actual working hours.
This situation suits both the employee and the employer, who, moreover, entrusts new functions not to an unknown person on the street, perhaps also working for another company, but to a trusted employee. For the company administration, the introduction of this practice simultaneously helps to resolve the issue of the efficiency of wages and labor shortages. Therefore, at present, the use of internal combination is gaining increasing popularity in enterprises.
But, unfortunately, one must take into account the fact that internal combination can not be used for all employees and not in all cases. For example, according to current legislation, part-time workers cannot be employees who are involved in work that is harmful to health or physically difficult. It is also not allowed for minors to combine two positions.
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In addition, it should be said that members of the government, employees of the prosecutor’s office and the Central Bank cannot combine positions.
When appointing a part-time position, it is also necessary to take into account his abilities, education and many other factors. For example, a tractor driver is unlikely to be able to work as an accountant and vice versa, naturally, if he has not undergone additional training. If a manager appoints an incompetent person to a position associated with a risk to the life or health of other people, then such a decision may entail criminal liability for the director of the enterprise.
Some employers believe that if their employee is an internal part-time worker and the total amount of his salary exceeds the minimum standard, then no additional charges need to be made. This approach is fundamentally wrong, although it is clear that it appeals to company owners. After all, in this case they do not incur additional costs to compensate for the difference.
But in fact, additional payments up to the minimum wage for internal part-time workers should be made for each workplace separately. Even if in total the employee, working at one and a half times the rate, receives income exceeding the minimum wage. Otherwise, you not only unreasonably reduce the real wages of your employees, but also underestimate the taxes that the company should pay on employee income.
3500 700 350=4550 rubles.
The additional payment to the minimum wage for guards will consist of the difference between the minimum wage (5965 rubles) and the amount of accrued income: 5965 – 4550 = 1415 rubles.
5965*0.5=2982.50 rubles.
2982.50-2500=482.50 rubles.
As you can see, the additional payment to the minimum wage for this employee as a watchman will be 1,415 rubles, and as a territory cleaner - 482.50 rubles, which in the end will give a very good amount - 1,897.50 rubles.
If we initially proceeded from the total amount of earnings for all positions of a given employee (7,050 rubles), then it would immediately exceed the minimum wage (5,965 rubles), and the employee would not receive any additional payment. But again, this approach would be wrong.
Salary composition - comparison to the minimum wage
— remuneration for labor depending on the qualifications of the employee, complexity, quantity, quality and conditions of the work performed (salary); — compensation payments (additional payments and compensation allowances for work in hazardous conditions, in the Far North, etc.);— incentive payments (additional payments and bonuses of an incentive nature, bonuses and other similar payments).
Separately, it makes sense to focus on “northern” companies. Recent judicial practice indicates that they must compare the salaries of their employees with the minimum wage, taking into account regional coefficients and other additional payments (see the Supreme Court rulings of September 19, 2016 N 51-KG16-10, of August 8, 2021 N 72- KG16-4).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poJd63Dc0KM
The judges pointed out that the provisions of the current labor legislation do not provide for a condition according to which the amount of the salary as a component of the monthly wage cannot be lower than the minimum wage. By virtue of Article 133 of the Labor Code, a mandatory condition for calculating monthly wages for an employee who has worked the full working hours during this period and fulfilled labor standards (labor duties) is to establish its amount not lower than the minimum wage.
In the case under consideration, the workers’ wages, taking into account the “northern” bonus, exceeded the minimum wage. Therefore, the company should not pay its employees anything extra. Please note! From the provisions of Article 133.1 of the Labor Code it directly follows that the minimum wage is established per calendar month and applies to the salary of an employee who has fully worked the standard working hours for the month and fulfilled the labor standard.
How to raise your salary
In order for employee salaries to comply with the new minimum wage as of July 1, 2021, employers need to take certain actions in advance. Moreover, there are several options for solving the problem. So, you can increase the salary of employees. It must be said that this is perhaps the least successful way to bring employee salaries up to the minimum wage.
At a minimum, you will have to make changes to the staffing table, draw up and sign an additional agreement to the employment contract with employees, etc. (Article 72 of the Labor Code). Considering that the legislator systematically and regularly increases the minimum wage (both at the federal level and at the regional level), it makes sense, so to speak, to take a different route.
In particular, as an option, the wage regulations should provide for the payment of an additional payment to the accrued salary of employees in the event that, based on a fully worked month, it turns out to be less than the minimum wage (federal or regional). The only thing that do not forget to reflect in the documents is that in any case, the employment contract drawn up with each employee must contain a reference to this provision.
- funds from the federal, regional or local budget (for budgetary organizations);
- employer funds (for other organizations).
When is an additional payment required?
Not all workers earning less than the minimum wage can qualify for additional payment up to the minimum wage.
This requirement is established only for those who work on a full-time schedule, namely 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week.
If a person works, for example, part-time, then he can receive half of the minimum wage and this will not be a violation of the law. In the same way, payment below the minimum wage to an employee working on a part-time basis will not be considered a violation - in this case, the salary is calculated in proportion to the time worked.
Grand total
Thus, we see that compliance with the minimum wage level is one of the most important tasks of the state. In order not to enter into conflict with him, the employer must also strictly comply with these standards. Not to mention that in enterprises that try to maintain high standards in the field of remuneration, employees value their jobs more and show better results.
Since currently, due to economic efficiency, the use of internal combination is becoming more widespread in enterprises, it is very important for the administration of business entities to know the legislative aspects of such working methods. In particular, some nuances should be taken into account when calculating additional payments to internal part-time workers up to the minimum wage level. This is important so that in the future you do not run into lawsuits from employees or penalties based on the results of inspections by regulatory authorities.
The main thing you need to remember is that the additional payment for part-time workers up to the minimum wage is calculated according to the same scheme as for ordinary workers, only for each position separately.
What happens if you don’t pay extra to the “minimum wage”
If the management of an organization does not have the desire or ability to make an additional payment to an employee up to the minimum wage when it is obliged to do so, it automatically puts itself at risk. An employee has the right to complain about such an employer to the labor inspectorate, prosecutor's office or court.
As a punishment for violating the current labor legislation, an administrative fine is provided for the enterprise and senior officials.
Thus, increasing wages to the “minimum wage” in situations established by law is absolutely necessary. And for this you need to carry out a number of mandatory procedures.
Employment contract
It’s worth clarifying right away that the manager cannot force his employee to do another job in parallel. Combination is possible only if the employee himself agrees to this in writing. All other actions are a violation of the legislation of the Russian Federation. In addition, written consent must be attached to the employment contract. The Labor Code of the Russian Federation clearly states that combination work is fixed in the employment contract as an additional activity.
Additional payment is made for the entire amount of work that will be performed by the employee during the combination. The amount of additional payments is determined by agreement of the two parties and is calculated based on the employee’s responsibilities.
Who should sign
All orders are always written on behalf of the director of the organization - this is one of the main features of this document. In this regard, regardless of who is directly involved in drawing up the order - a secretary, a legal adviser or some other employee - he must hand over the completed form for signature to the main person of the enterprise, since without his autograph the order will not be valid.
All other company employees named in it must also sign the order - in this way they will attest that they are familiar with the order and agree to comply with it.
