Vacation is not on schedule. Latest clarifications from officials

Reasons for postponing vacation

People plan their vacation in advance and do not want to lose either it or their vacation payments. The manager has the right to ask the employee to postpone the vacation due to production needs, but it happens that the employee himself needs the postponement. Another reason for shifting the deadline is violation of labor laws. Examples of common grounds:

• Transfer of leave due to sick leave. If a person gets sick as soon as he begins to rest, the vacation is either extended or postponed. To do this, you need to issue a sick leave certificate.
• Fulfillment of civil duties. If an employee had to act as a witness, victim, witness or juror in court, participate in military training, study, etc., then legal leave is extended for this period subject to documentary evidence.
• Due to the employer's fault. If the HR department did not inform the employee about the upcoming vacation two weeks in advance or the accounting department did not transfer vacation pay on time (3 days before the start), the person may request a deferment, because this is a direct violation of the Labor Code.
• At the initiative of the employer. When an employee’s presence at work is necessary so that the work process is not interrupted, he is asked to postpone his rest time. This is possible only with the voluntary consent of the subordinate: he must confirm in writing that he is not against it. Exception: paid vacation cannot be postponed if the person did not use it last year.

Due to circumstances, a person may need to transfer part of the vacation or its entire duration to another time. To do this, he will have to contact management with an explanation of the reasons. The right to consent or refuse in this case remains with the employer.

Reasons for refusal

Usually the employer meets halfway and satisfies the employee’s request.

This is supported by law; in addition, an understanding and attentive attitude of a boss towards a subordinate will only strengthen favorable relationships in the team.

Although the reasons for postponing vacation at the initiative of the employee may be quite convincing, situations are also possible when rescheduling may be refused - and these reasons are quite official, although exceptional.

In particular, such a reason could be an emergency at work. In such a situation, a statement like “... I ask to reschedule leave due to family circumstances” may not work. After all, if an employee’s departure for vacation could have too adverse an impact on the overall progress of the company’s work, the boss has the right to refuse to reschedule the vacation.

There are cases when transferring vacation at the request of the employee is impossible. For example, an employer does not have the right to agree to change the vacation schedule for certain categories of employees. This:

• employees working in harmful or dangerous working conditions;
• employees under 18 years of age.

Even if employees of these categories write a request to reschedule their vacation, the manager does not have the right to consider such a possibility - for the safety of the employees themselves.

The opposite situations are also possible. There are categories of employees whom the manager has no right to refuse. These include:

• employees planning to use annual leave before or after maternity leave, as well as at the end of maternity leave;
• male employees who need to combine their vacation with their wives' maternity leave ;
• spouses of military personnel - they require leave at the same time as their spouse's leave;
• employees who have adopted a child or children under 3 months ;
• part-time workers - they need leave simultaneous with leave from their main place of work.

All of the above categories of employees can take leave at any time. But in the vacation schedule, which is drawn up at the beginning of the year, it is still necessary to indicate at least the approximate dates of their vacation. Otherwise, empty dates or failure to include such workers in the schedule may be regarded by inspectors as a violation .

When you can't transfer

In some situations, shifting deadlines is prohibited by labor law:

• when an employee did not rest for two years in a row;
• minor workers;
• employed in hazardous work or in hazardous conditions.

The last category has a vacation longer than the standard 28 days; for them, some enterprises organize treatment in sanatoriums or health resorts with a favorable climate and rehabilitation procedures. It is not advisable to postpone such a vacation.

Can only annual rest days be rescheduled?

No, you can transfer not only those that are given once a year. The law requires several more such periods. This is educational, maternity, child care. Any additional rest days can also be transferred. But the minimum amount of divided leave must be at least two weeks. For example, parental leave is officially prescribed until the child turns 3 years old. A woman has the right to interrupt it, go to work, and after a while apply for it again. This leave cannot be transferred to another period, but the woman’s workplace must be retained during this period.

Who shouldn't have rest days? It is mandatory every year for two categories of the population. These are people employed in hazardous conditions and minor employees. They are prohibited from rescheduling these days. Even if these people themselves want to postpone their vacation and write a corresponding application, the employer should not satisfy it.

How to properly formalize a change in the vacation schedule for those employees who can do this? All these changes must be documented, and not in words. The employee needs to write a statement. If the employer can reschedule his leave, he must issue an order to do so.

How to write such a statement correctly? It does not have a set form.

It can be written in any form.

It is only important to indicate the reason for the transfer. For example, it could be for family reasons. It is not necessary, moreover, it is even undesirable to describe in detail why you need to reschedule your vacation days. You need to briefly indicate the essence, and in more detail the reason can be explained to the employer in words.

The following points need to be specified:

1. Details of the manager, name of the company where he works.
2. The essence of the statement.
3. The reason why you need to reschedule your vacation.
4. From which to which date.

It goes without saying that this document should also include the applicant’s full name, his position, and the date of preparation.

The employer's obligation to satisfy the employee's request

You cannot talk about shifting rest times without receiving a response from the employee himself: even in conditions of extreme necessity, the director must obtain his consent. To avoid controversial situations, the company is developing rules for replacing employees. If a person is forced to work when, according to the approved schedule, he should be resting, he has the right to appeal to the labor inspectorate with a complaint. For the organization, this is fraught with inspection, which may result in fines.

You cannot refuse a woman planning to go on maternity leave, even if it does not fit into the schedule. Taking annual leave before going on sick leave due to pregnancy is her legal right. The same applies to the period after maternity leave, when unused days accumulate. Refusal in this case is a reason to contact the labor inspectorate.

At a convenient time

Some categories of employees have the right to go on vacation not according to a schedule drawn up in advance, but at a time when it is convenient for them. At the same time, the company cannot deny such employees vacation. For example, Article 262.2 of the Labor Code establishes that employees with three or more children under the age of 12 may rest not in accordance with the vacation schedule (which, we recall, is a mandatory document both on the part of the employer and the employee). employees), and at a convenient time for them. In this case, how should the company maintain a vacation schedule, should such employees be included in the general list? The answer to this question was given by the Russian Ministry of Labor in letter dated December 8, 2021 No. 14-2/OOG-17786.

The department reported that in the described situation, all employees must be included in the vacation schedule, including those who have preferences when choosing the start date of their vacation time. Subsequently, when the specialist decides on the date, he must inform the employer of his decision in advance.

The Ministry of Labor noted that.

Application for transfer of vacation

The transfer procedure at the request of the employee begins with his application. There are no strict criteria for drawing up this document, as well as legally approved forms, but you will have to adhere to the general rules, indicating in it:

• Full name and position of the manager;
• Name of the organization;
• Full name, position of the applicant;
• reason for transfer;
• vacation times in the schedule and new dates;
• link to a document confirming the need for transfer (if available);
• signature and date.

A sample application can be downloaded here.

ATTENTION! Originals or copies of certificates, appointments, orders that confirm the need to shift vacation days are attached to the application.

If the shift occurs at the initiative of the company, then instead of the reason, consent to the transfer is written down - also in free form.

The procedure is completed by issuing an order to postpone the vacation and making changes to the schedule. The person responsible for its preparation enters new dates, indicates the order number, and writes in the comments the reason for the postponement.

Changing the vacation period by agreement of the parties

And if the company has a need to postpone the vacation time for its employee, or he himself asks to postpone the vacation days to another month - is this possible? Yes, the law does not prohibit changing the start and end dates of vacation by agreement of the parties; it is only necessary to document everything so that the labor inspectorate does not have any questions during the inspection.

You cannot simply cancel an employee’s vacation; it can only be moved to other dates.

How to arrange a transfer of vacation at the request of an employee

If an employee wants to change his vacation time, he must write a statement to the manager, indicating the desired start dates for the vacation. If the employer does not object, then an order is issued with updated dates of rest time. The document is signed by the manager, the HR department and the employee must familiarize themselves with it (for signature).

It is important to know that the company can refuse to postpone the vacation - it has no obligation to fulfill the wishes of the employee, except in cases expressly specified in the law. We talked in more detail about cases of postponing vacations at the initiative of employees here.

Transfer at the initiative of the employer

When the employer initiates the transfer of the vacation period, he is obliged to coordinate such a change with the employee. If the person refuses, leave must be granted to him in accordance with the previously approved schedule. It is important to obtain written consent - then the company will have confirmation of the transfer agreement. The employee is sent a notice on which he must write “I agree with the transfer of vacation” (or “disagree”), and put his signature and date next to it.

The need to postpone the vacation must be justified by a memo. Usually it is written by the head of a department or the acting head of a division addressed to the head of the company. The memo indicates the reason why the vacation should be rescheduled. The same paper is drawn up if it is necessary to recall an employee from vacation.

Memo on rescheduling vacation - sample:

Order to postpone vacation

There is no single form for this order; the personnel officer draws it up according to the following scheme:

1. Information about rescheduling an employee’s vacation, his personal data, position.
2. Link to the TC article that allows you to shift deadlines.
3. Previous and new holiday dates.
4. The basis is taken from the application.
5. A note about making adjustments to the schedule.
6. Names of responsible persons.

Orders can be found at this link.

After the order is issued, the applicant and responsible persons are introduced to it, and they sign. Then information about it is entered into the register of internal acts.

Due to sick leave

As noted above, the right to transfer vacation or part thereof is regulated by Part 1 of Art.
124 Labor Code of the Russian Federation. The reason for postponing rest days may be illness of the working person or his family members:

1. For employees whose relatives have fallen ill or died, a vacation shift of 14 days is allowed.
2. For employees whose illness occurred during vacation days, vacation transfer is carried out at the discretion of the director of the enterprise.
3. Persons whose children fall ill on vacation days will not be able to reschedule their vacation. They are paid only sick leave.

In addition, the basis for postponing leave for an employee may be the coincidence of maternity leave with annual leave. To do this, she needs to contact the director with a request to postpone vacation days.

Sample of filling out an order

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