Four rules for deductions from wages.

The grounds and procedure for deduction from an employee’s salary are carried out only in cases established by current legislation, namely those provided for by the Labor Code of the Russian Federation and other federal laws. The amount of all deductions cannot exceed 70% of the amount accrued wages.

In this article:

Deduction from employee's salary

Withholding from wages is the employer’s actions of non-payment of some part of the due remuneration for work based on the provision Labor Code or special law.

In this case, in order to avoid illegal cases of non-payment of part of the wages, the employee must verify the employer’s order to withhold a certain part of the earnings or demand another document in accordance with which the employee’s income is seized.

Retention cases are quite varied. This may be excessive amounts of salary payments, unworked time that was paid. And of course, the employee’s unfulfilled obligations to third parties, for example, tax debt, non-payment of alimony, recovery of the employee’s income by court decision and other cases.

Grounds and procedure for deduction from an employee’s salary

Only the employer can make a deduction, since the employee has an employment relationship with him and it is he who pays the employee’s wages. Before deduction, the employer is obliged to notify the employee in writing about the deduction and its amount no later than one month.

The chief accountant or the human resources department can also notify this in a letter addressed to the employee. The letter or notification must contain the period of time when the accrual took place excess amount or unearned advance payment, as well as a reference to the rule of law. Documents may be attached to the letter indicating the withdrawal of part of the amount from the employee’s earnings, for example, an act drawn up about this, a salary slip, a payslip.

If the employer calculated the employee's salary using incorrect calculations or incorrect use of legislation, then in this case deduction cannot be applied, except for the detection of a so-called accounting error.

Unfortunately, in practice, even if the employer incorrectly pays the salary, then part of the amount of overpaid earnings will be subsequently simply recalculated or somehow withheld with reference to a calculation error.

Amount of deductions from salary

By reason labor legislation the amount of all deductions made by the employer cannot exceed twenty percent. If a recovery of an employee’s earnings is made on the basis of a separate law, then a fifty percent deduction is applied.

However, there are exceptions to these rules when the specified percentages are not applied as a result of corrective labor, workers serving time, in case of harm to the health of third parties, compensation for damage as a result of unlawful actions of the employee. Based on these exclusion grounds, a seventy percent deduction from the employee’s earnings is applied. But this is only in extreme cases and strictly for the stated reasons.

Illegal deductions from wages and their consequences

In most cases, due to the illiteracy of employees in the field of labor legislation, fraud and other abuses of their powers are common on the part of the employer.

Unlawful deductions include:

• a decrease in earnings without any particular reason and without reference to legal norms (for example, due to the situation in the country, due to a crisis). If an employer is unable to pay wages to its employees, then there is a bankruptcy procedure for this;
• establishing fines for violation of labor discipline. The employer can only limit the amount of bonuses because the employee behaved dishonestly in the performance of his job duties;
• application of a higher percentage of deduction from earnings than that specified in the law.

In all cases of illegal use of withholding, the employee can appeal to the trade union body, if it is formed at the enterprise, to the labor inspectorate, as well as with a claim in court.

As a financial sanction against an employee, general rule, are unacceptable. However, in some cases, the Labor Code of the Russian Federation allows the employer to pay certain amounts to the employee.

Conditions of legalitydeductions from wages

To salary deductions were legal, several points should be noted.

Firstly, deductions can only be made from wages if the employee does not dispute the amount and grounds for deductions. The employer should obtain written consent from the employee to deduct a specific amount from earnings.

An exception to this rule is situations when the employee has a debt for unearned vacation pay or he has caused damage to the company that exceeds his average earnings. In these cases, the deduction is made simply on the basis of an order from the head of the organization. Such a decision must be made before the expiration of a month from the moment the amount of damage caused is established.

If the amount of damage exceeds the employee’s monthly salary, deduction is possible only with his written consent. However, it should be noted that in any case, the withholding cannot exceed 20% for each salary payment. The parties may agree on voluntary compensation for harm. In this case, the employee partially compensates for the damage from personal funds, and the employer withholds the rest from his salary.

Despite the fact that the list of wage deductions is strictly limited, some employers unlawfully expand it. For example, they establish a system of fines for non-compliance with the rules internal regulations. Withholding such fines directly from an employee's paycheck can have negative consequences for the employer. The fact is that a fine is not a type of material or disciplinary liability and is not provided for by the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. The employee will be able to return the funds withheld on this basis in court.

In order to comply with the law, some employers establish a remuneration system in which the salary part is small and the bonus part of the salary is high. In such cases, it is necessary to clearly define the list of grounds for which employees can be deprived of bonuses. Such a remuneration system will make it possible to more effectively influence the employee.

Risky deduction in this case will be replaced by non-payment, which will be extremely difficult for the employee to challenge. However, when introducing such changes, the employer will need to comply with the entire procedure established by Art. 74 Labor Code of the Russian Federation. In particular, it will be necessary to notify employees in advance in writing about upcoming changes. Only in this case can the employer be sure that new system remuneration will be recognized as legal.

In practice, situations occur when the initiator of the deduction is the employee, and not the employer. For example, an employee asks to transfer a certain amount from his salary to the funded part of a pension or to pay for a loan issued to him, or even housing and communal services... There is no such case in the Labor Code as deductions at the initiative of an employee in favor of third parties. In this regard, many employers are concerned that if an employee’s request is granted, there may be claims from the inspection authorities. In many ways, these fears are based on the letter of Rostrud dated July 18, 2012 No. PG/5089-6-1, in which the agency indicated that no other additional deductions from wages by decision of the employer, in addition to those provided for in Art. 137 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation are not allowed. If you follow the advice of officials, the safest scheme for the employer would be to draw up documents confirming full payment to the employee Money. And if an agreement is reached, the employee can transfer part of the money back to the employer for subsequent transfer according to the agreement.

Later, Rostrud adjusted its position on this issue. In a letter dated September 26, 2012 No. PG/7156-6-1, he indicated that in the case of payment of a loan, in fact, it is not the deduction that occurs, but the disposal of the employee’s accrued salary. In this situation, the rules of Art. 138 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation on the maximum amount of deductions. That is, in fact, the employer has the right to withhold the entire salary from the employee if he wishes, since in this case the company is not the recipient of this money. This scheme is more convenient and easier for accounting.

Salary deductionsin case of damage to the employer's property

If an employee causes damage to the organization’s property, the question arises of how the company can recover the amount of this damage from the employee. The right to recover damages caused in this case is provided for in Art. 232 and 238 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. They assume that the employee is obliged to compensate the employer for direct actual damage. The specific withholding procedure will depend on the amount of damage caused.

If the amount of damage does not exceed the average salary of the employee, then the deduction is made on the basis of the director’s order, drawn up in any form. It is important that this order is issued no later than one month from the date the amount of damage caused is established. If the order is issued later, the employer will lose its right to independently withhold from wages. Compensation for such damage will only be possible through legal action.

In this situation, the employer does not need to obtain the employee’s consent to withhold. The main thing is that the one-month period for bringing to financial responsibility has not expired and the maximum amount of the amount recovered has not been exceeded.

If the amount of damage exceeds the employee’s average earnings. The situation is different if the amount of damage exceeds the employee’s average earnings; damages can be recovered in an increased amount only if one of the situations specified in Art. 243 Labor Code of the Russian Federation. In all other cases, the amount of damage to be recovered from the employee is limited to the amount of his monthly earnings. So, if the employer had legal grounds to bring to full financial liability, then deduction from wages can be made only with the written consent of the employee. If the employee does not give such consent, the issue of compensation for damage is decided by the court.

If the employee nevertheless agreed to the deduction, then in both of the above cases it cannot amount to more than 20% of the salary each time it is paid. This means that the process of compensation for damage caused will take long time, especially if the amount of damage is large.

At the same time, part 4 of Art. 248 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation establishes that an employee who is guilty of causing damage may voluntarily compensate it in full or in part. Moreover, this also applies to the situation when the employee’s liability is limited by the amount of his average earnings and when an agreement on full financial responsibility has been concluded with him. Moreover, if in the future the employee wants to challenge such an agreement, he will have to provide convincing evidence that it was concluded under pressure.

If the employee leaves without having time to compensate for the damage, then in this situation the employer must take a written obligation from the employee to compensate for the damage. It should indicate specific payment terms. If the employee refuses to compensate for the damage, the outstanding debt may be collected from him in court.

Holds for counting errors

If the employee was mistakenly transferred a salary in a larger amount, then the employer can return the excess only if he proves either the illegality of the employee’s actions (Part 4 of Article 137 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation)... If the erroneous accrual occurred due to misuse local acts of the organization, then it will not be possible to recover money from the employee even through the court.

Another problem is that the law does not define counting error. Therefore, attributing a particular circumstance to error is entirely at the discretion of the courts. According to the position of Rostrud set out in letter No. 1286-1 dated October 1, 2012, only an arithmetic error is considered a counting error, that is, an error made during arithmetic calculations.

This opinion is shared by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. He pointed out that repeated payment of wages for the same period is not a counting error (determination of the RF Armed Forces dated January 20, 2012 No. 59-B11-17). At the same time, in almost all organizations, actions with wages are carried out using various accounting programs. And often incorrect payroll calculations are due to technical problems software. . If the erroneous accrual is due to a software failure, then the collection of such amounts from the employee is considered legal. The employer's chances can be increased by evidence confirming that the counting error occurred in the absence of a human factor and was associated solely with a software failure...

Thus, the possibility of returning amounts overcharged to an employee entirely depends on successfully proving the presence of a counting error. In this regard, the employer must provide any accounting, banking or other documents confirming the difference between the amount to be accrued and the funds actually transferred.

As in the case of withholding due to material damage, in this case it is also important to obtain the employee’s consent. If there is no such consent, then there is a risk that the employer’s actions will be declared illegal (ruling of the St. Petersburg City Court dated January 16, 2012 No. 33-238). Please note that it may be considered illegal not only to deduct from actually paid wages, but also to groundlessly reduce the amount of accrued but not yet paid amounts.

Collection of unearned vacation pay from an employee

In some cases, by terminating the employment relationship with an employee, the employer may not hope that he will be able to recover at least part of the vacation pay paid in advance to the employee. The prohibition of such penalties is established by law, including for the following grounds for dismissal:

The employee refused to be transferred to another job, in accordance with a medical report, or the employer does not have the appropriate job;

Liquidation of an organization or termination of the activities of an individual entrepreneur;

Reduction in the number or staff of employees;

Change of owner of the organization's property;

Recognition of an employee as completely incapable of labor activity according to a medical report;

The presence of extraordinary circumstances that prevent the continuation of labor relations, if this circumstance is recognized as such by a decision of the authority.

If, some time after using the vacation, the employee quits, it will not be possible to retain the unearned vacation pay in full. Upon final settlement with the employee, the employer is guaranteed to be able to withhold no more than 20% of the salary (Article 138 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). Despite the fact that the employee’s consent to withholding in this case is not necessary, there are situations in which there is simply no way to recover even this amount. Thus, at the time of dismissal, there may simply be no wages owed to the employee.

Judicial practice is therefore contradictory to the issue, therefore, to avoid this, the employee should be granted leave in parts (Article 125 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). In this case, the employer has the opportunity to pay for the vacation not in full, but only for the days actually provided to the employee. Confirmation of such an agreement is a vacation schedule, which indicates the period of vacation and the time when such vacation will be used.

To the disappointment of employers in the Review of Judicial Practice of the Supreme Court Russian Federation for the third quarter of 2013 (approved by the Presidium of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation on 02/05/2014) it was stated that if an employee is dismissed before the end of the working year, for which he has already received annual paid leave, the debt for unworked vacation days is not subject to recovery in court, in including if, during the calculation, the employer was unable to deduct this amount from the wages due for payment due to its insufficiency.

Deductions from wages are classified into mandatory (personal income tax, deductions based on writs of execution), at the initiative of the employer, and at the initiative of the employee. In this article we will focus on deductions at the initiative of the employer. There are rules that not only every accountant, but also the employees themselves should know about.

Rule 1. Deductions at the initiative of the employer are possible only in the cases specified in Article 137 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation

At the employer's initiative, the following may be withheld:

• unearned advance issued on account of wages;
• amounts not returned in a timely manner;
• overpaid salary or other amounts to an employee due to a calculation error;
• amounts overpaid to the employee if the body for the consideration of individual disputes recognizes the employee’s guilt in failure to comply with labor standards (Part 3 of Article 155 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation) or downtime (Part 3 of Article 157 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation);
• the amount of compensation for unworked vacation days upon dismissal of an employee;
• amount of material damage.

The list specified in Article 137 of the Labor Code is closed and cannot be expanded at the initiative of the employer. You cannot deduct amounts from an employee’s salary that are not provided for in this article. Otherwise, the employing organization bears administrative responsibility under Art. 5.27 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.

Webinars for accountants at Kontur.School: changes in legislation, features of accounting and tax accounting, reporting, salaries and personnel, cash transactions.

Rule 2. Observe the permissible deduction limit!

The total amount of all deductions for each payment of wages cannot exceed 20 percent of the amount of wages payable after withholding personal income tax. If deductions are made simultaneously at the initiative of the employer and according to executive documents, then the total amount of all deductions cannot be more than 50 percent. Let's explain with an example.

Example

Engineer Viktor Nozhkin did not promptly return the amount of the advance payment issued against the report - 5,000 rubles. The accountant will deduct this amount from his salary based on the order of the manager. Nozhkin agrees with the order. For January, he received a salary of 15,000 rubles. Is it possible to withhold 5,000 rubles from Nozhkin’s salary in January?

Accountant actions:

1. you should determine the amount of salary after personal income tax withholding:
   15,000 - (15,000 x 13%) = 13,050 rub.
2. you should determine the maximum amount of deduction for January, that is, calculate 20% of the amount of salary to be paid after withholding personal income tax:
   13,050 x 20% = 2,610 rub.

Conclusion: you can only keep 2,610 rubles in January. The accountant will withhold the remaining amount in subsequent months, also observing the withholding limit.

Restrictions do not apply to deductions from wages:

• while serving correctional labor,
• collection of alimony for minor children,
• compensation for harm caused to the health of another person,
• compensation for damage to persons who suffered damage due to the death of the breadwinner,
• compensation for damage caused by the crime.

The amount of deductions from wages in these cases cannot exceed 70 percent.

Rule 3. Deduction cannot be made if the employee does not agree with its grounds and amounts

If the employee disagrees, deduction can only be made on the basis of a court decision.

Rule 4. Remember the deadline for making a decision to withhold

Type of deduction at the initiative of the employer	The period during which the employer has the right to make deductions
To reimburse an unearned advance	No later than one month from the date of expiration of the period established for the return of the advance.
To repay a timely unreturned advance issued to an employee on account	A month from the date of expiration of the period established for submitting the advance report and repaying the debt.
Withholding of overpaid amounts as a result of an accounting error	One month from the date of expiration of the period established for correcting incorrectly calculated payments

What if the manager did not issue an order to withhold the above amounts within a month? What actions should the employer and accountant take? This question was repeatedly asked by listeners of the SKB Kontur School webinar on the topic “Deductions from an employee’s salary” (recorded webinar). Please note that according to the law, in this case, the employer must go to court to recover the missing amount. To avoid such situations, complete documents on time.

Rule 5. Withholding amounts at the initiative of the employer is possible only if there is an order from the manager

Some accountants are interested: if deductions were made from wages based on an accounting error, should there be an order for this deduction?

Answer: any deduction initiated by the employer must be made on the basis of an order from the manager. At the same time, remember about rule 1 - at the initiative of the employer, only the amounts listed in Article 137 of the Labor Code can be withheld. The employer has no right to establish any other amounts not listed in Article 137 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation either in an order or in a collective agreement.

These are not all the questions that accountants have on the topic discussed.

Want to know more? Come to an online distance course on calculating wages and average earnings.

As of: 04/02/2007
Magazine: Personnel Directory
Year: 2007
Author: Bondarenko Elvira Nikolaevna
Topic: Limited financial liability of the employee, Full financial liability
Category: HR practice

As you know, one of the goals of labor legislation is to protect the rights and interests of employees and employers (Part 1, Article 1 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). The employee's fulfillment of his duties under the employment contract guarantees the protection of the employer's rights, including property rights. An employee who causes damage to the employer's property (including the property of third parties owned by the employer, if he is responsible for the safety of this property) or the property of other employees is obliged to compensate it. This obligation is named in Art. 21 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation is among the main ones and follows from Art. 8 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, which provides for equal protection of all forms of property. Mutual financial liability of the parties to an employment contract is dealt with in Art. 232-250 Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

By establishing such a seemingly strict duty of the employee to the employer, especially taking into account their property inequality, the legislator, nevertheless, considered it possible in a certain sense to alleviate the situation of the employee, despite the offense he committed. Thus, as a general rule, the employee is obliged to compensate the employer only for direct actual damage. Lost income (lost profits) is not recovered from him (Article 238 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). There are also a number of employee-friendly provisions.

The main type of financial liability of an employee is limited, within the limits of average monthly earnings (Article 241 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation); in Art. 239 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation establishes circumstances that exclude his financial liability; the employer, with some exceptions, has the right to refuse to recover damages from the employee (Article 240 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

If the employee nevertheless bears full financial responsibility, then only in cases specified by law and, again, as a rule, for direct actual damage. There are other circumstances in the legislation, the consideration of which should mitigate the employee’s obligation to compensate for the damage caused to him.

Nevertheless, property damage caused to the employer, be that as it may, must be compensated. First of all, the employer must determine the amount of damage caused by the employee and establish the reasons for its occurrence (Articles 246 and 247 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation)* This is his responsibility, failure to comply with which excludes the possibility of compensation for damage.

Conducting an inspection - necessary condition employee's financial liability. In addition, the employer is obliged to request an explanation from the employee in writing. This is done in order to find out the cause of the damage and thereby determine the employee’s guilt. If the employee avoids giving an explanation, a corresponding act is drawn up.

compensation options

Once the size and cause of the damage are clarified, it is necessary to determine how it will be compensated.

Several procedures have been established for compensation of damages by an employee:
- when the fact of causing damage is recognized by him and he is ready to compensate it voluntarily;
- when the employee does not agree with the fact of damage or its extent and appeals to the review body labor disputes- judicial (disputed) procedure;
- when damages are recovered by the employer from the employee regardless of the latter’s consent in an indisputable manner. In this case, the employee is also not deprived of the right to appeal the employer’s decision, but this is already post factum.

Voluntary compensation by the employee for damage- full or partial - possible only with the consent of the employer. The employee either, with the consent of the employer, corrects the damaged property, or transfers an equivalent one, or deposits an adequate amount of money into the employer’s cash register. Article 248 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation allows compensation for damage by installments, but only by agreement with the employer. In this case, the employee undertakes in writing to pay the agreed amounts of money at certain intervals, repaying the debt by the deadline agreed upon by the parties. If the employee does not fulfill his obligation or resigns, the debt is collected in court.

The procedure for collecting damages from the guilty employee by order of the employer provided for in Art. 248 Labor Code of the Russian Federation. When withholding certain amounts from an employee's salary, the employer must comply with certain conditions.

First of all, damages not exceeding the employee’s average earnings can be recovered in this manner. That is, if the employee bears limited financial liability, this is the procedure that applies, unless, of course, the damage is compensated voluntarily. But even in the case of full financial liability, if the amount of damage caused is not more than average earnings, it can be recovered under Art. 248 Labor Code of the Russian Federation. Thus, to determine the procedure for compensation by an employee for damages What matters is not the type of liability, but the amount of damage caused.

Another condition is the collection period established by law. The order must be made no later than one month from the date of final determination by the employer of the amount of damage.

Finally, an order to withhold damages is issued in relation to an employee who continues to work for the employer. The fact is that the very fact of causing damage is not grounds for termination of an employment contract at the initiative of the employer; For this, a decision of the competent authority is also needed (see, for example, subparagraph “d”, paragraph 6 of Article 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). At the same time, the employee who caused the damage has the right to resign for at will. Then the employer goes to court to recover damages.

If the employer fails to comply with the conditions for collecting damages (namely, if the monthly period during which a deduction order can be made is violated, or an amount exceeding the average monthly earnings is collected), the employee has the right to go to court, and, as follows from Part 2 Art. 248 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, bypassing the commission on labor disputes.

Note!

Average earnings are calculated according to the rules of Art. 139 Labor Code of the Russian Federation as amended Federal Law dated June 30, 2006 No. 90-FZ. To the extent that does not contradict the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the Regulations on the specifics of the procedure for calculating average wages, approved. Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated April 11, 2003 No. 213

Collection cannot be applied to sums of money paid:
1) for compensation for harm caused to health, as well as for compensation for damage to persons who suffered damage as a result of the death of the breadwinner;
2) persons who received injuries (wounds, injuries, concussions) during the performance of their official duties, and members of their families in the event of death of these persons;
3) in connection with the birth of a child; mothers of many children; single father or mother; for the maintenance of minor children during the search for their parents; pensioners and disabled people of group I to care for them; victims for additional food, sanatorium treatment, prosthetics and expenses for their care in case of harm to health; for alimony obligations;
4) for working with harmful conditions labor or in extreme situations, as well as citizens exposed to radiation due to disasters or accidents at nuclear power plants, and in other cases, established by law RF;
5) organization in connection with the birth of a child, the death of relatives, the registration of marriage, as well as severance pay, paid upon dismissal of an employee (Article 69 of the Federal Law of July 21, 1997 No. 119-FZ “On Enforcement Proceedings”; hereinafter referred to as the Law on Enforcement Proceedings).

Compensation for damage is made regardless of whether the employee is brought to disciplinary, administrative or criminal liability (Part 6 of Article 248 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). Thus, a combination of sanctions is possible.

Note!

It is possible to simultaneously bring the employee to material and disciplinary or (criminal or administrative) liability

Article 240 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation gives the employer the right to refuse to recover damages from the employee. However, the owner of the organization’s property may limit this right in cases provided for by federal laws, other regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation, laws, other regulatory legal acts of constituent entities of the Russian Federation, regulatory legal acts of local government bodies, and the constituent documents of the organization. This is also stated in the resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated November 16, 2006 No. 52 “On the application by courts of legislation regulating the financial liability of employees for damage caused to the employer.”

The Labor Code of the Russian Federation also provides a general procedure for when it is possible to deduct from an employee’s salary by order of the employer - on what grounds and to what extent (Articles 137 and 138). The establishment of such a procedure is the most important guarantee of remuneration for an employee (Article 130 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation) and, in general, the most important guarantee of his labor rights

. undisputed order of deduction from wages

The employee’s obligations, for which deduction from his salary is possible, can be divided into the following:
1) obligations to the state (for example, clause 4 of Article 226 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation: withholding by the tax agent of the amount of income tax individuals; Art. 43 of the Criminal Executive Code of the Russian Federation: deduction from the earnings of a person sentenced to correctional labor of amounts established by a court verdict);
2) obligations to third parties: compensation for harm caused to the health of another person, compensation for harm to persons who suffered damage in connection with the death of the breadwinner, compensation for damage caused by a crime (Article 138 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation), as well as withholding alimony on the basis of a writ of execution or a notarized agreement on the payment of alimony (Article 109 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation). In these cases, deductions are made indisputably.

An indisputable order is provided for the retention of damage caused, but, as mentioned above, with certain conditions. In the case of reimbursement of an unearned advance payment issued to an employee on account of wages (paragraph 1, part 2, article 137 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation), no retention period is established. What is considered the debt repayment period (advance repayment) in this case? After all, it is not supposed to return this advance, so to speak, in kind, but to work it off.

The deadline in this case is determined by the situation itself: the employee is given an advance on his salary, say, for the current month. A month has been worked, which means the debt has been repaid. Therefore, the deadline for making deductions must be counted from the end of the month for which the salary will be calculated.

True, it is not very clear how the employer should find out that the employee does not dispute the grounds and amounts of deductions. The ideal situation is when the employee knows that the employer is going to withhold any amounts from his salary, and does not dispute (or dispute) this fact. However, in most cases, the employee learns about the fact and amount of deduction already when it is made.

Let us note that the provision of Art. 137 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation is interpreted by some experts as a requirement of the employer to certainly notify the employee that a deduction will be made on such and such a basis and in such and such an amount (i.e., in essence, ask his consent).

Absence in Art. 137 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, instructions on the need to obtain the written consent of the employee allows us to assume that the employee is considered not challenging the withholding until he notifies the employer about it.

recovery of damages under certain conditions

In the following cases, although deductions are made, they are subject to a one-month period and provided that the employee does not dispute their basis and amount:
1) to repay an unspent and not returned timely advance payment issued in connection with a business trip or transfer to another job in another area, as well as in other cases. If an employee fails to report for a business trip in a timely manner within three days, the accountable amounts may be withheld from him. However, if the employee repays the debt (even in violation of the deadline), the employer is obliged to reimburse them;
2) to return amounts overpaid to the employee due to accounting errors, as well as amounts overpaid to the employee, if the body for the consideration of individual labor disputes recognizes the employee’s guilt in failure to comply with labor standards (Part 3 of Article 155 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation) or downtime (Part 3 Article 157 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). By counting we mean an arithmetic error;
3) upon dismissal of an employee before the end of the working year for which he has already received annual paid leave for unworked vacation days. Deduction for these days is not made if the employee is dismissed on the grounds provided for in paragraph 8 of Part 1 of Art. 77 or paragraphs. 1, 2 or 4 hours. 1 tbsp. 81, pp. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 tbsp. 83 Labor Code of the Russian Federation. In this case, the employer’s right to go to court is not contained either by the Labor Code of the Russian Federation (Article 391), or by the Rules on regular and additional leaves (clause 2), approved by the People’s Commissariat of Labor of the USSR on April 30, 1930 No. 169 and valid to the extent that does not contradict the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. At the same time, in paragraph 1 of Art. 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation states that an interested person has the right to go to court for the protection of violated or disputed rights, freedoms or legitimate interests. Finally, Art. 8 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation establishes equal protection of all forms of property;
4) if the wages were overpaid to the employee in connection with his unlawful actions established by the court. It does not matter whether the employee is subject to any type of legal liability.

salary deduction limits

Article 138 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation establishes the limits of deduction from wages.

The total amount of all deductions for each payment of wages cannot exceed 20%, and in cases provided for by federal laws - 50% of wages due to the employee.

Note!

When deducting from wages under several executive documents, the employee must in any case retain 50% of the wages

According to Art. 66 of the Law on Enforcement Proceedings, deductions from wages and other types of income of the debtor are made in a limited amount in the following cases:
1. When executing a debtor’s writ of execution, no more than 50% of wages and equivalent payments and distributions may be withheld until the amounts collected are fully repaid.
2. When deducting from wages and equivalent payments and payments under several executive documents, the employee must retain 50% of the wages.
3. Limitations on the amount of deduction from wages and equivalent payments and distributions established by paragraphs. 1 and 2 of this article do not apply to the collection of alimony for minor children, compensation for harm caused to health, compensation for harm to persons who suffered damage as a result of the death of the breadwinner, and compensation for damage caused by a crime. In these cases, the amount of deductions from wages and equivalent payments and distributions cannot exceed 70%.
4. The rules established by this article also apply to the collection of scholarships, pensions, remuneration due to the debtor for the use by the author of his copyright, the right to a discovery, an invention for which copyright certificates have been issued, as well as for an innovation proposal and an industrial design for which certificates have been issued .

Commentary on Article 138

1. This article establishes the maximum amount of deductions from wages, limiting it to a certain proportion of paid earnings. These restrictions are intended to provide special protection for wages, which are the main or even the only source of livelihood not only for the employee, but often for his family members, and thereby guarantee that wages fulfill their socio-economic function.

2. As a general rule, for each payment of wages, no more than 20% of the total amount for all types of deductions can be withheld. This withholding limitation applies in all cases unless otherwise provided by federal law.

Employer-mandated withholdings may under no circumstances exceed 20%.

3. The amount of deductions should not exceed 50% of wages in cases where deductions are made on the basis of an executive document. Executive documents mean the documents specified in Art. 7 of the Federal Law “On Enforcement Proceedings”: writs of execution issued by courts; court orders; resolutions of bodies (officials) authorized to consider cases of administrative offenses; notarized agreements on payment of alimony; orders of the bailiff.

4. Part 2 art. 138 of the Labor Code introduces an additional restriction: if deductions are made on the basis of several executive documents, then the total amount of deductions still cannot exceed 50% of the employee’s earnings.

5. The amount of deductions should not exceed 70% of wages in cases where deductions are made when:

Serving correctional labor based on a court verdict;

Collection of alimony for minor children;

Compensation for harm caused to the health of another person;

Compensation for damage to persons who suffered damage due to the death of the breadwinner;

Compensation for damage caused by a crime.

6. In accordance with Art. 50 of the Criminal Code, when imposing a sentence in the form of correctional labor, deductions are made from the earnings of the convicted person in the amount of 5 to 20%. If, along with this, deductions are made for other reasons, then the total amount of deductions cannot exceed 70% of earnings.

7. In accordance with Art. Art. 80 and 81 of the Family Code, if parents do not provide maintenance to their minor children, funds for the maintenance of children (alimony) are collected in court, and the amount of alimony is determined either by the share of earnings (one quarter for one child, one third for two and half for three or more, and this amount can be increased and decreased by the court taking into account the financial situation of the debtor, the children for whose maintenance alimony is being sought, and his other minor children), or, if the debtor does not have a regular income, by a fixed amount. Furthermore, in accordance with Art. Art. 100 and 103 of the SK, it is possible to conclude a notarized agreement on the payment of alimony, which must establish the amount of alimony for minor children no less than that provided for in Art. 81 SK. Thus, the amount of alimony collected for minor children may be equal to 50% of earnings. If other deductions are also made, their total amount cannot exceed 70% of earnings.

The increased amount of restrictions on deductions from wages applies to the collection of alimony only for minor children. When collecting alimony for the maintenance of other persons (disabled parents, spouses, adult but disabled children, etc.) on the basis of executive documents, the total amount of deductions cannot exceed 50% of earnings.

8. In accordance with Art. 1085 of the Civil Code, if a citizen is injured or his health is damaged, his lost income and additional expenses incurred in connection with this are subject to compensation. Compensation for this damage is made in monthly payments (Article 1092 of the Civil Code), which is possible only through deductions from wages. The total amount of deductions cannot exceed 70% of earnings.

9. In case of death of a citizen in accordance with Art. 1088 of the Civil Code, the right to compensation for property damage arising from this is given to dependent persons and certain other persons. The share of the deceased's income that the dependents received or had the right to receive for their maintenance during his lifetime is subject to compensation (Article 1089 of the Civil Code). The total amount of deductions from the wages of the tortfeasor in this case can also be up to 70% of earnings.

10. If the damage was caused by a crime, which should clearly follow from the content of the writ of execution, up to 70% of earnings is also subject to deductions.

11. In accordance with Art. 65 of the Federal Law "On Enforcement Proceedings" deductions are made from wages due for delivery to the debtor, i.e. after taxes are withheld.

If the amount of the debtor's wages is not enough to satisfy the demands of all claimants, it is distributed among them in the order established by Art. 78 of the Federal Law “On Enforcement Proceedings”: first of all, claims for the collection of alimony, compensation for damage caused to health, as well as compensation for damage to persons who suffered damage as a result of the death of the breadwinner are satisfied, and then all other claims. If the amount of wages subject to withholding is not enough to satisfy the demands of the claimants of one queue, then it is distributed among them in proportion to the amount due to each of them.

12. A similar procedure for withholding applies to other types of income of the debtor, including those paid by the employer (monetary remuneration under contract agreements, royalties and other remuneration, income from securities, etc.).

Collection of social insurance benefits (temporary disability, pregnancy and childbirth, child care during leave until the child reaches the age of one and a half years) is carried out only by a court decision, a court order for the collection of alimony or a notarized agreement on the payment of alimony or by a court decision on compensation for damage caused to health and compensation for harm to persons who suffered damage as a result of the death of the breadwinner (Article 68 of the Federal Law “On Enforcement Proceedings”).

13. Part 4 art. 138 of the Labor Code contains an additional restriction on deductions from wages, prohibiting them from being made from those payments that are not subject to collection in accordance with federal law. The list of such payments is established by Art. 69 of the Federal Law "On Enforcement Proceedings". A number of them relate to wages or are paid by the employer. These include:

Payments to compensate for harm caused to health, as well as compensation for harm to persons who suffered damage as a result of the death of the breadwinner;

Payments in connection with the birth of a child; mothers of many children; victims of an industrial accident for additional food, sanatorium treatment, prosthetics and expenses for their care;

Payments for work under hazardous working conditions or in extreme situations, as well as for citizens exposed to radiation as a result of disasters or accidents at nuclear power plants;

Payments made by the organization in connection with the birth of a child, the death of relatives, and the registration of marriage;

Severance pay paid upon dismissal of an employee.