Vacation at your own expense: how to properly arrange

Last modified: January 2019

In the event of emergency situations in life, you often have to be absent from work. Employees have the right to ask the employer to provide unpaid leave at their own expense. Depending on the social status of a person and the reasons for the absence, labor legislation provides for a certain number of days that employees can count on, and clarifications are given whether it is possible to demand leave by law.

Unpaid leave is provided in addition to the main one and, unlike the next vacation, needs to be agreed with the management, with the exception of some cases when it is not entitled to refuse. The reasons that are often indicated in the application include important family or personal events, social needs.

How many days can you take

Depending on the status of the employee, the maximum term under the Labor Code differs.

The maximum duration, how many days can be taken per year, is provided for working citizens with a formalized disability group - 60 days, and for participants in the Second World War - 35 days for 1 year.

For citizens who have reached retirement age and continue to work, the period of agreed unpaid absence from the workplace reaches 14 days.
A similar period is provided for citizens of the following categories who are entitled to leave without pay:

• employees who are parents or spouses of military personnel,
• representatives of the structures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs or the fire service;
• representatives of drug control authorities;
• customs officers;
• persons employed in the penitentiary system (criminal correctional institutions), etc.

In other situations, regardless of the position held, status, work in a certain area, employed citizens are provided by law with the prescribed 5 calendar days to register a marriage, at the birth of an heir, or at the death of family members.

Other situations are determined on the basis of the provisions of the collective agreement, federal legislative norms, including the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

When an Employer Cannot Refuse

In most situations, the employer retains the right to agree or refuse to provide additional days to the employee, however, there are circumstances in which the consent of the management is not required.

Based on Article 128 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, leave at their own expense must be agreed in the following situations:

• When applying to persons who have reached retirement age, but continue to work.
• For registration of additional days for the closest relatives of military personnel whose death occurred as a result of the performance of duties (after being wounded, injured, ill).
• If the employee has a disability group.
• At the onset of important events in life - birth, death, wedding, etc.

The legislation has a number of provisions regarding the provision of leave to employees studying at a university, technical school, college, as well as for the period of admission to educational institutions. More details about the categories of persons who have such a right are indicated in Part 2 of Art. 173 and 174 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. Condition - training is conducted on the basis of a state educational institution that has passed accreditation.

If the employee is registered as a part-time job and is going to go on vacation at the main place of employment, the management of the enterprise is not entitled to interfere with the coordination if the annual part-time leave is shorter than the standard period for the main employer, as established by Art. 286 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

According to the provisions of Art. 263 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the right to additional days of absence from work is established for a mother who is raising 2 or more children under the age of 14 alone, or with. The law allows you to get 14 days at your own expense at the first request of the employee.

Can management insist on going on leave without pay?

The main document, according to which further processing takes place, is the application of the employee with or without indicating the reason (if provided by law).

Management does not have the right to prohibit rest if the right to it is determined by law. For other cases, the consent of the administration is required, which will consider the application taking into account the reason indicated in it. If a longer period is requested or the production need requires the presence of a person at the workplace, the manager has the right to reject the request.

Vacation at its own expense should be distinguished from another variety, when an enterprise releases employees on administrative leave on a forced basis, when the volume of tasks performed by the organization decreases. In this case, other rules for calculating pay apply, since the absence from the workplace will be issued as a simple one, with the appointment of payments in the amount of 2/3 of the official salary.

How is it issued

To go on unpaid leave, you must follow the procedure for taking a leave at your own expense and document the event:

1. The employee draws up an application addressed to the head of the organization. The text reflects the reason for the impossibility of being present at the workplace for a specific number of days. Some organizations have their own internal forms, in which it remains only to enter personal information and indicate the reason.
2. The written document is submitted to management for consideration. It is important that the application has an approval visa, which will allow the legal absence of the employee to be perceived as absenteeism with subsequent disciplinary action.
3. To avoid misunderstandings, it is necessary to control the release of the order to provide several days at your own expense. The order is signed by the director of the enterprise.

If circumstances change, the citizen has the right to return and begin work duties ahead of schedule, while the accounting department recalculates the number of days worked per month. Early withdrawal from the agreed leave at the initiative of the employer is possible only with the consent of the employed citizen.

vacation documents

There are three types of documentation related to unpaid leave:

1. Statement. Compiled in free form, using a sample application, or on a special form developed within the enterprise. Of the required details, the following must be present: the name of the head in whose name the appeal is written, the name of the employee, the reasons and grounds under the law. The document is valid only after signing by the applicant with an indication of the date.
2. Documents attached to the application will allow you to quickly obtain permission from the employer. Depending on the reason, the applicant attaches a certificate of death of a relative, date of marriage registration, birth of a child.
3. Order of the director in the form T-6. After obtaining an approval visa, an order is issued on temporary release from duty for an agreed period. Responsible employees are obliged to familiarize the applicant with the order, which is confirmed by the signature. In the absence of this document, the personnel service has the right to dismiss the absent employee for absenteeism or punish in another way.

How is vacation at your own expense reflected in internal documentation

In the event of an agreed absence from the workplace without providing payment, the accounting department and the personnel department are required to make appropriate changes to the reporting:

• put a mark on a personal card in the T-2 form;
• reflect the absence of a person in the time sheet T-12 / T-13 in the form of an encoded record.

Depending on the grounds for granting additional days of rest, the following designations are entered in the time sheet:

• "OD" in the presence of circumstances provided for by law;
• "DO" - by agreement with the management of the enterprise;
• "UD" in case of absence from the workplace due to study;
• "DB" when providing regular additional rest.

What does it affect

Using the right to additional days, the employee loses earnings for the period of his absence, i.e. he retains his place, but wages for the specified period are not accrued.

As a result, the indicators for the amount of earnings and the length of service, often used by accounting departments when calculating sick leave payments, may change.

Intending to use the right to unpaid leave, it must be taken into account that if the employee is absent from work for more than 2 weeks, the employee loses part of the length of service when the next regular leave is subsequently calculated.

For example, if a person was absent for 21 days, then only 7 days will be deducted from the length of service (14 days are not taken into account).

Some employees are worried that the employer will not fire him at the time of absence from the workplace due to unpaid leave. Such fears are unfounded if the management has previously agreed on the employee's departure and the latter does not express a desire to quit on his own. Labor relations can be terminated during a vacation, including unpaid leave, only at the initiative of a person or by mutual agreement between management and an employee (see Articles 78, 80 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). The only exception is the termination of the employer's activities (liquidation).

Annual leave is associated with the need to take a break from work, but often it is not enough to solve other issues (wedding, studying at a university, etc.). In this case, it is appropriate to use the legal right to additional unpaid days, while maintaining the workplace. If the employer refuses to release the employee for good reasons and legal grounds, the citizen has the right to contact the supervisory service for compliance with labor laws. Before contacting the management, check whether the employer can refuse leave in accordance with the provisions of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

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