Summer is the traditional time of leave allowances. And although, as it seems to us, we already know all about the order of their provision, in practice there are many issues that can not be resolved immediately. We are going to considerthe issues related to the provision of leave, which should be remembered by both workers and employers.
Leave schedule
As it is known, the company should have approved leaves schedule. The priority of their provision is determined by the schedules approved by the owner or authorized body by him/her in agreement with the elective body of the primary trade union organization (trade union representative) or other authorized representative of the labor collective body, and brought to the attention of all employees (para. 10 of Art. 10 of the Law of Ukraine “On leave allowances” of November 15, 1996 No. 504/96-ВР (hereinafter − Law No. 504) and sec. 4 of Article 79 of the Labor Code − hereinafter the Labor Code). When preparing the schedules, it should be taken into account the interests of production, personal interests of workers and opportunities for their rest. It should be also noted that certain categories of workers on the list from sec. 13 of Art. 10 of Law No. 504 have the right to leave time convenient for them at their request.
Specific deadlines of preparing and the procedure of registration of leave schedules are not established by the legislation. Consequently, the company can independently agree on the procedure for preparing leave schedule by internal documents − in a collective agreement or rules of internal labor regulations, decrees, orders, etc.
In accordance with para. 20 of the Model Rules of the internal labor regulations for workers and employees of enterprises, institutions, organizations approved by the agreement with the All-Union Central Soviet of Trade Unions by the decision of the State Labor Service of the USSR dated 20.06.1984, No. 213, the schedule of leave should be drawn up for each calendar year not later than January 5 of the current year. However, the later date of drawing up the schedule will not be a violation, if it is specified in the accounting policy of the company.
Norms of legislation do not establish the forms of the schedule of provision of leaves. Therefore, the employer can independently develop the form of such a document (letter of the Ministry of Labor of 13.05.2010, No. 140/13/116-10). Leave schedules must be brought to the information of all employees. That is, the employer must familiarize all employees with it via signature. As a rule, the month of the beginning of the leave use is indicated in the schedule of leaves. The specific period of annual leave allowance within the limits established by the schedule is agreed between the worker and the owner or an authorized body (sec. 11, Article 10 of Law No. 504).
During planning, it is also possible to take into account the provision of part-time leaves by agreement between the employer and the employee. But it is necessary to follow the rule on the continuous part of the leave. Thus, the main part of the leave should be not less than 14 calendar days.
Leave registration
The owner (authorized by him or her authority) is obliged to inform the employee in writing about the date of commencement of the leave not later than two weeks before the time schedule set. The form of such notice is not established by normative documents, therefore it can be arbitrary form. It is also considered that the employee was notified in writing of the leave, if he/she signed the leave order.
Leave allowance should be registered on the basis of an employee’s application. He/she indicates the start date of the annual leave and its duration in it.
If the employee goes on leave in a scheduled time period, then the application for leave should not be submitted. The employer is entitled to issue an order on the provision of leave to the employee without application of the employee, within the limits set by the schedule of leave provision.
Provision of annual leave is issued by order using the model form No. П-3 “Order (decree) on the provision of leave” approved by the order of the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine “On Approval of Typical Forms of Primary Accounting Documentation on Labor Statistics” of 05.12.2008, No. 489. But this form is of a recommendatory nature, so the order may be issued in an arbitrary form.
Leave postponing
An employee has the right to submit an application addressed to the head of the company on the division of annual leave into parts or the postponing of leave.
On the basis of para. 2 of Art. 11 of Law No. 504 the employer must postpone the annual leave on the application of the employee for another period, or continue in the case of:
- temporary incapacity of the worker, certified in accordance with the established procedure;
- performance by the employee of public or public duties, if, according to the law, he/she is liable to release from his/her main job with salary preservation;
- maturity of leave due to pregnancy and childbirth;
- coincidence of annual leave with leave in connection with training.
Recall from leave
To recall an employee from annual leave is possible only with his/her consent and only in cases stipulated by the legislation (Article 79 of the Labor Code and Article 12 of the Law No. 504). Namely:
- for the prevention of a natural disaster, industrial accident or the immediate elimination of its consequences;
- to prevent accidents, work stoppages, loss of life or damage to property of the company.
In this case, the basic continuous part of the leave must be not less than 14 calendar days.
Unused part of annual leave must be given to the employee after the expiration of the reasons for which the worker has been recall from the leave, or the agreement of the parties is postponed to another period with observance of the requirements of Art. 12 of the Law No. 504.
