A mobilised employee

What is happening

The first instinct in an HR department is to process a dismissal or unpaid leave. Both are wrong. On call-up under mobilisation the employment contract is not terminated but suspended: the employee keeps their job and their post, and the employment relationship continues in a special form.

Practical questions follow. On what documents should the order be issued when all the company has is word from the family? What must be paid and when, how is the timesheet closed, what happens to advances, company property and system access? How is the work reallocated, and may someone be taken on for the period?

The return is a separate matter. The employee has the right to come back, and the company must provide the former post on the former terms. If the structure has changed in the meantime, the post has been cut and the duties reassigned, the issue surfaces in the middle of a dispute. Thinking the procedure through in advance removes most of those arguments.

What the law says

• The Labour Code provides for suspension of the employment contract for the period of military service on call-up under mobilisation; the contract is not terminated.
• For the period of suspension the employee keeps their job and their post, together with a number of guarantees set by law.
• The employer must make payment to the employee for the period worked, in the manner and within the time limits set by law.
• The period of suspension counts towards the length of service giving entitlement to leave, under the rules of the Labour Code.
• The employee has the right to return to work after service ends, having given the employer notice within the prescribed period, and retains guarantees for a set time after returning.
• Federal Laws 53-FZ on military duty and 31-FZ on mobilisation preparation govern the organisation's registration duties and the information it reports to the military commissariat.

What we do

• We review the documents the company has received and identify a sufficient basis for the order suspending the employment contract.
• We prepare the HR file: the order, the notices, the timesheet entries and the calculation and arrangements for payment.
• We set out how the duties are reallocated: combining roles, a temporary transfer, or engaging someone for a fixed term.
• We prepare the documents on advances, company property, system access and the employee's work correspondence.
• We set out how the company deals with the employee's family, having regard to Federal Law 152-FZ on personal data.
• We prepare the plan for the employee's return, including where the company's structure has changed in the meantime.

What we need from the company

• The documents the company has received in connection with the call-up, and a record of how they were received.
• The employment contract, any variations to it and the employee's job description.
• Details of untaken leave, outstanding advances, company property issued and system access granted.
• The timesheet and the figures needed to calculate the payments due.
• The staffing table and information on who could take over the employee's duties.
• Current military registration documents and contact details of the responsible member of staff.