You can file a complaint against an unscrupulous employer paying "gray" or "black" wages to the following authorities: prosecutor's office; court; tax inspection; labor inspection.
1. Methods of payment of wages
There are three ways to pay wages:
- "White" salary: the full amount of earnings is indicated in the employment contract, taxes and insurance premiums are charged and paid in full;
- "Black" salary: an employment contract with the employee is not concluded, the salary is not recorded anywhere, reports are not submitted, taxes and insurance premiums for the employee are not charged or paid. This salary is usually paid in cash;
- "Gray" salary: consists of two parts - "white" and "black". The labor contract indicates the minimum amount, which is recorded in the accounting documentation. Taxes and contributions are charged and paid from it. The rest of the part is received by the worker unofficially, i.e. "In an envelope".
2. Which organizations can I apply to with a complaint against the employer?
You can file a complaint against an unscrupulous employer paying "gray" or "black" wages to the following authorities:
- tax inspection;
- labor inspection;
- the prosecutor's office;
- court.
When contacting the tax office, labor inspectorate or prosecutor's office:
- write a statement in any form;
- attach copies of available evidence of a violation of the law.
When going to court:
prepare a statement of claim containing the following data:
- the amount of wage arrears;
- demand for the collection of interest for late payment of earnings;
- claim for compensation for moral damage;
- reimbursement of expenses for legal services;
- other costs associated with litigation;
- the requirement to indicate in the documents the real amount of wages.
In order for an employer to be held accountable for violating labor laws, one must first prove that he committed illegal actions.
As evidence, you can use:
- statements confirming the accrual and issuance of "gray" salaries;
- calculation sheets;
- salary certificates issued by an accountant to an employee (for example, for obtaining a loan from a bank);
- advertisements for the search for employees posted on the Internet or in newspapers (if they indicate the size of the salary);
- information on the average salary for this profession in the region (according to Rosstat data);
- witness's testimonies;
- audio and video recordings or photographs fixing the illegal payment of wages;
- other evidence.
What do we have to do:
- do not rush to quit;
- request a certificate of real wages in the accounting department (for example, for a loan);
- find witnesses who can confirm the payment of "gray" or "black" wages;
- collect other evidence (the more the better).
3. How you can file a complaint anonymously
Many workers want to anonymously file a complaint against their employer so that colleagues and the employer do not find out about this fact. Unfortunately this is not possible. According to Federal Law No. 59 "On Citizens' Appeals", when contacting the police, prosecutor's office or court, a citizen is obliged to indicate his data: last name, first name, patronymic, as well as postal address. But the applicant has the opportunity to demand anonymity during the proceedings.
You can send a complaint in several ways:
- hand over documents in person;
- send by mail (by a valuable letter with an inventory and return receipt);
- send an application through the organization's website.
If you need to submit a complaint anonymously, when sending documents in any way, the letter must contain the following phrase: "I ask you not to disclose the applicant's personal data to the employer."
The law prohibits disclosing information about the complainant without his consent, however, in practice, employees of the reviewing organization are not responsible for disclosing such information, so there is no guarantee that the information about the employee who wrote the complaint will not become known to the employer. However, this does not mean that the leak was deliberately organized. When considering an application, it is often necessary to obtain some documents from the employer. At the same time, it is prohibited by law to require documents for verification that are not related to the complaint under consideration. Therefore, the inspector has to request documents related to the employee who wrote the application.
4. Employee's responsibility for "gray" or "black" wages
Responsibility for illegal payment of wages is borne not only by the employer, but also by the employee. According to Art. 228 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, if the income tax has not been withheld by the tax agent from the income received, the citizen is obliged to submit a 3 personal income tax declaration to the tax office by April 30 of the next year and pay tax by July 15.
An employee can be held liable if it is proven that:
- he knows that income tax is not withheld from wages and contributions are not charged;
- if there was a conspiracy between the employee and the employer on the illegal payment of wages.
If the declaration has not been submitted, and taxes have not been paid, the citizen may be brought to tax liability (Article 219 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation):
- the entire amount of tax to be transferred to the budget will be collected;
- penalties have been charged for each day of delay;
- a fine of 5% of the amount of unpaid tax was charged for each full and incomplete month of delay (not less than 1,000 rubles, but not more than 30% of the amount of tax to be paid).
If a violation is committed on a large or especially large scale or a repeated violation of the law, the employee may also be brought to criminal liability under Art. 198 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation:
Committing a crime on a large scale (if the amount of unpaid tax for three years exceeded 900 thousand rubles):
- a fine in the amount of 100 to 300 thousand rubles. or in the amount of the convicted person's income for a period from 1 to 2 years;
- forced labor for up to 1 year;
- arrest for up to 6 months;
- imprisonment for up to 1 year.
Committing a crime on an especially large scale (if the amount of unpaid tax for three years exceeded 4 500 thousand rubles):
- a fine in the amount of 200 to 500 thousand rubles. or in the amount of the convicted person's income for a period from 18 months to 3 years;
- forced labor for up to 3 years;
- imprisonment for up to 3 years.
Other consequences of illegal payment of wages for an employee:
- the minimum amount of pension, sick leave, vacation pay, severance pay;
- the amount of earnings is not fixed in the employment contract, so the employer can at any time stop paying the "gray" or "black" salary or reduce it;
- if the certificate indicates the minimum amount of earnings ("gray" salary), the bank will refuse to issue a loan for a large amount or a mortgage;
- when receiving a salary, it is unofficially impossible to receive a social or property tax deduction.
5. They want to assign all responsibility for "gray" or "black" wages to the employer
Currently, the payment of income tax at the expense of the tax agent, which is the employer, is prohibited. But the State Duma adopted in the first reading a bill containing amendments to the Tax Code, according to which if during a tax audit the fact of unlawful non-withholding or partial withholding of personal income tax is established and the tax is charged additionally, the employer will pay this amount at his own expense. In this case, the employee does not have to pay anything.
At the same time, the amounts of income tax paid by a tax agent and additionally assessed as a result of a tax audit do not form the virtual income of an individual.
