New standard work book form from September 1, 2022

Discussions about the abolition of work records have been going on for several years. Already in 2017, it was proposed to abolish work books at small enterprises, and later extend the abolition to other employers: why do we need a work book if there is a personalized record, thanks to which the Pension Fund receives data on the length of service of employees? But this bill has not yet been adopted, and it is likely that we will not part with the paper document any time soon. In this article we will talk about work books and how to fill them out.

Why do you need a work book?

When starting a job, each new employee presents his work book to the employer, if he has already worked somewhere before. The work book is the main document about the length of service, reflecting the entire work activity of the employee (Article 66 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). If the person applying for a job has no work experience and has already worked for more than 5 days, the employer is obliged to create a work record book for him.

Today, having work books is convenient for both the employer and the employee:

• Since the work book contains information about each employee’s place of work and positions, incentives for success and reasons for dismissal, the employer can evaluate the candidate’s professional experience and his work path in order to make a decision on hiring him. Without this document, information about the employee’s professional activities and experience can only be seen from resumes and recommendations received from previous places of work, which may be far from objective.
• An employee’s work book is an official “paper” document that confirms his work experience. With electronic document management, technical failures are possible that lead to data loss, which means that the employee will have to prove his experience again.

Extract procedure

To receive an extract, the employee will be required to write a statement about a specific period and submit it to the manager. Based on it, the employer makes a decision to satisfy the employee’s request. If the outcome is positive, the application is marked with the date when the document was reviewed and stamped. The statement is issued by an employee of the HR department with his personal signature. It is not a copy of the entire work book, but only certain pages that display the time period and place of work.

Our website allows extracts from the work record book. Using a convenient search, you can download other documentation that will help resolve issues in various areas. Experienced specialists will provide a sample of filling out the document and advise on any questions that may arise.

Work book form

The form of the work book is established by the Government of the Russian Federation. Today, both old and new forms of work books are in use; it does not matter what year they are valid. These are forms approved in 1938, in 1975 and in 2003. The latest version was approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated April 16, 2003 No. 225, which contains the form of the work book and its insert, the rules for its maintenance, storage, as well as the forms of journals to record the receipt and expenditure of forms and their movement.

The employer must have a blank work book in stock in case of registration of an employee who has not previously worked anywhere. The work book is created once, and if there is no room for new entries in it, then a special insert is filled out. The employer provides himself with such forms by purchasing them in retail. Since each book has its own unique number and printing protection, and only Goznak has the right to print work books, the form can be downloaded on the Internet only for informational purposes, but cannot be used in work as a document.

Latest version of the work book: regulatory framework

As we said above, the form of the new work book form and its insert, as well as the rules for maintaining and storing books, were approved by Order of the Ministry of Labor dated May 19, 2021 No. 320n.

Work books of the new sample, which was approved in 2022, must be used from 01/01/2023. Read more here.

For the new work book form, see ConsultantPlus. If you don't already have access to this legal system, get a trial access. It's free.

If a new employee presents you with an old format book that is still not finished, continue to fill it out. There is no need to change the form to a new one. The unspent supply of work book forms and inserts in them by 2023 can continue to be used until it runs out. This is stated in Government Decree No. 1250 dated July 24, 2021.

Issues of production and acquisition of work record forms are regulated by Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated December 22, 2003 No. 117n.

All questions about filling out are discussed in detail in our article “Instructions for filling out work books.”

General rules for maintaining and storing work books

Working with work books requires special scrupulousness. Even one incorrect date or missed entry can have disastrous consequences for the employee in the future. And all thanks to the special status that the work book has: the Labor Code of the Russian Federation calls it the main document on the employee’s work activity and length of service (Article 66 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). The same article obliges all employers, except individuals who do not have the status of individual entrepreneurs, to keep work books for all employees who have worked in the organization for more than five days.

The exception is external part-time workers: their books are stored and filled out at the place of their main employment.

How to fill out a work book: sample 2020

The general procedure for working with work books is fixed by the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. In addition, there are separate regulations with detailed instructions in this regard:

• rules for maintaining work books, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 225 of April 16, 2003;
• instructions for maintaining work records, approved by Decree of the Ministry of Labor of Russia No. 69 of October 10, 2003.

You can make entries in your employment record only on the basis of official documents. Information about work and awards is entered on the basis of orders and instructions from the employer; the owner’s personal data and information about his professional training are confirmed by a passport, diploma, certificate, etc.

All entries in the main sections must be complete (with serial numbers, dates and links to supporting documents) and correctly formulated. The 2020 work book reflects only the most significant personnel procedures:

• recruitment;
• permanent transfers; layoffs;
• periods of military service;
• renaming the position;
• assignment of a new rank (class, category);
• awards for professional success and merit.

If an error is found in the records (for example, the date is indicated incorrectly or the wording is incorrect), it should be corrected as soon as possible. The correction procedure depends on the type of record. So, if an employee has changed his last name, the previous entry is simply crossed out, and the new one is entered next to it and certified with the date, seal and signature of the personnel officer on the inside cover. Incorrect entries in the main sections are first invalidated, and only then the correct data is entered.

This is what the work book (sample) with the corrected employment record will look like:

Example of correcting a job application: an error in the job title

Mistakes most often made by personnel officers when filling out work books:

• incorrect or inaccurate information about the owner;
• position title that does not correspond to the staffing table;
• use of correction fluids when making corrections;
• reference to the employment contract instead of the employment order in the employment record;
• records of events that should not be reflected in the work book (for example, temporary transfers);
• an incorrectly specified subclause, clause or article of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation in the dismissal record.

How to make a work book when applying for a job

Although a work book is included in the list of mandatory documents required for employment, the employee may simply not have one. If a yesterday’s student who has never worked anywhere before, or an applicant who has lost his employment document, is hired into an organization, the employer, at his request, is obliged to create a new one.

To ensure that the registration of a work book when applying for a job does not result in an administrative fine, adhere to the following rules:

1. Register a written application for a new work book.
2. Use only forms officially purchased by your employer. Do not require the employee to purchase a blank form themselves. Each time you use a new work book form or insert, make a corresponding entry in the accounting book.
3. Do not deduct the cost of the form from an employee's paycheck without his or her consent. Inform him in advance about the need to compensate this amount, discuss all available methods and choose the most convenient one.
4. Fill out the title page first and in the presence of the employee. If you make a mistake at this stage, do not try to correct it: immediately create a new form to replace the damaged one, which must be destroyed.
5. Certify the information on the title page with your signature and seal, put the current date and hand the document to the owner for signature.

This is what a certified work book looks like (photo):

An example of proper title page design

Storage and issue

After getting a job, the employee hands over his work record book to the employer for safekeeping. Since we are talking about a valuable document, the storage conditions must be appropriate. Completed and blank forms are placed in a fireproof cabinet or metal safe. Access to them is limited; to obtain a work book, an application must be written.

The law allows the original document to be issued to the owner only in two cases: for presentation to the Pension Fund or on the day of dismissal. For any other situations, there is an extract or copy certified by the signature of the personnel officer.

The following may be fined for violating the rules for storing work records:

• responsible official - in the amount of 1 to 5 thousand rubles;
• legal entity - in the amount of 30 to 50 thousand rubles;
• individual entrepreneur - in the amount of 1 to 5 thousand rubles.

In what cases may a copy of the work record be needed?

A copy of the work permit may be required in various situations, for example:

• to obtain a loan from a bank,
• for processing social benefits,
• to apply for a pension,
• to obtain a visa, etc.

If a citizen has a certified copy of the work book in his hands, the process of restoring a previously lost document will be greatly simplified. From our article you will learn how to properly prepare a copy of a work book; a sample will be presented below.

Read also: Rules for maintaining work books

Where can I get a copy certified?

How can I get a copy of my work record book so that there are no complaints about it from employees of different departments and banking institutions? A citizen can do this in two ways:

• by contacting the organization in which he currently works;
• by contacting a notary (this option is used if a person does not work anywhere officially, or the organization has been liquidated and the book is in his hands).

Authorized employees have the right to certify copies, incl. manager, chief accountant, personnel department employees. Work books of citizens working for an individual entrepreneur must be certified by the individual entrepreneur himself.

How to make a copy of a work book? The responsibility to prepare copies of work records is usually assigned to the personnel service. The same department is also responsible for their management.

General requirements for the preparation of copies of work records.

A copy of the work book provided by the client is accepted by the bank if the following requirements are met:

1. Each certified page, copy, work book,must contain:
   Seal of the organization.
2. Certification date.
3. FULL NAME. position and handwritten signature (original) of the authorized person who issued the copy on each sheet of the copy.
4. Decryption of the signature of an authorized person.
5. The inscription “Copy is correct.”
6. The last page of the copy of the work book must contain a record that currently working in the organization that issued the copy of the work book (The record is also certified: by the seal of the organization indicating the full name, position and signature (original) of the authorized person who issued the copy).
7. Also on the last page of the copy of the work book the date of registration of the copy must be indicated. A copy of the work book is valid for 30 calendar days from the date of preparation.
8. The last name, first name, patronymic and date of birth indicated in the loan application must strictly correspond to the same data indicated in the work book.
9. The last place of work indicated in the work book must exactly correspond to the place of work declared in the loan application.
10. The period of work at the last place of work stated in the loan application must correspond to the period of work specified in the loan application, based on the date of admission to the last place of work indicated in the work book. The permissible deviation of these terms is 3 months.
11. If the Client’s change of employing organization is caused by a change in the name of this company, this fact must be confirmed by a corresponding entry in the work book.
12. Information about education indicated in the work record book (if any) must correspond to the same information stated in the loan application form. An increase in the Client’s level of education (compared to that indicated on the first page) must be confirmed by relevant entries in the work book (or original education documents).
13. The page of the work book with the Client’s personal data must contain a seal imprint of the enterprise that first issued the work book to the employee, indicating the date of completion (accordingly, a copy of the stamp in the copy of the work book), regardless of the period of registration of the work book.
14. The entry for the last place of work must have the appropriate serial number, date of reception and full name of the enterprise.
15. Based on the entries in the work book, the Client must be an employee of any organization or enterprise, that is, the last entry in the work book cannot be a record of dismissal.
16. According to entries in the work book for the last 3 years, the number of the Order, Directive or other document in accordance with which the employee was hired must be given as the basis for hiring. Similarly, entries in the work book about admission, transfers within a given enterprise and dismissals must be made indicating the documents on the basis of which each action was carried out.

When checking work books, the bank pays attention to the following:

• The date of the first entry coincides with the year of issue of the work book form. Making an entry earlier than the date of issue of the form is a possible sign of forgery (with the exception of duplicates issued in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation). Making the first entry after the cessation of production of work book forms of certain series is not an obstacle to the issuance of a loan, with the exception of old-style work books issued after January 1, 2004.
• Presence/absence of entries on folds (the presence of entries on folds indicates that the entry was made over a copy of the work book,

  
  ).

• Match the series and number on all pages.
• The Client’s age at which work began.
• Frequency of job changes.
• Duration of breaks in work experience when changing jobs.
• Positions previously held.
• Presence/absence of negative dismissal clauses.
• Correspondence between the dates of entry and orders for admission/transfer/dismissal.
• Presence/absence of certification records of an authorized employee of the employing organization using the seal of the employing organization.
• Filling out the title page.
• Presence/absence of seals of all employing organizations that made entries.

Rules for preparing a copy of a document

For a duplicate to have legal significance, it must be correctly certified. To do this, there are certain rules for officially certifying a copy of the work record book.

First, all sheets that have a record are copied. The first sheet is considered to be the basic information of its owner.

There are two ways to certify a document:

• each page separately;
• together all the documents, having fastened them in advance.

In the first option, all necessary marks are made on each sheet. In the second option, the documents are stapled, a small sheet of paper is glued to the place of fastening - a seal, on which all the marks are made.

Correct stitching of sheets

Pages are bound along the left edge. In this case, the pages are numbered, and the quantity is written on the seal. When applying a seal, it is necessary to take into account that the impression must affect the seal and the page of the document.

The copy contains the required marks. These include:

• record “Correct”/“Copy is correct”;
• position of the employee who made the duplicate;
• his signature;
• date of issue of the duplicate;
• entry in the sample work book “currently working”;
• a mark indicating the storage location of the original.

Important! If the last point, as well as all the others, is not observed, the copy is considered invalid.

O or “Copy is correct” can be stamped either using a special imprint or manually. This point is not limited by law.

In organizations with a large document flow, an imprint is usually used

If a legal entity or entrepreneur has a seal, a stamp is placed. According to the provisions of Letter of the Federal Tax Service dated February 28, 2006 No. 28-10/15239, an organization or business may not have a seal legally. In this case, the documents also have legal force.

Sample of filling out a work book 2022

The work book form was approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated April 16, 2003 No. 225.

The samples will show how to fill out a work book (2019) section by section and what the title page should look like.

The document contains three parts:

• title part - basic information about the employee;
• information about work - information about hiring, transfer and dismissal;
• information about awards.

Let's look at how to fill out each part of the book correctly.