Agree, getting used to something new is always difficult. But it’s even more difficult for the personnel department employees, who must not only rename the organization in all the most important documents for the organization, but also, most importantly, in the work books of permanent employees, making changes to the entries in the work book about transfer to another position. We will tell you in our article how exactly this should happen and on what basis and in what form.
In what cases does the name of a legal entity change?
According to paragraph 3 of Art. 1473 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, each organization must have a name, which is indicated in the charter documents. But sometimes in the course of a company’s activities situations arise when it has to change its name. The reasons for this can be very different:
- reorganization with the separation of a new legal entity or, conversely, the merger of two enterprises;
- the owner’s desire to change the old company name to a more sonorous one;
- change in the organizational and legal form of ownership.
Regardless of the reason for changing the name, first of all it is necessary to make changes to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and statutory documents - only after this the company will be considered renamed.
Changing the name entails the need to make appropriate changes in the organization’s documents, including personnel documents.
Think before you name
There are a number of legal requirements for the name of an organization, and along with them, unwritten rules, compliance with which will not only avoid mistakes when registering a name, but also increase its effectiveness.
Is it necessary to make changes to the loan agreement in connection with a change in the name of the borrower organization ?
Any organization has a full and abbreviated name, distinguished by the decoding of its legal form: LLC, CJSC, State Unitary Enterprise, Municipal Unitary Enterprise, OJSC, JSCB, etc. (Article 54 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).
Some organizations are required to indicate in their name the nature of their main activities:
- credit organizations - the name must use the word “bank”, “banking”, etc., and if it is contained in the abbreviation of the full name, for example AKB, it is no longer necessary to insert it into its name;
- insurance companies - you need to use word forms of the words “insurance”, “reinsurance”, “insurance broker”, etc.;
- pawnshops, exchanges – it is necessary to use these words and/or their forms in the name;
- Non-profit organizations (religious, public, consumer, etc.) by their name must indicate what they do.
ATTENTION! The word “clearing” in the name may be used exclusively by clearing organizations and no others. Similar requirements apply to the words “exchange” and “microfinance organization”.
The following cannot be included in the title:
- words denoting government bodies at any level (except for organizations established with the participation of the state);
- previously registered names of international and intergovernmental associations;
- words and combinations that do not meet the requirements of morality, humanism, and the interests of society.
Some words require special permission to be used in the title.
The organization must be named exclusively in the state (Russian) language. This requirement does not exclude the possibility of using foreign words, but only in Russian transcription.
IMPORTANT! The name of the organization is considered registered and “occupied” from a legal point of view from the moment it is entered into the Unified State Register of Legal Entities. Only from this moment can it begin to be used for its intended purpose: indicated in advertising, on product packaging, in documentation, etc.
Grounds for making changes to the work book
According to the Rules for maintaining work books, from 09/01/2021 approved by Order of the Ministry of Labor dated 05/19/2021 No. 320n, the work book of each employee must contain the full name of the organization and an abbreviated version (if available).
This means that after the company where the employee works has changed its name, this must be reflected in the work book.
Find out more about the procedure for filling out work books here.
The basis for making changes to the work book will be the internal administrative document on the change of name. This could be a protocol, resolution, decision, etc.
Only after the publication of this document can new entries be made in the work book.
As of September 1, 2021, the rules for filling out work books have been changed. See all the nuances of the new order in the Ready-made solution from ConsultantPlus. Trial access is available for free.
New sample work books must be used from 01/01/2023. Whether it is necessary to exchange old workers for new ones and what to do with the old-style forms unused by 2023, read here.
Should an internal order be issued to change a record?
An internal order is one of the main documents of the company. Accordingly, it must be published before making new entries in work books. Every employee should know that the records have a basis in the form of an appropriate document. Usually the order is issued one day before changes are made to the work books. Note that we are talking specifically about an order to rename an organization, and not about an order to make any entries in work books.
The name change should not in any way affect the activities of employees. They are obliged to fulfill their labor obligations in good faith. But the HR department employee is obliged to ensure that entries are made correctly in work books.
Basic requirements for making entries in the work book
When making changes to an employee’s work book, you must be guided by the Rules for filling out work books:
- Entries in the work book are made with light-resistant ink (paste, paint, gel) in black, blue or violet; the use of other colors is unacceptable. Also, from 09/01/2021, entries can be made in whole or in part using technical means by transferring dyes or in the form of a stamp (seal). By transfer of dyes it is meant that records can be printed on a printer (letter of the Ministry of Labor dated 06.29.2021 No. 14-6/OOG-5976).
- The entry must be made in legible handwriting, without factual or spelling errors.
- All numerical entries are entered only in Arabic numerals: the day and month are two-digit, the year is four-digit.
- All entries must be entered in full; abbreviations are not allowed. It is not allowed to write “pr.” instead of “order”, “order” instead of “order”, “trans.” instead of "translated".
- You cannot make corrections in records by crossing out or shading an error, and you cannot use a proofreader.
All these rules will equally apply to changes in the name of the organization.
Filling out a work book when renaming an organization
Filling out a work book upon a change in the name of the institution is the authority of an employee of the HR department.
It is he who must be responsible for the correct entry into the work record and therefore, as a result, must be responsible for the employee’s work record as a whole.
Filling in when renaming an organization, as we have already found out, is a mandatory step and requires special care, because an incorrectly entered entry can lead to unnecessary deletions in the work record and even the need to change it.
An entry in the work book must meet several criteria. Firstly, it must be absolutely understandable to all citizens reading it. Secondly, this entry should be concise.
Thirdly, the entry must be made in blue or black ink.
Only by following these tips can you make the correct entry in your employee’s work book.
The entry is made in a specially designated place. To find it, you just need to open the first spread of the work book and turn the page.
You will see a work form in front of you, which will be divided into several columns. In the first of them you must put a serial number, which follows immediately after the last one left.
Be sure to enter the date that corresponds to the date the entry was made.
The next column is the largest. In it we enter important information regarding changes to the name of the organization.
Then in the next column we write the order number, as well as the date it was issued. In this case, we mean the order that was issued to the organization by the employer as a fact of confirmation of the change in the name of the organization.
Only after this a new seal of the organization is placed on the record, as well as the mandatory signature of the director of the organization or the employer.
Formulation and example of recording
Many personnel officers are tormented by the question of how it is still necessary to correctly fill out such an entry in the work book . In fact, many of them are too lazy to look at the special instructions for personnel officers and look at the filling standards in the articles.
Therefore, we will tell you here what the entry should look like. If you are an employee or employer, such information will also help you. You can check the correct spelling right there in the HR department and, if possible, you can redo the entry.
So, the entry should be formatted as follows. It contains the name of the old organization, then the date when the name was changed, and finally the new name. In general, the entry should look like this: “Dandelion LLC 10/14/2015 Renamed to Buttercup LLC.”
Only such an entry and precisely in this order according to the Labor Code can be considered correct.
The procedure for making an entry about changing the name of the employer in the work book
The information is entered in the empty line that follows the last entry, regardless of what kind of entry it is (for example, about admission and dismissal from external part-time work).
In this case, columns 1 and 2 of the work book are not filled out.
In the 3rd column of the work book, where information about the work is indicated, an entry about the renaming is made: “Organization (name, date of renaming) was renamed (new name of the organization).”
Column 4 provides the basis for the renaming - an order (instruction) of the employer or other decision, its date and number.
The procedure for recording information about making changes to the work book when changing the name of the organization is regulated by clause 13 of the Procedure for maintaining work books and does not depend on the form of ownership of the organization.
How should an entry be made in the work book?
To make an entry in the work book about renaming an organization, you must perform the following step-by-step steps:
- Extract all employee work books from the organization’s personal files archive.
- Read in detail the order to change the company name.
- The work book opens on the spread on which the last entry about the employee’s enrollment was made.
- In the leftmost column the serial number of the entry is indicated;
- Next, the date of the entry is set, for example “02/1/2017”.
- In the third column you need to write the old name of the organization, then the date the name was changed and the new name. For example, “LLC Burenka. 02/1/2017 Ovtsepas LLC.”
- After this, the company’s seal and the director’s signature are affixed.
- The date and order number must be indicated in the lower right corner.
The process of making an entry in the work book does not depend in any way on the form of the legal entity (LLC, OJSC, CJSC). The rules are the same for everyone. Here is a sample entry about renaming an organization in a work book. It is still relevant in 2022:
An employee of the HR department should be responsible for filling out work books. It is he who is responsible for the safety and completion of labor. The entry should be as clear as possible, concisely written, without any crossing out or corrections.
Nuances of making an entry in the work book about renaming an organization
Depending on the reason for the change of employer's name, in some cases not all employees will need to change records.
Example
A reorganization took place, and the Romashka enterprise merged with the Nezabudka enterprise. Accordingly, the new legal entity will now bear the name “Romashka”. Only Nezabudka employees will need to make changes to the work book; Romashka employees will not need to make new entries, since the name of their employer has not changed.
This example should not be confused with a situation where one organization is liquidated and its employees are transferred to another. In this case, there will be no record of the change. The employee will need to be fired from one enterprise and hired into another, indicating the grounds.
In what situations is the renaming of a company reflected in the work book?
There may be several reasons for recording a change in the company name, for example:
- the scope of activity or structure of the company has changed;
- the legal form has changed;
- there was a reorganization, absorption or division of the company.
In each of the listed cases, the name change must be recorded in the employees’ work books. In simple terms, any changes in the name in the constituent documentation are reflected in the labor documentation. They must be entered immediately, immediately after the relevant order is issued.
Common mistakes when making an entry about changing the company name
When making an entry, the following errors may be made:
- Inserting the serial number of the entry in column 1. From clause 10 of the Procedure it follows that only records containing information about work are numbered: admission, transfer, assignment of a new specialty and dismissal.
- Putting in column 2 the date of making the entry or the date of changing the name of the organization - in this case, the date of renaming will be indicated in column 3.
- Certification of the entry made with a seal - the organization’s seal is affixed only upon dismissal of an employee.
These errors are not serious, and therefore, if they are made, corrections are not made.
Major errors that need to be corrected include the following:
- factual error in the name of the old or new name of the organization;
- an error in the date of renaming the organization;
- an error in the entry on the basis for making changes.
These errors must be corrected as soon as they are discovered.
Algorithm for correcting mistakes
The procedure for correcting errors in a record of renaming an organization:
- An incorrect entry is not crossed out; the correct data is entered below.
- The next blank line indicates: “There was an error in the name (record).”
- Then the correct entry is made - completely, even if an error was made in the order details.
The correction is not certified by either a seal or a signature.
For a sample of such an entry, see the typical situation from ConsultantPlus. If you do not have access to the K+ system, get trial online access for free.
Corrections can be made at any stage of the work, even if other entries have already been made after the entry where the error was made.
You can read more about this in the article “How to make a correction in a work book - sample.
Results
When renaming an organization, entries in employee work books must be made without fail.
Changes are made only after the new name is recorded in the statutory documents. The basis for making an entry in the work book is an internal order on renaming and the need to make changes to internal documents. Changes are made in the manner established by the Instructions for filling out work books. You can find more complete information on the topic in ConsultantPlus. Free trial access to the system for 2 days.
Regulatory documents
Despite the fact that renaming an organization in workers’ work books falls within the spectrum of labor relations, alas, this time the labor code is not of any help to us. It is successfully replaced by the civil code, article 54 of which states that each organization must have its own established name.
If a change such as a change of name occurs in an organization, then Article 52, paragraph 3, . It states that before an organization is considered renamed, it must be renamed in its constituent documents.
The Civil Code also contains information about in what cases the name may change. In addition to the banal desire of the employer to find a bright name, such an action may be associated with reorganization, merger, accession, division, acquisition and other actions that occur during the interaction of two or more large organizations.
In this case, the name changes not only at the whim of the founders, but also for reasons of the new structural unit of the single enterprise and each organization separately.
The instructions for maintaining and storing work books established by the government of our country, as well as internal instructions for personnel department employees, will tell us how to enter information into work books that the name of the enterprise has changed
Based on these three acts, we will consider the problematic issue, and most importantly, we will give examples of correctly filling out the labor form.
