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Published: 07/25/2019

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Liquidation of a company is a procedure for terminating the activities of a legal entity, which can occur on a voluntary or compulsory basis. But the liquidation of a company does not relieve the legal entity of the obligation to pay wages and other obligatory payments to its staff.

• What is severance pay upon liquidation of an enterprise?
• Who is entitled to
• Payment procedure
• Employer's liability for late payment of severance pay
• Calculation rules

Bankruptcy of an enterprise payments to employees

Thus, now you need to send a copy of the court decision to collect the debt to the insolvency practitioner, who is obliged to include this requirement in the register, if it is not already included.

Currently, there are often cases of violation of the terms of payment of wages to employees, especially by organizations for which bankruptcy proceedings have been opened. Responsibility for the occurrence of overdue wages in accordance with the Labor Code of the Russian Federation dated December 30, 2001 N 197-FZ (as amended on December 29, 2004) lies with the head of the organization.

Payment of wages in bankruptcy proceedings is made in accordance with the provisions of Art. 134, 136 of the Federal Law of October 26, 2002 No. 127-FZ “On Insolvency (Bankruptcy)”.

It is planned to liquidate the Arsenal company, and therefore it is necessary to pay off the debt to the staff. The initial data is presented in the table. Determine payments due to employees in bankruptcy.

Principles of dismissal in bankruptcy

What will happen to employees if the company goes bankrupt? Since the organization ceases operations, the entire staff will also be dissolved, this is inevitable. Even representatives of privileged categories will be fired. In this case, payments established by the legislator are due.

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There is no such basis for terminating an employment contract as the beginning of the process of declaring an enterprise insolvent in the Labor Code. In accordance with clause 1, part 1, art. 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, there is another basis - liquidation of a legal entity. However, a bankrupt enterprise is finally liquidated only after the Arbitration Court has issued a ruling on the end of bankruptcy proceedings and the exclusion of the company from the register of legal entities.

Obviously, paperwork and payments occur earlier. However, a situation is possible when employees are on staff for a long time, but do not actually carry out work activities. The courts are inclined to believe that in this case there is downtime due to the fault of the employer, and oblige him to pay the employees the required two-thirds of the average monthly salary in accordance with the law.

What to do and what employees need to know in case of bankruptcy of an organization

The most important question that worries the company’s employees who continue to work and are fired in this situation: if the company goes bankrupt, will they pay wages?

In market conditions, no one is immune from such a nuisance as bankruptcy of an enterprise. What payments to employees are due in this case? What should you pay attention to? What rights do employees have? You will learn the answers to these questions from our consultation.

The inability to fulfill its financial obligations to staff leads to the fact that the company in most cases begins bankruptcy proceedings. In this case, employees, according to current legislation, must be dismissed.

Art. 180 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation states that a temporary manager or employer is obliged to notify the employees of a liquidated organization of dismissal no later than 2 months in advance. The manager determines the amount of debt after studying the documentation and, in accordance with it, charges payments in the event of bankruptcy of the enterprise.

Who must the employer notify and within what time frame during bankruptcy?

If a company goes bankrupt, all employees must be notified of the impending dismissal. It is important to comply with the deadlines provided by law. The majority of employees must receive at least two months' notice before termination.

But there are exceptions to the general rules. People are informed in a special order that people are at risk of being fired:

1. Seasonal workers. Such employees are informed about the impending loss of employment at least a week before the moment when cooperation will be terminated.
2. Employees who have signed a short-term employment contract are warned no later than three days before the unpleasant event - dismissal.

The manager issues an order stating the reduction of staff. The reason is the liquidation of the enterprise. The entire team receives a copy of this paper, after which they must sign that they have been notified of the event.

There may be situations where an employee does not sign a document. In this case, you need to draw up an act of refusal.

If there is a trade union, it is also informed about the upcoming event. But it is important that no later than three months before the first employee is fired.

Another authority where you need to bring a notification is the local employment center. It is important to comply with the deadlines, but they differ depending on the number of potential unemployed:

• 90 days – if more than 15 people work;
• for 60 days – if there were less than 15 employees.

Payments to employees in the event of bankruptcy of an enterprise are also due. Full payment is scheduled for the last business day. In addition to money, documents are also issued with which you can get another job.

The payment procedure can be divided into several stages, depending on at what stage the bankruptcy procedure occurs.

1. After introducing the observation stage, at the initial stage of bankruptcy, the employer must calculate wages and all due payments.
2. Then the manager must pay all current payments, out of sequence, but after paying the legal costs of the bankruptcy procedure and the agreed remuneration to the insolvency administrator.

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Please note that if financial management lies with the manager, then he distributes wages and pays them to employees.

As a rule, a salary arrears repayment schedule is drawn up.

1. At the stage of liquidation of the organization, and this is 2 months before the final closure, the manager must inform all employees in writing about the upcoming dismissal.
2. If an employee quits at this stage, his salary and compensation must be immediately calculated and paid 2 months in advance. This is stated in Article 178 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.
3. The manager must also inform employees about their salary payments. The information must be entered into the register of creditors.
4. Next, the registered debt is paid in the second order. If there are not enough funds to settle payments with second-priority creditors, then the available amount will be distributed among them in proportion to the size of the debt.

This is the procedure for paying off the debt of a bankrupt enterprise.

Please note that claims for ongoing debt payments will not be entered into the register.

How to receive a salary in case of bankruptcy of a company

The employee may request the arbitration manager to provide an extract from the register of creditors' claims (and if the debt is 1% or more of the amount of claims, and a copy of the entire register).

Management has every right to legally dismiss all personnel, but it must observe a number of nuances:

• the manager must notify not only the employees about the impending dismissal, but also the labor exchange;
• the message must be made 2-3 months in advance (in case of partial or complete dismissal of personnel);
• notification must be provided in writing in the form prescribed by law;
• a dismissal order must be issued. which is signed by each employee after review.

The register component of wages is the amount of debt of the enterprise for wages, vacation pay, benefits, compensation, etc. employees before it was declared bankrupt, and the current one is the amount of accrued and unpaid wages after the company was declared bankrupt.

Non-managerial employees receive payments in second place. Exceptions include the special categories listed above. In addition, all payments in settlements with the personnel of a bankrupt enterprise may be limited (cut), guided by a lack of funds after the sale of property and other similar measures.

Non-payment of wages by the employer upon liquidation of the enterprise

We looked at what payments employees are entitled to in case of bankruptcy, and also briefly familiarized ourselves with the issuance procedure. Remember that liquidation of an enterprise is not a reason to despair. You can step back to take a new step forward more wisely.

This provision has important practical significance, since it gives employees the opportunity to protect their rights if the amount of debt to each of them individually does not reach the threshold of 300 thousand rubles.

Current wage arrears are all amounts of money that must be paid to employees after the enterprise is declared bankrupt. The enterprise's obligations for current payments to employees are not included in the register of creditors' claims.

It is important to understand that the opportunity to initiate bankruptcy proceedings for an organization in some cases can become an even stronger argument for paying wages than the risk of bringing the head of this organization to criminal liability.

Current wage arrears are all amounts of money that must be paid to employees after the enterprise is declared bankrupt. The enterprise's obligations for current payments to employees are not included in the register of creditors' claims.

In order to indicate your own requirements for the payment of due funds, you will need to contact the financial manager of the enterprise, since his responsibilities include including the requirements of the staff in the register of creditors.

Calculation and payment of severance pay

When an employment contract is terminated due to the fault of the employer, one of the mandatory payments is severance pay. Naturally, severance pay is also issued in case of bankruptcy of enterprises. Moreover, it does not matter what stage the company is at - liquidation or simply downsizing, trying to restore its financial well-being. Payment is required for every dismissed employee.

Severance pay is calculated based on the employee’s average monthly earnings. Even after dismissal, the former employer must pay another salary. This is payment for a while until you can find a job again.

But none of the above is due to persons who have written a letter of resignation of their own free will. Given this fact, many dishonest employers try to persuade employees to do just that in order to cut costs on their part. If the document does not indicate the real basis, then the due payments will not be given.

What is paid to employees in the event of bankruptcy of an organization? The following payments:

• wage;
• compensation established by law: severance pay in the amount of one monthly income and the amount for the duration of employment, but not more than 2 months (can be extended for a third with a positive decision of the Central Employment Committee);
• interest if there is a violation of payment terms (salaries, vacation pay, etc.) (Article 236 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

Payment of wages in the event of bankruptcy of an enterprise is mandatory; this is one of the main guarantees of labor relations, enshrined in Art. 130 Labor Code of the Russian Federation. In accordance with Art. 5 Federal Law No. 127, wages refer to current payments that are satisfied during procedures out of turn, that is, first.

However, there is a sequence among such payments. According to it, salaries and severance pay are paid in the second place (first, the bankrupt pays for the operations of the credit institution with his own funds). The order of payment of wages in bankruptcy between individual categories of workers has not been established, but there is such a thing as calendar order: the earlier the debt was formed, the sooner it will be repaid.

Wage debts in the event of bankruptcy of an enterprise that arose before the introduction of the first procedure are not included in these amounts; this is already a registered debt. In this case, payment of wage arrears in the event of bankruptcy of an enterprise is also included in the second priority. Debts included in the register are paid by court decision. But it is not the employee who should go to court for this, but the arbitration bankruptcy trustee.

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The registered debt is also satisfied according to a certain scenario (in accordance with Article 130 of the Federal Law No. 127-FZ):

• first, debts on wages and severance pay are paid - no more than 30,000 per month for each employee;
• then - the remaining debts on wages and severance pay;
• and at the end - royalties to the authors.

The bankruptcy trustee identifies the property of the enterprise, sells it and satisfies the claims of creditors. If the property is sold, but there is not enough money to fully satisfy the creditors' claims, the claims are satisfied in proportion to the amount of the debt.

Bankruptcy of an enterprise, what happens to the employees?

If your wage claims arose after the date of acceptance of the application for declaring the debtor bankrupt, then the norm of paragraph 2 of Art. 134 of the said law. In this case, the requirements are included in current payments and are satisfied in the second place.

In the event that the bankruptcy of an organization and the subsequent layoffs came as a surprise to the staff, the employees have the right to demand compensation in the amount of a month’s salary.

Bankruptcy at the request of workers Owners of enterprises will be responsible for debts on wages Workers who have not been able to receive wages for years due to the fact that the enterprise is in bankruptcy have a chance to finally take their money.

Bankruptcy of an enterprise is the inability of an organization to fully satisfy the requirements of creditors for financial claims, including mandatory payments. It is especially unpleasant if the employer who employs people announces the upcoming cessation of activity. Employees have an inevitable question: if the company goes bankrupt, will they pay off the back wages?

What happens to employees when a company goes bankrupt?

In the event of bankruptcy of an organization, employees must receive a salary, which is accrued to them regardless of the functioning of the company and the establishment of its insolvency (Article 130 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). The obligations of a legal entity to the workforce that arose during the period of bankruptcy proceedings are considered current debts.
Such debts to creditors are considered priority. However, payments to employees for wages and benefits as part of current debts are made in the second place. If wage debts arose before the initiation of bankruptcy proceedings, then they can be classified as current payments and included in the register of claims.

In case of bankruptcy of a legal entity, the staff has the right to receive wages, vacation pay and benefits. The benefit is calculated depending on the average daily earnings multiplied by the required number of days. If a dismissed person has not found a new job within 14 days, he has the right to an additional amount of average monthly income.

Table. Bankruptcy of an enterprise, due payments to dismissed employees

The most pressing question after it became known that the company is going bankrupt is what happens to employees when the organization goes bankrupt? Usually there is only one way to deal with staff - dismissal. This is understandable, because if there is no organization, it means there is nowhere to work. But I’m also interested in something else: what to do with money?

Companies that are on the verge of bankruptcy usually do not even pay wages for a long period. Will this money be returned? According to the law, the employee must first be repaid the debt and other payments.

Dismissal must be notified in advance. But it often happens that they are not warned about what will happen to employees, and they are fired unexpectedly. In this case, you can demand compensation in addition to the main payments.

However, the bankruptcy procedure is quite lengthy and can take several years. In this case, employees are not always threatened with dismissal and do not occur immediately. If you manage to overcome financial insolvency, employees will not be fired. There is another risk - a decrease in wages.

Even if bankruptcy occurs, priority payments are compensation for harm to the life and health of employees. Next, benefits and wages are paid. If finances are not enough to cover all debts to employees, the proceeds will be evenly distributed among everyone. But, first of all, you need to declare your financial claims to the manager, who will register them.

Employees who are registered due to the birth of a child and employees who go on maternity leave in the early stages of pregnancy apply to the Social Insurance Fund.

You can apply for payments in the following cases:

• if the employer does not carry out labor activities;
• in situations where bankruptcy proceedings have been introduced against the company;
• when the company’s accounts are practically empty or there is not enough money to compensate employees for all the benefits they are entitled to;
• in the case where the employer’s location cannot be determined, but there is a court order that he must pay compensation;
• there is no property that could be used to pay the debt (if the employer has disappeared).

The Fund pays debts after 10 calendar days have considered the submitted documents. Benefits may be denied. The Fund's decision will be sent to applicants within 5 days after its adoption. Within 10 days from the receipt of all necessary documents, the authority pays compensation. The applicant himself must indicate a convenient way to receive money at the stage of drawing up the application.

Payments to employees in case of bankruptcy of an enterprise

Let's consider below what employees need to do if the company goes bankrupt. How to receive a salary if the management of the organization claims that there is no money to pay for labor.

We really planned to do this, given that initially our salaries were significantly lower than the amounts received in similar positions in our region. Secondly, at that time the company laid off a number of employees, and we were assigned additional functions.

Particular attention is paid to employees who are on maternity leave at the time of bankruptcy. They are entitled to all the same payments, plus maternity and child care benefits.

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Interests of employees upon dismissal

Each employee has the right to make such an application from the date of entry into force of the court decision, which confirmed the fact that the employer owes wages.

Contact the labor inspectorate, and with its assistance, go to court. Your requirements in accordance with Part 2 of Art. 134 Federal Law No. On Insolvency (Bankruptcy)” will be satisfied in the second place.

Provide employees with payments due in the event of bankruptcy of an enterprise (salaries for days worked, compensation for unused rest days, etc.).

In any case, you have the right to declare your priority for repaying the debt in court, or contact the bailiffs.

The fact that such a manager is brought to criminal liability, as a rule, does not greatly affect the interests of the final beneficiaries.

If there is property and a management position of the enterprise and the arbitration manager, it may be possible to receive the debt. But if there is no property or it turns out that the assets of the enterprise have been pledged, then it is unlikely.

This is possible if the employee, within 2 weeks after the dismissal occurred, registered for unemployment payments at the employment center.

In accordance with paragraph 4 of Art. 134 of the Federal Law “On Insolvency”, in the process of bankruptcy proceedings, demands for payment of wages are satisfied in the second place.

In what order are payments made?

The demands of employees dismissed from an insolvent enterprise are legal only when their relationship with the employer was sealed by an employment contract. In the case of a fixed-term contract, notices are sent three days before dismissal. For seasonal work - a week.

Seasonal workers are paid a two-week salary. If the agreement with the employer is signed for less than two months, compensation is not provided. The exception is residents of the Far North. In case of bankruptcy, local enterprises are obliged to pay them three monthly salaries. Read also: Procedure and types of deductions from wages

If an employee dismissed from an insolvent enterprise immediately registered with the Employment Center, but was unable to find a job within two months, the bankrupt organization is obliged to pay him again. For residents of the Far North, such compensation is provided within six months after dismissal.

Employees have the right to work until the final liquidation of their company, which may take more than one year.

How are payments made to employees during bankruptcy of an enterprise?

According to the law, after the closure of the enterprise, you must pay severance pay, they told me that this is out of the question, saying that there are no contracts for you, but I concluded contracts and wrote statements, everything disappeared somewhere, they did not give me second copies. Can we prove something in court? Greetings. Almost everything depends on the grounds for dismissal. Or dismissal due to staff reduction, or in connection with the liquidation of the organization. Please clarify this question. Naturally, they must pay the payments in any case, just different ones.

In this case, the arbitration manager, as a rule, is guided by the data available in the accounting documentation of the enterprise.

In labor law there is no basis for dismissal due to the commencement of bankruptcy proceedings. This is due to the fact that declaring a company insolvent does not always lead to its liquidation. In the course of measures taken by management or an appointed arbitration manager, the solvency of the organization can be restored.

Basic principles of employee reduction

Bankruptcy is a complex legal procedure, as a result of which the court may decide to forcibly terminate the activities of an organization. The step-by-step liquidation of a bankrupt company and the payment of its debts is carried out by a bankruptcy trustee appointed during the trial.

According to Article 178 of the Labor Code, in the event of bankruptcy of an enterprise, employees must receive a number of payments, including severance pay - a one-time payment in the amount of a monthly salary.

My colleague and I are now former employees of a limited liability company, in respect of which bankruptcy proceedings were opened. I held the position of chief accountant, and my colleague was deputy director. A few months before filing for bankruptcy, the director increased both of our salaries by 50%. This was due to two circumstances.