What kind of leave in the event of a wedding is required under the Labor Code?
According to the law, in connection with a wedding, 5 calendar days of vacation are provided at your own expense (Article 128 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). It does not matter whether the employee is on the staff of the organization or is working on a probationary period. In any case, he is entitled to leave in connection with the wedding. The probationary period is increased by the duration of the vacation.
We are talking about calendar days, not working days. If you take a vacation from Friday, you will have to go back to work on Wednesday with a five-day shift. Therefore, it is recommended to take a vacation from Monday.
By law, an employee is required to be given only 5 days with job retention. However, the employer can release the employee for a longer period of time. The maximum term is not limited by law. By agreement with the boss, the employee can go on a trip around the world for at least a few years.
An employee has the right to return from wedding leave ahead of schedule. There are no special regulations in this case, but the intention to go to work must be documented. To do this, write a free-form application indicating the date of return to work. If this is not done, the employee will be on vacation and will not be paid for these days of work.
Who gets leave for a wedding?
Any leave is given to an employee - that is, an individual - with whom an employment contract has been concluded under the Labor Code. It is this Code that regulates the legal relationship between an employee and an employer.
Leave in connection with marriage is given in accordance with Art. 128 Labor Code of the Russian Federation.
There are two important points:
- Wedding leave is an unpaid leave type.
- An employer cannot refuse an employee the minimum allowable leave ( 5 days according to the calendar) if the reason for the request is the registration of the employee’s marriage.
Thus, any employee signed under an employment contract, regardless of working conditions and schedule, has the right to receive leave for a wedding.
Accounting in the personnel service
During wedding leave, the employee's work experience is not interrupted.
However, only 14 calendar days per year are included in the length of service for calculating annual paid leave. Salaries are not accrued during this period, as well as during any leave taken at one’s own expense.
Time spent on honeymoon leave will not affect the length of your planned leave. On the other hand, even if the annual leave is spent in full, the employee does not lose the right to leave on the occasion of marriage.
If an employee falls ill during a wedding vacation, he is not entitled to sick leave payments. Compensation for loss of ability to work is provided only for paid days. This could be a regular workday, a business trip, or a paid vacation. Payments will begin only on the day the employee was supposed to return to work.
The employer does not have the right to recall you from your wedding leave under any pretext. Its duration does not matter. This can only be done by mutual agreement of the parties. Even if the employer provided the employee with leave for more than 5 days on his own initiative.
Fill out the application
The legislation does not provide for a special application form for leave on the occasion of marriage. Free expression is allowed, but the rules for preparing official forms must be followed.
The position and name of the employer is indicated in the upper right corner. Then the data of the document originator is entered (last name, first name, patronymic, position). The name of the document is indicated in the center - a statement.
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The main text states:
- request to provide time off, that is, days without pay;
- number of days required;
- end and start days of the requested period;
- grounds for leave.
At the bottom, the date of the document is indicated, the surname and initials are indicated, and the signature is signed with one’s own hand.
To the director of Crocs LLC, Sergey Sergeevich Petrov, from engineer Alexey Ivanovich Sokolov
statement.
I ask you to grant me leave from August 10, 2021 for 3 (three) calendar days without pay in connection with my marriage, which will take place on August 11, 2021. Reason: Article 28 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.
July 30, 2021
Sokolov A.I.
Although the consent of the organization’s management is not necessary in this case, it is still advisable to obtain the appropriate permitting visa and submit the document to the personnel structure for execution of the order.
The application must indicate the reason with the wording “for marriage.” For other reasons (family, personal), management may refuse to grant time off.
Rest is granted due to a specific event indicated in the application. In this regard, the employer may require the provision of a supporting document - a marriage certificate (Federal Law of the Russian Federation No. 143 of November 15, 1997). At the time of submitting the application, the employee has the right not to provide supporting documents, but must submit a copy of the certificate to the HR department after the wedding.
Necessary documents for registration of a wedding vacation
The employee writes a statement. It must indicate the start date, duration and basis for the leave. If the reason is not specified, or the wording is vague, you may be denied leave. An employee may request more days than provided for by the Labor Code, but the employer is not obliged to provide the requested leave in full. However, he has no right to give less than 5 days.
It is worth carefully reading the internal personnel documents of the organization. Some employers specify preferential conditions for employees in the collective agreement. One of them may be a provision for increased leave for newlyweds.
Sometimes employers provide financial assistance for employees who get married. If there is such a provision in the collective agreement, this will be a pleasant addition to the wedding vacation. He can also provide a tourist package for this occasion. Paid or not - the employer decides for himself.
What an employer needs to do
Upon receipt of an application from the bride or groom, the employer is obliged to provide leave for the wedding according to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation within the time period specified in the application. Rest is provided by order or other written order of the manager. As a rule, this is a unified T-6 form.
Since the Labor Code does not specify when an employee needs to submit an application: before or after the wedding day, newlyweds are not limited in the timing of filing an application. An employee can exercise this right at any time, which is confirmed by judicial practice (see the appeal ruling of the Kemerovo Regional Court dated August 17, 2012 No. 33-7790). What is important for the employer is the fact of filing the application and the period specified in it. So, if an employee needs 3 days for a wedding according to the Labor Code, then the administration is obliged to provide 3 days. But if 7 days are needed, then the maximum that the law obliges the employer is 5 days, although, as a rule, managers are accommodating in such cases. To avoid controversial situations, the reasons for granting vacations and the timing of their provision are prescribed in a collective agreement or other local document.
In addition, the administration has the right to require proof of the fact of marriage registration. If such evidence is not provided, the employer has the right to apply sanctions in the form of disciplinary action up to and including dismissal.
Read more: step-by-step instructions for dismissal for absenteeism
If the wedding didn't take place
The employee provides a marriage certificate after leave to confirm the legality of absence from work. But it may happen that the wedding does not take place. What should I do?
This situation is not stipulated in the legislation. This means that the employer cannot regard the vacation as unlawful and count absenteeism to the employee. He submitted the application, and the employer approved it. Since the leave is unpaid, there are no financial consequences for the employee or the organization. This is a purely disciplinary matter.
Documenting
As mentioned above, to take a few days off in connection with an upcoming wedding, you just need to write an application. There is no special application form for leave due to a wedding, so it can be drawn up in any form.
Overall, it's like any other statement. There must be a “cap” in which it is indicated whose name is written and from whom. Below, as always, is the number and signature. And the text might look like this:
After this, the personnel hotel already draws up an appropriate order to provide leave at their own expense. Usually it is drawn up on the T-6 form, which is established by a resolution of the State Statistics Committee. Also see “Sample vacation order”.
Then HR officers enter the data into a time sheet - form T-12 or T-13. In them, such leave is designated by special symbols - “OZ” or “17”. This is decided by the individual employer. Also see “Letter designations in timesheets”.
But as for the vacation schedule, HR officers do not need to write anything in it. Since all leaves without pay are not noted in it.
By the way, formally, the employer has the right to require the employee to document that he actually took days off for the wedding. And if such a request is received, then it is better to provide a copy of the marriage certificate after leaving vacation. Otherwise, the employee risks disfavor with management. And if it wants, the vacation taken can be reclassified as absenteeism. And this is fraught with a fine (if any is provided for in the organization) or an extreme measure - dismissal.
An employee recently got married, but did not use the right to leave
Such situations occur quite often. It is not always possible to go on a cruise immediately after the wedding or celebrate the wedding in another way. There are no legal provisions in this case either, from which we can conclude that the employee has not lost the right to wedding leave.
In such situations, the procedure does not change. The employee writes a statement, and the employer approves it. But you shouldn’t inform your boss on the last day. He, of course, has no right to refuse, but there is no need to spoil the relationship either. If an employee does not yet know the exact date of departure and is counting on a last-minute trip, it is better for him to notify his boss about his intention to take a vacation.
Legislative norms for granting leave in connection with a wedding
Many people believe that the employer gives permission to take time off from work in connection with a wedding, guided by his own good will. In reality, this is a misconception. It would be more correct to call such additional days off as additional short-term vacation. Therefore, for it, as for any other leave, the rules defined by law and the conditions for its provision are applicable.
Expert commentary
Kolesnikova Anna
Lawyer
An employee's rights to receive leave for a wedding are clearly defined in the legislation. According to them, the employer has obligations towards employees if they need additional vacation days for weddings.
The legislative basis for regulating the work and rest of working citizens is set out both in federal laws and in legal regulations within each enterprise or organization.
What to do if your employer denies you wedding leave?
If your boss categorically refuses to sign the application for a honeymoon vacation, you just need to record it in the office with the date stamped on receipt and feel free to go on a five-day cruise. The employer cannot fire the employee or apply any other disciplinary sanctions for this.
Marriage leave of 5 calendar days is the legal right of any employee.
The employer may provide leave for a longer period. This type of leave is not paid, but the length of service is not interrupted. An employee may avail of wedding leave after the date of marriage. The law does not prohibit this.
We use what we give
Even despite the fact that in most cases such leave is not paid, couples who only have an official procedure for registering a relationship want to take advantage of it - everyone wants to be together while still unmarried!
Legal regulation of the provision of “wedding vacations”
The very possibility of receiving time off is fixed in Art. 128 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, however, this norm does not clearly regulate the exact number of non-working days that an employee can claim.
It is only indicated that leave for family reasons (that’s what it’s called) in the event of the birth of a child, registration of marriage or organization of the funeral of close relatives can be provided to the worker for a period of 1 to 5 days during the 1st calendar year.
The lack of precise wording and the reference of the relevant law to the employer’s opinion in this matter enable the latter to abuse its capabilities by limiting the rights of personnel. However, the interests of workers are called upon to protect the interests of a special body - a trade union (if, of course, one has been created and operates at your enterprise).
Additionally, the amount of time off for family reasons can be specified in a collective agreement - an agreement between employers and representatives of the enterprise’s trade union, which is precisely intended to regulate and clarify “incomprehensible” points in labor legislation. Typically, this document specifies exactly three days for the wedding. By law, such time off can be provided (but this is not the obligation of the employer) at the request of the worker, but the collective agreement expands the rights of staff, at least in that it does not allow the administration to manipulate the inaccuracies of legal norms.
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You can review the agreement in the HR department of the enterprise.
When is it issued?
Based on the Labor Code, leave is necessarily granted only for one’s own wedding, thus, the employer should not allow a close relative or friend to attend the celebration, but is authorized to do this at the request of the employee and at his own request.
Some companies provide the right to use leave without pay in connection with the marriage of a loved one; as a rule, a detailed list of persons is prescribed . In such a situation, the application makes reference to the local legal act of the enterprise. The employer will not be able to refuse to sign the petition.
More favorable conditions for assigning leave for marriage registration are recorded in the following internal documents of the company:
- Collective agreement adopted by the organization;
- Regulations on remuneration for labor activities;
- Individual agreement with the employee.
In addition to the opportunity to take a weekend off for the children’s wedding, more interesting conditions are expressed in the increased duration of the vacation and in its payment. Not taking into account the fact that by law such vacations are not financed, no one can prohibit the employer from providing monetary compensation to the newlyweds. This is one of the additional working conditions that is used by firms to attract employees.
Local authorities are also empowered to issue certain regulations to improve the conditions for granting wedding leave. All companies registered in the region are required to comply with the adopted regulations.
Financial assistance in connection with marriage
The days of leave allocated for a wedding, in accordance with labor legislation, are not paid. However, at some enterprises, employees have the right to write an application for financial assistance in connection with marriage. This is possible if such a right is specified in a collective labor agreement, in the regulations on wages or in other local acts.
After receiving an application for financial assistance, the employer considers it, and then, if the outcome is positive, issues an order or order to issue the employee a fixed amount. But this is exclusively the right of the employer, and not at all an obligation.
As a result, we note that military personnel are also entitled to extraordinary leave for family reasons, including in connection with marriage registration. Only instead of an application, they submit to their immediate commander a report requesting leave and a copy of the document confirming the submission of documents to the registry office. Wedding leave can be issued to them for up to 10 days.
In this case, military personnel are not entitled to any special benefits, but sometimes the serviceman’s boss can give him a gift in the form of a small sum of money (if the service is under a contract).
