How to confirm work experience if the organization is liquidated?

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18 July 2020 12:35

Citizens retiring often face the problem of confirming their work experience for the 90s of the last century. Enterprises changed owners, many closed and new ones opened. There were situations when employers disappeared along with all the documentation of the enterprise, leaving their employees without the opportunity to confirm the length of service and earnings that are required to grant a pension. What should a person do if the work book is lost, the enterprise is liquidated, and there is practically no chance of finding documents in the archives? Consulted by Evgenia Ochertarova, chief specialist and expert in the department for assessing the pension rights of insured persons

OPFR for Buryatia.

Evgeniya Grigorievna, what periods of work are included in the insurance period when assigning a pension. Is a work record really that important today?

Since 2020, when assigning a pension, periods of work both before registration and after registration of a citizen in the compulsory pension insurance system are established according to the information of the individual personal account of the insured person. All information is stored in the Federal Pension Fund database. Before the registration date, information about the length of service was submitted by employers in the SZV-K form for all working citizens.

According to the law, periods of work and (or) other activities performed by a citizen are included in the insurance period, provided that insurance contributions to the Pension Fund were paid for these periods. The payment of insurance premiums is equivalent to contributions to state social insurance until 1991, payment of the unified social tax and the unified tax on imputed income for certain types of activities until 2002. Thus, citizens can see and check the completeness of the information provided about periods of work and the amounts of insurance premiums paid for each period of work in an extract from an individual personal account in the Personal Account on the Pension Fund website.

And if a person understands that the extract contains incomplete information about work activity, how can the gaps be restored?

If the statement contains incomplete information about periods of work or there is no information about individual periods of work before registering a citizen as an insured person, then they can be entered on the basis of supporting documents. In this case, the work book is taken into account, which is a document confirming periods of work before the date of registration in the compulsory pension insurance system. If all the entries in it are completed correctly, in accordance with the Instructions for filling out work books, then no problems with taking into account the length of service will arise.

In the absence of a work book, as well as in cases where the work book contains incorrect and inaccurate entries or there are no records about individual periods of work, certificates from the employer or from an archival institution are accepted to confirm the length of service. These may be extracts from orders, personal accounts and payroll statements, certificates, written employment contracts and agreements with notes on their execution and other documents containing information about periods of work.

It should be noted that it makes sense to start searching for lost documents about a certain period of your work only if you know for sure that during this period you received a “white” salary. Because with a “gray” salary, common in the nineties, the employer did not pay mandatory insurance payments to the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation, which means you do not have an insurance work history for this period. Such circumstances may lead to a pension being awarded in a smaller amount than the one the applicant expected. Therefore, it is very important not to wait until retirement age, but to prepare for retirement in advance, before the right to retire. In accordance with current legislation, the obligation to provide documents necessary for the assignment and recalculation of a pension is assigned to the citizen.

Where can I apply for a certificate if the company is located in another region or has been liquidated?

If the enterprise is located in another region, there is no need to go to the place where the organization was located to obtain a certificate of periods of work. Pension Fund specialists will provide you with assistance in requesting the necessary documents on length of service or salary certificates, if necessary. To do this, you need to contact customer service with a statement. If the enterprise is liquidated, but it still has a legal successor, certificates of experience and earnings must be issued by the legal successor. If there is no successor, then the necessary documents must be searched in the archives. Which archive should you contact? Pension Fund specialists will also provide you with this information.

Reinstatement of work experience in court

In some cases, confirmation of work experience can be achieved through legal proceedings. For example, a citizen knows for sure that he worked for 20 years, but a representative of the Pension Fund informs him that, according to an official request, he worked only for 18 years. This very often happens because the work book contains inaccurate information.

There are also situations that require the reinstatement of seniority in court if the manager refused to issue a duplicate or if there is no archival data in the organization. There is a certain procedure for how to restore work experience through the court: a claim is filed and acts confirming the conduct of labor activities in the organization (contracts, financial statements, union card, witness statements).

When confirmation of work experience for a pension is carried out through the court, the main evidence is the testimony of witnesses. It is also necessary to collect documents that would confirm that you worked in the organization. This could be, for example, some kind of agreement with your signature. The better you prepare for your trial, the more likely you are to win.

The process of restoring the length of service for a pension takes a lot of time, so for now you can take a deferment from the pension fund for three months, and when all the documents are ready, receive the amount, taking into account the recalculation, for the entire period at once. Or there is a second option - agree to the assigned payment and, upon presentation of all missing documents, receive the current payment from the new month.

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How to confirm work experience if an organization is liquidated and there are no documents in the archives

Today, it is not uncommon for citizens retiring from old age to be faced with the problem of confirming work experience that took place in the nineties of the last century. In that turbulent decade in the history of our country, there was a radical change in the entire structure of our society, including in the sphere of labor. Enterprises changed their owners, many closed and new ones opened. Some employers, when closing their enterprise, disappeared along with all documentation related to the activities of the enterprise, leaving their employees without the opportunity to confirm their work experience at this enterprise. How to confirm work experience if an organization is liquidated and there are no documents from this enterprise in the archives?

The importance of archiving documents

We see that the issue of confirming length of service in the absence of documents of the liquidated organization in the archive is extremely difficult. Do you want to protect your employees from the need to solve it in the future, look for samples of certificates confirming their work experience, and attract witnesses? Take care of archival processing of documents and their timely transfer to the archive. A good solution would be to contact.

Archival document processing services

Our company’s specialists have deep knowledge in the field of archival records management and extensive experience. We carry out all operations related to archival document processing with maximum quality, in the shortest possible time and at very reasonable prices. Among other things, our specialists process documentation on the organization’s personnel and transfer it to the archive in the proper manner.

How is “Soviet” experience confirmed for granting a pension?

Last modified: June 2019

Approval of experience is carried out using work books. If there are inaccuracies, corrected or incorrect marks and registrations, supporting documentation is required for clarification. And how to confirm work experience in Soviet times can be done by reading section 2, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation, approving the rules for confirming years of work dated October 2, 2014 No. 1015.

The following information is required:

Extracts from orders.
Archival records.
From the place of work activity.
Salary statements.
Signed contracts.
About paid tax deductions.
Characteristics from employers.
Confirmation of the renaming of the institution, in case of a name change.

The procedure for confirming insurance experience with witness testimony

To prove the need to include a certain period of work in the insurance period, you can invite two witnesses with whom collective activities were previously carried out. In this case, you will have to write a statement indicating the fact that the documents were lost, and witnesses were brought in to prove the applicant’s case. You will need to bring the following documents with you to the Pension Fund:

document from the state authorities or a certificate from the archive indicating the absence of any documents that would prove the implementation of work during the specified period of time;
document from the state institutions or employer, indicating the loss of papers on employment and the impossibility of their restoration;
a document from municipal or state authorities indicating the fact that during the stated period of time there was a natural disaster, terrorist attack, or other incident due to which documents could be destroyed;
documents proving the work of witnesses during the stated period of time (if the applicant’s documents were lost due to the fault of the employer).

Proof of length of service

Confirmation of work experience is required for the calculation of pension payments. When applying for a pension, documentation is provided indicating the years worked.

Government Decree No. 555 of 2002 sets out the actions taken for confirmation, these are:

Documentary. Collection of necessary information. In this way, it is possible to certify the production of years:

general; continuous; insurance.

On January 1, 2002, the Law “On Labor Pensions” dated December 17, 2001 No. 173-FZ was approved. Since that time, the concept of “work experience” has been abolished.

You can verify the fact of work activity by collecting documentation in two stages:

Before personalized accounting, legalized in 1996.
Since 1996, having received a pension certificate.

In the early 90s, “own business” began to actively develop, and more and more entrepreneurs were registered. To certify their length of service, they need to provide all certificates with transfers of mandatory tax payments made from the Social Insurance Fund before 01/01/1991. Since 1991, documents have been provided from tax authorities and the Pension Fund on the payment of all taxes, including:

UTII; contributions of insured persons.

The time period of work that was carried out abroad was counted towards it, regulated by:

legislation of the Russian Federation; international treaty of the Russian Federation.

earthquakes; floods; fire; hurricane; TC losses; another reason.

A certificate certifying the damage to the technical documentation or other documents certifying work activities. For example, a fire organization must confirm a fire in the institution where the documents were located.
A certificate from the employer indicating the reasons for the loss of the technical documentation.

The accrual of production years includes:

Military service. Certified by a record from a military unit.
Assignment of benefits as an unemployed person. Certified by a certificate from the Employment Center.
Parental leave for up to 1.5 years. Certified by a birth certificate or a certificate from the employer or social security.
Supervision of an incapacitated citizen. Evidence of cohabitation or PF decision is required.

Restoration and confirmation of preferential work experience

It is worth noting that in addition to the general work experience, there is a special work experience that will allow you to receive a preferential pension. It is worth noting that preferential professions for retirement are established by law; these include professions associated with particular complexity, harmfulness or special social importance of the profession. In particular, there is a list of teaching positions for a preferential pension. Unfortunately, very often the pension fund refuses to grant an early pension. The reasons for this can be very diverse, for example, incorrect names of professions in the work book (not corresponding to the law), lack of supporting certificates.

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There is also a preferential pension for medical workers, which is due upon completion of the length of service specified by law. An important factor is that a preferential pension is provided not only to medical workers performing medical activities in public health care institutions, but also to medical workers of organizations that were previously state/municipal, but as a result of reorganization came under the management of private organizations. Often in this case, the right to receive an early pension is violated by the pension fund and you have to defend your rights through the courts.

There are common cases when medical workers carry out medical activities simultaneously with scientific activities and work not in medical organizations, but in scientific research institutes or other organizations whose main activity is science. However, even in this case, the medical worker has the right to a preferential pension, which is also often ignored by the pension fund.

The process of confirming preferential work experience in court is essentially similar to confirming general work experience, but sometimes it is difficult to independently collect evidence of work giving the right to a preferential pension.