Wage indexation

According to information provided by Internet resources, a fairly large number of employers (28%) in 2012 have plans to conduct such a procedure as indexation of staff salaries.

The process of depreciating money leads to a loss of their purchasing power. As a result, with the same amount, less goods and services are purchased. Therefore, in every civilized state this process is controlled by the established state guarantees in the sphere of production of remuneration for working citizens. Such a guarantee is the indexation of wages, which includes measures to increase its real content. It should be carried out exclusively by the employer, proceeding from the current legal norms and financial condition.

Another guarantee of wage indexation is provided in the form of a minimum wage (minimum wage) established by the state. Employers are prohibited from setting a salary that would be lower than this level. If an employee is found at the enterprise with a wage below the minimum wage, the head of the enterprise will have to pay a fine, and yet raise the wage level to a minimum. Control over compliance with the legislation and bringing the employer to justice is carried out by employees of labor inspectorates.

The indexation of wages implies its increase for all employees of the enterprise, therefore, it is necessary to apply increasing coefficients to their tariff rates. Pay attention to the correct execution of this increase in wages and take it into account in calculating subsequent payments. This is precisely the difference between indexation and a simple increase in wages, which raises the salary (the wage rate) of individual employees.

Another example of a simple increase is a selective increase in the salaries of employees of individual units for different coefficients.

The employer is obliged to carry out indexing. According to the experts of Rostrud and the arbitrators of the Constitutional Court of Russia, the indexation of wages is the responsibility of the employer. This is the essence of the concept of "state guarantee": an employer is a person acting in favor of an employee and it can not under any circumstances make a decision on changing or canceling guarantees declared by the state.

However, the legislators did not envisage certain aspects of the mechanism for implementing this guarantee, such as the procedure and conditions for its implementation.

Labor Code on the order of indexation

According to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, wage indexation is carried out in budgetary organizations in the order established by the current labor regulations. However, at the moment, the order of indexation of wages is not described in any legal act relating to the norms of labor law. Therefore, it is not entirely clear on what legislative acts the employer should be guided in the matter of indexation.

In budget organizations, indexation is carried out on the basis of an appropriate order issued by the Government of the Russian Federation.

In commercial organizations - on the basis of its own regulations. In practice, as is known, the wage index exists only in collective agreements of enterprises that have joined industry agreements. In small enterprises, if suddenly it is mentioned in the contract, it is usually combined with the mandatory condition for the employer to have the financial capacity to implement it.

For such cases, there is a letter from Rostrud, in which the experts of this organization recommend the introduction of changes in the organization's documents, if they do not describe the order of indexation.