Order on the appointment of an internal investigation commission. An official investigation. Absence from work

23.01.2024

Every person officially working at an enterprise is responsible for their actions or inactions. For example, office workers must treat technology correctly so that the computer does not break down, and in addition they must not divulge trade secrets or share information from the work computer.

If a situation arises in which various valuables entrusted to a particular employee are lost or damaged, then the company’s management has the opportunity to determine the cause of such damage. For this purpose, an internal investigation is carried out, but to begin it, the manager must formulate an appropriate order.

If during an inspection, audit or other activities it is discovered that the enterprise is missing any valuable assets or property and documentation are lost, then management must take the following actions:

it is revealed exactly how much damage was caused to the company;
the reason for the occurrence of such a situation is determined;
there is a person responsible for this damage, and this is not always an employee of the company, who is entrusted with the corresponding responsibility to protect property from loss or damage.

To find answers to all of the above questions, a special commission is created, consisting of specialists who have the ability and skills to assess the damage caused, as well as determine what caused the problem.

This commission usually includes a lawyer, a security officer, an engineer and an accountant, but it is also possible to include other specialists. In Art. 247 of the Labor Code specifies the possibility of creating such a commission.

Labor Code of the Russian Federation Article 247. The employer’s obligation to establish the amount of damage caused to him and the cause of its occurrence
Before making a decision on compensation for damage by specific employees, the employer is obliged to conduct an inspection to establish the amount of damage caused and the reasons for its occurrence. To conduct such a check, the employer has the right to create a commission with the participation of relevant specialists.
Requiring a written explanation from the employee to establish the cause of the damage is mandatory. In case of refusal or evasion of the employee from providing the specified explanation, a corresponding act is drawn up.
The employee and (or) his representative have the right to familiarize himself with all inspection materials and appeal them in the manner established by this Code.

Important! The main purpose of the commission is to conduct an internal investigation.

If the investigation reveals the culprit, he can appeal the decision on any penalties through the court. To create a commission, the employer must issue an order. It contains direct instructions for carrying out this process, as well as a lot of other information.

How to correctly draw up documents for an internal audit at an enterprise - watch this video:

Who and when is involved in the formation of the order?

The order on the basis of which an official investigation begins is issued only after the theft or damage to any property is discovered. This may be detected as a result of various checks or inventory.

The document is drawn up by the company secretary or another employee who has the appropriate authority. It is formed on behalf of the director of the company, and is also certified by his signature.

How is an internal investigation carried out?

If a situation arises in which any problems with the company’s property or shortages are identified, then an investigation is conducted to determine the culprit of the damage caused and to recover funds from him.

Important! Due to the correctness of the process, it is ensured in the future that the likelihood of repeated violations by employees is reduced, since they will be notified that they will have to answer for their mistakes.

The investigation process itself is divided into stages:

a corresponding order is issued, which is signed by the head of the organization;
on the basis of it, a commission is formed consisting of company employees or invited specialists who should not have any relation to the incident;
a secretary is appointed who will maintain documentation of the investigation;
all members of such a commission receive an order, which they study and then sign on it;
they are collecting information on the basis of which they can determine the culprit of the incident, so all the data received is carefully analyzed, for which documentation is studied, company employees are interviewed and other evidence is evaluated;
the employee responsible for specific property that has disappeared or suffered serious damage must testify in writing, and if he refuses to comply with this requirement, then a report is drawn up in which the witnesses sign;
a commission meeting is held, at which many issues are resolved, namely, the cause and extent of the damage is identified, all circumstances are assessed and the culprits are identified, and all mitigating circumstances, if any, are taken into account;
a special document is drawn up that describes the decision made.

How to correctly draw up an accident investigation report - read.

The act must be signed by all members of the commission, after which the culprit can familiarize himself with it. He can appeal the decision on the basis of which different penalties are applied to him.

When is an investigation usually required?

This procedure may be necessary for various reasons. Most often it is carried out when:

causing any harm to the assets of the company;
damage to material assets;
refusal to enforce discipline in the workplace. In what order it is compiled - read the link;
neglect of official duties;
disclosure of commercial information. You will learn how to properly draft a non-disclosure agreement.

Each such violation can cause serious negative consequences for each employee.

Sample order for an internal investigation.

Form and structure of the order to conduct an internal investigation

A document is generated in any form, but you must use the company’s letterhead, which contains its name and legal address.

The order must contain:

its serial number;
date and place of formation;
title, as well as the word “I command”;
the reason why an investigation is needed is indicated;
then a commission is appointed to carry out this process.

The structure may be different, but the document must certainly contain all the necessary information.

Stages of order formation

In order for it to be correctly composed, the following actions are performed:

the order number and company name are initially indicated;
then in the middle the word “Order” or “I order” is written;
Below is the purpose of creating the document, which is the need to conduct an investigation;
Next comes the main part, which contains information about the incident, and also indicates the composition of the commission;
a separate point is allocated for the appointment of a responsible person who is responsible for the implementation of this order;
there must be a link to the basis for the generation of documentation;
at the end the signature of the director of the company and members of the commission is placed.

Thus, if you carefully understand the process, there will be no difficulties in creating a document.

An example of filling out an official investigation report. Photo: pytochok.ru

How to avoid mistakes

To make an order correctly, the following recommendations are taken into account:

a strict form of the document is not required, so it is generated in any order;
information about all members of the commission must be entered so that they can be easily identified;
briefly describes the incident on the basis of which an investigation is required;
information about persons responsible for the values that would be damaged is entered;

Some cases that occur during the activities of certain institutions and organizations attract special attention from management.

In certain cases, a whole set of actions is required to establish the facts of what happened, the causes and possible consequences for the organization or its employees - an internal investigation.

Stages of an internal investigation

Inspections in the form of internal investigations are prescribed in cases that are quite outside the general framework of normal work activity. Often, these are serious disciplinary offenses or emergency situations that occurred at work.

An official or internal investigation is carried out to establish the culprit or the degree of guilt of a particular company employee in an incident, the facts that served as the motive or cause, actions, consequences that resulted or could result in a certain action or situation.

The conduct of official work is initiated by the desire of the manager when he becomes aware of circumstances about which it is not possible to draw an objective conclusion in the usual way or from the reports of subordinates.

In cases of industrial accidents or personal injury, service inspections are necessary, since this is not only a legal requirement, but also a real necessity, since the damage caused requires punishment of the perpetrators and proportionate compensation.

An internal investigation is carried out by a special group of authorized employees - a commission appointed by management. The head of the company himself can also take part in the work of such a commission and lead it, or simply receive the result of the group’s work and analyze it.

All actions of the commission to conduct an internal audit begin, and the commission itself is convened after the relevant order is issued. The head of the document establishes the powers of the members of the commission during an internal investigation and fixes its numerical composition. An order to conduct an internal investigation, a sample of which can be downloaded on the website, describes the incident that requires an internal investigation.

The results of an internal investigation may not only entail disciplinary liability to the employer, but may well serve as grounds for initiating a criminal case or filing a civil lawsuit against the culprit. Based on the serious consequences of such an event, it is necessary to carry out an internal audit of sufficient quality, fully analyzing all the cause-and-effect relationships and motives of the persons who were participants in the event that required an investigation.

The need to conduct an internal investigation in an organization may be determined both by the wishes of the employer itself and by legal requirements. In any case, the internal investigation procedure begins with the issuance of an appropriate order. We will tell you how to draw up such an order in our material. We will also provide a sample of how to fill it out for an order for an internal investigation.

How to draw up an order for an internal investigation?

Let us recall that the employer is obliged to conduct an internal investigation, for example, in the event of industrial accidents (Part 2 of Article 212 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation) or to establish the amount and causes of damage caused to him by an employee (Part 1 of Article 247 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

The organization determines the form of the order for an internal investigation independently. The purpose of this order is to initiate an internal investigation procedure. Therefore, such an order usually contains:

justification for the need to conduct an internal investigation;
composition of the commission for conducting an internal investigation (usually at least 3 members);
terms of the official investigation.

The order to conduct an internal investigation is drawn up in one copy. All members of the commission must be familiar with its contents upon signature.

For an order to conduct an official investigation, we provide a sample of how to fill it out.

An official investigation

The Labor Code of the Russian Federation does not contain a clear definition of an official investigation, but in practice it is understood as a formalized procedure for establishing the circumstances of a violation.

The main goals of the internal investigation are:

Establishing the fact that an offense has been committed by a specific person.
Determining the legality of the penalty imposed on the guilty person.
Imposition of penalties within a specified period.

There is no specific list in the legislation according to which disciplinary sanctions can be imposed on employees and internal investigations can be carried out. However, employers have the right to independently determine these situations and enshrine them in local regulations (including the recommendation to approve a sample act of internal investigation at the enterprise).

Often the list looks like this:

Violation of labor discipline.
Failure to fulfill work duties.
Violation of safety regulations.
Causing material damage to the employer (in the latter case, an internal investigation is mandatory).

If signs of a crime or an administrative offense are found in the committed offense, the employer’s administration is obliged to report this to law enforcement agencies in the prescribed manner.

Procedure for conducting an internal investigation

An official investigation begins with the identification of the misconduct committed. It should be noted that the day the violation was discovered will be considered the day when the relevant official learned about it. According to sub. “b” clause 34 of the resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated March 17, 2004 No. 2, such an official is the immediate superior.

The stages of an internal investigation are as follows:

Issuance of an order on the formation of a commission (at least 3 people for cases of material damage to the employer, see Article 247 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, in other cases the number of commission members can be established by departmental or local acts). The composition of such a commission includes the employee’s immediate superior, as well as the manager who subsequently makes the final decision.
Activities of the commission:

identification of a specific person;
establishing the essence of the violation;
determining the cost and extent of harm;
identification of the reasons that served as the basis for the commission of the offense;
bringing the guilty person to justice;
determination of preventive measures in order to avoid the occurrence of similar situations in the future.

When determining the guilty person, request an explanatory note from him (Part 1 of Article 193, Part 2 of Article 247 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). The employee is given 2 days to prepare this document. If an explanatory note is not submitted or in case of refusal to draw it up, a corresponding act must be drawn up.

Collection and preparation of necessary additional documents and materials related to the case.

Drawing up a final document - an act that describes the fact of the offense committed, the time of its commission, the circumstances and the operative part.

We draw up a conclusion on an internal investigation

The final document drawn up at the end of the internal investigation is the act. The current legislation does not provide for a unified sample of the conclusion of an official investigation, so the document is drawn up in free form.

The act is usually drawn up on an A4 sheet; it can be drawn up both in printed form and by hand.

According to the rules of office work adopted by the company, the act is assigned a serial number, and the date of its completion is also indicated. This date will subsequently be considered the date of completion of the investigation.

The act, as well as all appendices to it, must be signed by all members of the commission. Then the act is certified by the signature of the manager, possibly with the seal of the enterprise.

Act on conducting an internal investigation: sample

A sample official investigation report consists of 3 parts:

introductory;
descriptive;
resolutive.

A sample official investigation report should include the following columns:

To mark the approval of the document by the head of the enterprise (placed in the upper right corner of the document).
Titles.
Compilation dates.
Places of registration.
The composition of the commission members, indicating:
- chairman, with the name of the position held and full name;
- members of the commission, with the names of their positions and full names.
An introductory part indicating the identification of a violation.
A descriptive part consisting of:
- for the purposes of conducting an official investigation;
- the circumstances of the case that led to the violation;
- evidence of the offense committed in detailed form;
- results of the investigation.
The operative part, consisting of:
- from conclusions about the guilt (innocence) of the specified person;
- establishing the type of disciplinary sanction;
- establishing the facts of the presence (absence) of similar outstanding penalties.
List of attached documents.
Signatures of the commission members, as well as the signature of the person in respect of whom the investigation was conducted, confirming familiarization with the document.

An official investigation report is drawn up based on the results of the investigation as a result of the discovery that an employee has committed an offense. This document does not have a unified form and is drawn up at the discretion of the commission in compliance with internal office rules.

An internal investigation is an event that is carried out if an incident occurs at an enterprise: for example, an accident or theft of material assets. Let's consider the algorithm for conducting an internal investigation and samples of documentation that needs to be prepared during the work.

Employers must conduct an internal investigation in case of violation of labor discipline and other incidents. For example, if a shortage or leak of information constituting a trade secret is detected. Such an event is necessary to identify the perpetrators and apply disciplinary measures to them, as well as withhold from them the losses caused to the company. Most likely, a special commission will have to investigate facts of employees’ evasion from medical examinations, passing exams on labor protection, safety precautions and operating rules, as well as refusal to conclude an agreement on the employee’s full financial responsibility, if this is provided for by his main job function.

If the amount of the offense is insignificant, for example, when submitting internal reports, it is not necessary to conduct an investigation. It is enough to simply take a written explanation from the person whose guilt is already obvious and then act according to the law. But if the situation is ambiguous or the organization has suffered significant damage, it is impossible to do without creating a commission and conducting an internal investigation.

Situations in which an internal investigation is necessary

Below is a basic list of possible offenses for which the employee is personally responsible:

absenteeism or absence from work;
showing up to work drunk or under the influence of drugs;
causing serious material damage;
abuse of authority.

Now let's look at the algorithm for conducting an internal investigation. The procedure should begin with recording the fact of a violation.

Step 1. Recording a violation

There is no unified document that must be drawn up when a fact is discovered that gives rise to an official investigation. In practice, such a fact is usually recorded in a memo by the person who discovered it. This document is drawn up on behalf of the employee to his immediate superior or the head of the organization. In such a note you need to indicate:

last name, first name, patronymic and position of the employee who discovered the violation;
the circumstances under which the violation was committed or discovered;
date and time of the event.

When receiving information about illegal actions of an employee from third parties or even directly from law enforcement agencies, it is not necessary to draw up a report. In addition, if the reason for starting an internal investigation was the loss of inventory items or funds identified as a result of the inventory, a corresponding act must be attached to the note. Based on these documents, the employer creates a commission to identify the culprit.

Step 2. Creation of a commission and its tasks

The expediency of all measures necessary within the framework of the event, as well as the degree of guilt of the person whose actions became the subject of the proceedings, is determined by a specially created commission.

The commission is formed by order of the enterprise from competent employees who are not interested in the outcome of the proceedings. If the organization has special services, such as security or internal audit, then their representatives will form the majority of such a commission. In their absence, the personnel service takes over such functions.

As a rule, the commission should include three people. The order must indicate the names and positions of the members of the commission, the purpose and date of its creation, the period of its validity (it may not be limited to a specific case), as well as the powers with which it is vested. Typically, the tasks of such a commission include the following.

Determining the circumstances of the incident, including time, place and manner.
Identification of property that has been or could be damaged.
Inspection of incident sites (if necessary).
Determination of the cost of caused (or possible) damage based on the fact under investigation.
Identification of the persons directly responsible for the act.
Collecting evidence of the guilt of these persons and establishing its degree for each of them (if there are several culprits).
Determination of the causes and conditions conducive to the commission of an offense.
Collection and storage of documentary materials of the investigation.

The competence of the commission includes the right to demand explanations from all employees suspected of misconduct.

A commission can be created even if the company has not yet suffered direct damage, but the employee’s actions could lead to similar consequences. The commission may be permanent and renew its work if necessary.

The order for the organization on the creation of the commission must be familiarized with the signature of all its members. A sample order to conduct an internal investigation (sample) should look something like this:

Step 3. Gather information and evidence

The procedure for conducting an internal investigation is not directly defined in labor legislation, therefore in each organization it must be regulated by internal rules and internal regulations (orders, instructions, regulations). That is, the commission may receive the right to interview employees and study any accounting documents if the management of the enterprise decides so.

Although such an event is a purely internal matter of each organization and only its employees and management can take part in it, help You can involve third-party specialists if this is necessary to clarify the facts related to the incident. For example, to determine the degree of intoxication and the severity of the error made by the employee when making calculations according to the estimate. This is usually necessary when the qualifications of the company’s specialists are not sufficient to draw professional conclusions. In this case, a separate order is issued for the enterprise. The following may act as contract experts:

auditors;
appraisers;
medical workers;
engineers;
lawyers;
other specialists.

In addition, inquiries may be made to government agencies and third parties as part of the investigation. They are obliged to provide the necessary information if it is not secret. All collected materials must be attached to the case as evidence in the same way as acts, certificates and memos drawn up by members of the commission during the investigation. After all, any sample of an official investigation against an employee, especially if it concerns a shortage, can be considered as a matter of transferring investigation data to law enforcement agencies.

Step 4. Obtaining employee explanations

Before the completion of the internal investigation and the issuance of an order to impose disciplinary sanctions on the perpetrators, it is imperative to request an explanation from employees. This is provided for by the provisions of Art. 193 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation and confirmed by the position of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation (clause 47 of the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of March 17, 2004 No. 2). The form of such an explanation can be arbitrary, since it is not regulated by labor legislation. It is better to request an explanation in writing. This is especially necessary if the situation is of a conflict nature and the chances of obtaining an explanation are low. The request must be given to the employee against signature. If he refuses to sign, a corresponding act is drawn up. However, if the employee refuses to provide explanations on the basis Article 51 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, which states that a person is not obliged to testify in relation to himself or his loved ones, directly in the text of the explanatory note, such an act need not be drawn up.

The employee has 2 working days from the date of receipt of the request to prepare an explanatory note. If an explanation is not provided, it is necessary to draw up another act - about refusal to give explanations. It must be signed by the chairman of the commission and several of its members (at least 2 people). After the investigation is completed, the explanatory note itself or a document indicating that an explanation was requested from the employee may serve as the basis for taking disciplinary measures against those responsible, up to and including dismissal.

Step 5. Commission meeting, consideration of circumstances

After the commission has collected and summarized all the information, it must hold a meeting. There, authorized persons will report:

whether there was a violation (causing damage) and what it consisted of;
circumstances, time and place of the incident;
consequences of the violation and the amount of damage caused;
reasons for the misconduct;
the degree of guilt of each of the accused in the incident;
mitigating and aggravating circumstances.

Step 6. Creation of an official investigation report

The results of the commission's work must be reflected in a special act summarizing the results of the investigation. In particular, this document should make it clear:

culpable actions committed by the employee;
the circumstances of such actions;
type and amount of damage caused;
the degree of guilt of the employee;
possible punishment for the guilty person;
proposals to prevent similar situations in the future.

The act must be signed by all members of the commission. If one of the commission members has a special opinion about what happened, he cannot refuse to sign the act. However, he has the right to draw up a separate document stating his position and attach it to the materials.

If, in order to establish the volume and amount of material damage caused, an inventory was carried out, its inventory should be attached to the documents of the official investigation. Documents of third-party institutions and organizations related to the case (court decisions, inspection reports, protocols, etc.) can also be attached to the act and referred to in the text.

A sample conclusion of an internal investigation should look like this:

The employee against whom an internal investigation was carried out must be familiarized with all the results against himself against his signature. If the investigation was carried out against several persons, they must be familiarized with the materials separately, taking into account the protection of personal data.

Timing of internal investigation

The period for conducting an internal investigation according to the Labor Code () should not exceed 1 month from the discovery of the event that served as its cause. Usually the deadline is specified in the order itself. It should be noted that there is a statute of limitations for holding an employee liable, which does not include:

employee's sick time;
the length of time the employee is on vacation;
the time required to take into account the opinion of a trade union or other representative body of workers.

In total, it is possible to bring the culprit to disciplinary liability no later than six months (and in cases related to corruption - three years). After this period, it will no longer be possible to prosecute. Based on the results of an audit, inspection of financial and economic activities or an audit, this period is no more than two years from the date of commission or discovery of the offense. These periods do not include the period of criminal proceedings (if it has been opened).