The lawyer gave advice on how to defend against accusations of mistakes at work

An employee may be wrongly accused of violating his duties or try to shift responsibility for other people's mistakes onto him due to the lack of a clear distribution of tasks and evidence. Fyodor Trusov, a lawyer and managing partner of Sokolov, Trusov and Partners Law Firm, told Izvestia on July 29 which documents and actions would help protect his rights.

According to the expert, many labor conflicts do not begin with intentional violation or dishonesty, but with the fact that the employer and the employee understand the boundaries of official duties differently. Trusov noted that the employment contract and job description often remain formal documents that are studied only when applying for employment. However, they are the ones that become key when disputes arise between an employee and an employer.

"If they try to blame an employee for a mistake made by another person, it is necessary first of all to determine what duties were assigned to the employee, who set the task, who actually performed the work and who had access to the necessary documents, systems and correspondence," said Trusov.

According to the lawyer, a colleague or other employee cannot be held accountable solely because of the subjective feeling that he "framed" another person. To do this, you need to identify the specific actions that led to the problem. These may include providing false information, hiding important information, changing or substituting documents, misappropriating the results of someone else's work, or passing distorted information about the situation to management.

At the same time, as Trusov emphasized, any accusations must be supported by evidence. The very words of colleagues or a supervisor are not enough to hold an employee accountable.

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The expert recalled that when applying disciplinary action, the employer is obliged to comply with the established procedure. Before issuing a comment, reprimand, or dismissal for violating labor obligations, the company must request a written explanation from the employee. If it is a question of material damage, the employer needs to conduct an audit, determine the amount of losses and find out the reasons for their occurrence.

According to the lawyer, disciplinary action or dismissal can be challenged if the decision was made without checking the circumstances, based on hearsay, without receiving an explanation from the employee, or in the absence of proven guilt.

Trusov called the lack of fixation of working arrangements one of the main mistakes of employees. According to him, employees often resolve important issues only verbally, and then face a situation where it is impossible to prove who exactly received the assignment and what conditions were agreed. The expert also advises not to delete work correspondence and not to sign documents whose contents the employee does not understand or with which he does not agree. An attempt to "close the issue faster" with an explanatory note may further complicate the defense of one's position.

According to Trusov, it is necessary to collect confirmations of one's position not after receiving the foreclosure order, but in advance — to keep correspondence, record instructions and carefully study the documents that define the scope of duties.

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