How to write a collective complaint correctly: sample statements

How to correctly draft and write a collective complaint? According to clause 4 of Art. 4 Federal Law No. 59-2006, a collective complaint is the right to a legal appeal of a group of citizens to various authorities to resolve issues of interest. The essence of the statement is a direct presentation of the problems that have arisen and proposals for ways out of controversial situations.

A collective complaint comes from several individuals whose rights were violated in one case. Most often, such documents are drawn up for unlawful behavior:

neighbors;
employers;
individuals and legal entities;
employees at work;
organizations involved in managing households in apartment buildings;
teachers of schools, universities and other educational institutions;
workers of preschool institutions.

Applications can be submitted to your immediate superior, to higher authorities (for example, if there is a complaint against a teacher, you can contact not only the director of the institution, but also the Education Department), the police, the prosecutor's office, the courts and other supervisory and control authorities.

How to write a request correctly

Within the framework of Art. 2 of Federal Law No. 59, any citizen or group of citizens has the right to file complaints with various government agencies, without observing strict rules on the procedure for filing, except for the need to submit a written application indicating who the complaint is coming from (for example, the labor collective of Sunrise LLC).

The application is written in compliance with the established paperwork requirements:

The header is in the upper right corner. It displays the name of the institution, the full name of the head and information about the persons on whose behalf the appeal is being drawn up.
The title “Complaint” - indicating the specific situation (for example, “Complaint about unlawful actions of the management company”).
The content of the appeal lists the facts of offenses. It is advisable to indicate a list of references to the regulatory framework according to which the described actions can be regarded as an offense.
A request to resolve a conflict or controversial situation by an authorized structure.
List of proposals for resolving problems.
List of persons applying and date of writing the document.

The document must be drawn up in compliance with the following principles:

The complaint is a collective one, but one person prepares it.
Once written, the document must be reviewed by participating citizens.
The text is composed correctly.
All participants in the appeal sign the application or their official representative signs it.
The complaint displays only true facts that have an evidentiary base - documents, witness statements, video materials, etc.
The description of the facts is brief, but in an accessible form.

Normative base

According to Art. 4 clause 4 of Federal Law No. 59 of 2006, a complaint from a team is a legitimate appeal to the appropriate authority to resolve any issue. The essence of the paper lies not only in the presentation of the issue that has arisen, but also in the collective proposal of ways to resolve it.

A collective statement is formed by several persons who became victims or witnesses in one case.

Based on the statements of Article 2 of Federal Law No. 59, every citizen or group of persons has the right to such appeals without observing strict rules, with the exception of one thing - a written document indicating a list of all complaining persons.

However, before writing a collective complaint, it is still better to understand the essence of drawing up such documentation in order to receive adequate action from the appropriate authority.

Collective appeal to the administration

In any locality on the territory of the Russian Federation, citizens can submit collective complaints to the city, district or village administration. The consideration of applications is not the responsibility of deputies, but of the institution’s employees responsible for a specific area of work.

A collective application to the administration is submitted to resolve the following issues:

Rent, use, disposal, maintenance of residential, non-residential premises and other buildings that are collectively owned.
Supply and provision of public utilities.
Road activities within the populated area, including the arrangement of parking lots and transport stops.
Providing housing and material assistance to socially vulnerable segments of the population.
Organization of landfills and waste collection points.
Cleaning and beautification of areas owned by a city or town.
Construction work, building plans, issuing permits, etc.

Before applying, it is advisable to clarify whether the administration has the authority to consider the facts reflected in the application. Otherwise, the complaint may be forwarded to another authority or remain without consideration.

Elements of a class action

Legislation and theory provide for the identification of several elements of the claim:

grounds – factual circumstances or reasons that prompted the person to go to court;
the subject of the claim is the demands made by the plaintiffs.

The defendant is the same person. Now we will present two views on group or collective applications to the court.

According to the first, the peculiarity of collective civil suits is the status of the applicant - he protects the interests of others, and not his own.

According to the second, the applicant is both the injured party and the appeal is no longer considered collective. The rules on the interaction of co-plaintiffs come into force.

There is still no answer to the question of which position is correct in the civil process of the Russian Federation. How do judges view class action lawsuits? Despite the similarity of circumstances, the judge may not agree with the simultaneous consideration of applications from several persons.

Complaint to the management company

If the owners of apartments or other private housing are not satisfied with the work of the management company, they can influence its work through a collective appeal to the management company. Statements addressed to management companies differ from other similar documents, since they contain not only complaints and indications of errors, but also recommendations for eliminating them.

Applications to the Criminal Code have a non-standard procedure for preparation, content and response measures to them. The claims of team members may be different, so the document is prepared by one person and signed by all participants.

The application is drawn up according to the form of application to the housing and communal services authorities. The name of the local government body in respect of which the document is being written is written in the header. A list of persons participating in this procedure is compiled along with contact information. The following is information about the applicants - owners of apartments and premises. The address of the housing construction whose owners are participating in the appeal is entered.

The subject of the complaint is preliminary considered at a meeting of owners, which is also indicated in the document. After this, the essence of the requirements and possible options for resolving controversial situations are outlined.

The application is drawn up in 2 copies. The first is taken to the management company, the second remains with the owners. Supporting documentation (if any) is attached to the document. An inventory is compiled in the form of a numbered list.

Sample

Next, we note a number of nuances that will speed up the consideration and present the applicants as literate, educated citizens who find themselves in an unpleasant situation in 2021:

The complaint is drawn up in 2 copies. It is useful to additionally have an electronic version. It is very easy to convert it into writing.
All participants must come to a common opinion or find a compromise. The opinion of any applicant cannot be ignored. This can lead to a protracted consideration of the claim or a response “for show”. After compiling it, all participants must read it and express their opinions and make corrections.
In the text of the letter, emotions are reduced to a minimum. There should be no insults or obscene language. Excessive details should be avoided. The claim must be clear and to the point. A large volume in this case is often harmful. After writing, the text is checked for spelling, lexical and other errors. Please use “we” or “us” throughout the form.
To be convincing, support your words with references to current laws. The more specific and most importantly truthful facts are indicated in the complaint, the faster the competent authorities will understand the current situation.
Contact information is required. If there are many applicants, please indicate only one representative. Attach a list of signatures to the text of the letter. For example, work colleagues or residents of an apartment building.
Be sure to make a note about the date of sending in the correspondence log . When sending by mail, save the notice. By law, the period for consideration of a claim is up to 30 calendar days. But it is worth considering that it can drag on significantly depending on the issue at hand.

For example, it takes more time to conduct an additional investigation with the involvement of the organization's security service.

As for the review period, for issues of low-quality goods and consumer protection, it is 10 days. When filing a complaint with government agencies or local government, the period increases to 30 days.

Collective complaint to the prosecutor's office

Collective complaints to the prosecutor's office are one of the ways to contact the regulatory structure in order for citizens to protect their rights. It doesn’t matter how many people apply, the main thing is that there is more than one. This procedure is regulated by Art. 10 Federal Law No. 2202-1.

Unlike a standard complaint, the document identifies all the victims, and the general demands of citizens are combined into one. Collective appeals are considered more carefully by the prosecutor's office, are rarely ignored and more often provide the necessary result.

A complaint to the prosecutor's office has a number of features. In the header, in addition to the name of the body and the full name of its head, a list of all applicants is displayed. If there are many of them, it is recommended to select one official representative on whose behalf the document will be drawn up.

The information part indicates violations that relate to all participants in the appeal. Those. the document must reflect the interests of both the entire group and each member individually. Therefore, the content of the document is often voluminous.

The conclusion is also extensive, since it displays the evidence base - testimonies of victims, certificates and other documents related to the case. The document is signed by all citizens who file a complaint so that it is not declared invalid.

Law

Federal Law No. 59 gives this definition of a complaint - this is one of the ways to restore violated rights through a written appeal addressed to a government agency or other organizations.

The claim can be sent to the head of the administration, representatives of the bank, addressed to the head of the current place of work, etc.

ATTENTION! A collective appeal should contain not only statements of dissatisfaction, but also individual proposals to solve the problem.

If two or more citizens find themselves in an unpleasant situation where their rights are violated, it is better to file a collective complaint. In practice, it is precisely such written complaints that bring the desired result.

Of course, you should not underestimate individual requests, but if you have like-minded people, it will be easier to resolve the issue. Although in some situations this may have the opposite effect. Filing a collective complaint does not have a strict form, but unspoken rules still exist in 2021. When do citizens most often unite in groups to resolve an issue?

Appeal to the higher authorities of the enterprise or organization.
Complaint about the work of utilities or poor-quality goods to the store director.
For education or healthcare workers.

One way or another, a collective letter should be sent to higher management, and only then contact government agencies. For example, Rospotrebnadzor or the prosecutor's office. An appeal that remains without a reasoned answer can be attached to a lawsuit.

To file and submit claims, it is important to find like-minded people. In most cases this is not difficult. But it is not always possible to correctly compose an appeal for an effective solution. Let us pay close attention to this point.

It is worth remembering that if the case goes to court, then claims are filed strictly individually.

Contacting the labor inspectorate

The procedure for citizens' appeals to the labor inspectorate is also regulated by Federal Law No. 59 and the labor legislation of the Russian Federation. Collective complaints can be filed for each fact of violation of workers' rights, including wage reduction, non-payment of compensation, violation of guarantees provided by law, work schedule, rest, length of working day, break, etc.

An appeal can be submitted in several ways:

The document is drawn up and submitted to the complaints department.
The prepared application is sent by mail.
The appeal is made on the inspection website.

The document indicates the name and full details of the company whose employees are filing the complaint. The full name of the head and all members of the appeal, the essence of the application, with a detailed description of the violations and the evidence base are written. At the end of the application, the penalties that the applicants want to achieve for the guilty persons are indicated. For example, conducting an inspection, bringing the director to disciplinary liability, initiating a case, etc. Documents, employment agreements and other papers confirming the essence of the complaint are attached to the complaint.

Review period

If there is a need to conduct several prosecutorial checks, then the period for consideration of a collective appeal can reach 30 days. The period is counted from the moment the application is received.

If the fact of the offense does not require inspections, then applicants must receive a response within 14 days from the date of filing.

If there are compelling reasons, the complaint is considered by the prosecutor immediately upon receipt. If inaccuracies are found in the document, it is returned to the applicant within 7 days from the date of acceptance by the supervisory authority.

Design features

A civil class action lawsuit follows the same rules. The difference is in some nuances.

It does not matter whether they go to the magistrates' or district court. The rule regarding the location of the court where the application is considered is not canceled. As a rule, the claim is sent to the court at the location or residence of the defendant. In cases involving consumers, lawsuits may be filed in the place where they live.

The name of the court is indicated in the header.
The full name of the plaintiffs, place of residence, and other information are indicated.
The name or full name of the defendant or defendants is indicated in full (the law does not impose a limit on their number).
The body or person who acts on behalf of the plaintiffs (usually referred to as a person with a procedural interest).
Statement of the circumstances of the claim - violations committed, in the opinion of the plaintiffs, by the defendant, references to legislation, evidence, etc.
Justification for the participation in the case of a person defending the rights of the plaintiffs (in the case of the prosecutor’s office - the protection of social rights and the inability to defend themselves).
Claim requirements.
List of attached documents (their copies).
Signature and date of submission.

A sample class action lawsuit may not contain information about the plaintiffs, which is typical for applications filed by prosecutors and other authorities.

If specific persons are not named in the claim, then the means of protecting rights should be selected accordingly. If an individual citizen wants compensation for material and moral damage, he can only submit an application on his own behalf. If there are grounds, the prosecutor or authority has the right to represent his interests again.

Representation of interests

Judicial practice has developed a position that filing a class action lawsuit is possible provided that citizens complain about the infringement of their interests. Also, the complaint or statement must state a request for legal assistance, primarily for representation in court. Otherwise, participation in the trial will be considered unfounded. This especially affects government agencies and the prosecutor's office. The sample class action lawsuit provides for a corresponding clause.

The participation of government bodies is limited to their competence as defined by law. This is partly why the prosecutor’s office goes to court more often than other authorities. If they file claims, then the prosecutor is still involved in the process due to the need to give an opinion (custody disputes, labor cases, etc.)

During the consideration, the court has the right to suggest to the plaintiffs that one of them represent common interests. Consent does not deprive others of the opportunity at any time to petition the court or exercise another right granted by procedural law.