How to get a duplicate of an employment contract if lost

Is it possible to restore an employment contract if it is lost?

An employment contract is the main document, an agreement between the employer and the employee, it establishes the mutual rights and obligations of the parties. Its loss leads to serious consequences. The State Labor Inspectorate considers his absence as a violation of Art. 5.27 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.

Questions about reinstating an employment contract often arise. You can recreate a lost copy. The procedure for restoring a missing document is not described in the legislation; the employer should develop its own algorithm for its reconstruction for the organization and include it in the company’s LNA (Article 8 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

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Why do you need to certify copies?

GOST R 7.0.8-2013 “System of standards for information, library and publishing.
Record keeping and archiving. Terms and definitions" (approved by order of Rosstandart dated October 17, 2013 No. 1185-st) divides all copies taken from documents into regular and certified. In this case, a copy is recognized as a copy of a document that completely reproduces the information of the original. And a certified copy is a copy that contains details that ensure its legal significance. Receive requirements from the Federal Tax Service and send requested documents via the Internet

As you can see, certification of a copy is necessary to give it legal significance. In other words, only such copies are used in official document circulation, including for submission to state and municipal authorities or for transfer to other organizations, individual entrepreneurs and individuals.

In particular, it is certified copies of documents that can confirm expenses for tax purposes (letter of the Ministry of Finance dated October 25, 2019 No. 03-03-06/1/82236). You will also have to certify copies of paper documents submitted to the tax office in response to the corresponding requirement (Clause 2 of Article of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

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How to restore a TD if lost by an employer

The employment contract is drawn up in two copies, one of which is kept by the employer. If the document flow in the company is large, then situations arise when part of the documentation disappears and needs urgent restoration. We are drawing up an algorithm for what to do if the employment contract is lost by the employer.

So, the management of the organization and HR specialists have to perform the following actions.

1. The lost original is restored based on the employee’s copy.
2. The manager asks the employee to provide his copy: based on it, he makes a duplicate.
3. The original is returned to the employee.

The legislation does not specify the time period during which the company must draw up a duplicate document and return the original to the owner. To avoid conflicts with employees, the employer should specify in the LNA the deadlines for the HR department to work with documentation and indicate the time for its return to employees. Restoration takes about one business day.

Another way to restore a document if it is lost by both parties is to conclude a new one. If both copies disappear, it is impossible to make a duplicate, so the documentation is drawn up and signed again, focusing on the entries in the personal T-2 card, the signing date is set to the current one, and the actual date of receipt is indicated. A separate paragraph should state that this copy is in place of the lost one.

Procedure for issuing a duplicate (for an individual)

To certify a lost document, you need to complete the registration correctly, following the order. The procedure consists of several stages that a person who wants to receive a duplicate must go through. The notary issuing a duplicate copy of the paper goes through its stages of production. The scheme is common for both individuals and legal entities, but has differences:

• Filling out a special form indicating which duplicate documents need to be replaced. You should indicate not only the name of the document, but also its number and other important identification marks.
• Drawing up a note explaining the basis on which duplicates are requested. You can write that the document was lost, stolen, damaged during a natural disaster (fire, flood, hurricane, etc.).
• Payment of state duty. It is not necessary to pay a state fee for all types of documents, and only in certain circumstances of their loss. It is advisable to clarify this fact with a specialist before going to the bank. A receipt confirming payment is attached to the application.
• Sending all necessary papers to the notary.

All you have to do is wait until the specialist confirms the registration and issues a certified duplicate in accordance with the rules.

How to restore a TD if an employee loses it

Due to the fact that not all employees are careful about storing the papers issued to them by the HR department, the question of what to do if an employment contract is lost by an employee requires an answer. They recreate a document lost by an employee, like this.

1. Make a duplicate.
2. Issue a duly certified copy upon written application from the employee (Article 62 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

The request execution period does not exceed three days from the date of application.

If an employee requests a copy of a document certified by a notary, the HR department has the right to refuse this request. The service is paid, and if it is not provided for in the employer’s LNA, then there is no obligation to provide it. But the employee has the right to have the documentation certified by a notary himself.

When is it possible to obtain a duplicate from a notary?

If the document was originally certified by a notary, he can issue a duplicate. To receive a copy of the document, you must meet certain conditions:

• the document whose duplicate is requested from the notary must be lost (its loss is associated with the actions of the person who requests the copy);

• the lost/damaged document contained the terms of the notarial transaction or contained executive inscriptions;
• a copy of the required document is kept among the notary’s files (since different documents have their own shelf life, if a long period of time has passed, the paper may no longer exist);
• the issuance of a duplicate is declared by a person who is directly related to the document whose copy is requested.

A duplicate is not exactly a copy of a document, but its replacement. It is issued in only one copy and acts as a replacement for the completely lost original. If you need to get several copies, they are made from a duplicate and also certified by a notary (if necessary). After the applicant is issued a duplicate, information about this is entered into a special register where all notarial actions are recorded.

What does a duplicate contract look like?

Here is what a sample duplicate of an employment contract looks like if it is lost:

It is almost identical to the original document, but it has a new serial number and date. It has the appropriate stamp on it, the seal of the organization and the signature of the management are affixed. The duplicate has the same legal force as the original.

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What duplicates can you get from a notary?

Obtaining a duplicate may be necessary not only for individuals, but also for legal entities. Given the difference between them, different documents can be used as duplicates. Legal entities most often request duplicates of the following documents:

• notarized charter of the company;
• various constituent documents;
• tax registration certificates;
• various contracts and certificates;
• orders.

Lack of order in documents can be a hindrance when a company takes part in tenders or competitions; papers need to be presented to the court, but it turned out that the originals were lost during a move or simply due to the negligence of staff. The notary stores them and can issue them upon request. Even if an organization has a copy, in some transactions it cannot use it instead of the original. A duplicate is an equivalent replacement.

Individuals order duplicates of the following documents:

• certificates of various types (birth, death, marriage);
• work book;
• various contracts (donation, purchase/sale).

If the lost document has not been notarized, the notary cannot issue his document because he does not have one.

Features of maintaining order in the preparation of a duplicate document (using the example of a company)

The basis for issuing a duplicate is a special act, which confirms that the duplicated document was lost or received damage that prevented its full use. Drawing up the act falls on the shoulders of a special commission. The act states:

• document's name;
• number and series;
• date of issue;
• content;
• reasons for loss;
• composition of the commission.

At the very end there must be signatures of all commission members. The act is signed by the chairman of the commission, all its members and the general director of the company. Then you can begin the procedure for restoring the document by obtaining a duplicate.

Next, a written appeal is written to the notary, where a request is made to provide a duplicate of the document, the notarization of which the specialist was involved in. If the original is damaged, it must be attached to the application. Also attached is a report drawn up by the commission. Practice shows that it is better to immediately certify two copies of the application in order to leave a mark of receipt on the second, and thereby avoid disputes about when a duplicate should be issued.

According to the law, the duplicate cannot be edited, and it is prepared for no longer than two weeks. There should be a mark on the page that this is a duplicate. This mark is placed on all documents. Otherwise, the data is completely copied. If the data has changed (as in the case of a work book), the changes must be documented. This is the only way to duplicate them.

How to certify copies of statutory documents

The legislation does not contain any specifics regarding certification of copies of statutory documents. Therefore, the rules discussed above should be applied. Since we are talking about multi-page documents (charter, constituent agreement), it is also necessary to take into account the procedure for binding such papers for the purpose of their certification.

Thus, the firmware must be done for 4 punctures, although for documents of small volume 3 punctures are acceptable (clause 4.21 of the Rules for organizing the storage, acquisition, recording and use of documents, approved by order of the Ministry of Culture dated March 31, 2015 No. 526). At the same time, it must be possible to freely read the text of the document, all its details, dates, visas, resolutions, other inscriptions, seals, stamps and marks. Also, the firmware must be done in such a way that each individual page can be copied using a copy machine. But at the same time, the firmware should not “fall apart” into separate sheets (clause 3 of the Requirements).

The stitching must be done with a strong thread or tape, its ends should be brought to the back of the last sheet and tied. After this, the ends of the thread (tape) are sealed with a paper sticker, on which the certification inscription is affixed in the manner indicated above - that is, part of it is on the sticker, and part of it is on the sheet itself.

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How to properly certify documents using the “Copy is True” stamp

GOST R 7.0.97-2016 does not provide for the affixing of the “Copy is correct” stamp. At the same time, you can use a combination of two stamps - “Copy” and “Correct”. The first of them will mean that the corresponding document reproduces the original, but is not itself such. The second stamp is needed to mark the certification of the copy.

Advice

We do not recommend using the “True Copy” stamp to certify documents.
Especially if copies will be used outside the organization. In conclusion, we note that certification of a copy of a document is a simple procedure that any taxpayer can perform independently. But at the same time, you must adhere to the rules, violation of which may lead to the fact that the copy will not be considered certified. This, in turn, will entail additional costs of time and money. And in some cases it can lead to a fine for violating the deadlines for submitting documents to the Federal Tax Service.