Does the employee performing the duties of the director in the absence of the director receive an additional salary?

Question

I work at the school as the deputy director for academic affairs. Two months ago, our director was appointed as the temporary head of the district MMTB by the relevant order of the minister.

The director's job is now entrusted to me. But they don't pay extra. Our director will return to school in a year. If I work with overload, won't they pay me extra?

Reply

According to paragraph 18 of the Regulation "On remuneration of employees of public education," approved by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan No. 275, in exceptional cases, in public education institutions, with the consent of the employee, it is allowed to combine professions (positions), as well as to perform the duties of employees who are temporarily absent from work together with their main job.

According to the content of paragraph 25 of the Regulation "On the procedure for working as a substitute and in several professions and positions," approved by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers No. 297, if an employee performs several duties or expands the scope of service, he must be paid an additional fee for these additional work in an amount not exceeding 50 percent of his main salary.

However, paragraph 26 of this regulation provides that additional remuneration for working in several professions and positions in budgetary organizations is not established in cases where work in such professions and positions is included in labor obligations for the main job. (These rules also exist in the Labor Code)

Now, in this situation, we need to find out whether the duties of the deputy director for educational work, who is simultaneously carrying out the duties of the director, are imposed on him in the absence of his duties.

According to it, the deputy director for educational affairs is tasked with fulfilling his official duties during the time when the director is on leave, sick leave and advanced training. That is, if the school director is on leave, sick leave or advanced training and his duties are performed by the deputy director for academic affairs, he will not be paid an additional salary.

What if the director was involved in a different job?

Let's say, as in the above case, the school principal was appointed to the position of head of the regional preschool and school education department before the competition, but not more than one year.

In this case, the school principal was on leave, sick leave, or did not go to professional development, that is, he was involved in another job for a period of no more than one year.

In this situation, we believe that if the director's duties are performed by the deputy director for academic affairs, then he should be paid an additional salary.

Because the duties of the deputy director for educational affairs are only imposed on the performance of his duties if the school director is on leave, sick leave or advanced training.

In other cases, the deputy director for academic affairs, who performs the duties of the director, must be paid an additional salary.

The expert of xalqtaliminfo.uz, specialist in labor law Muhammadamin Karimjonov was also informed about this issue. The expert, on the other hand, found these data valid and presented his conclusions to us.

The expert opinion is as follows:

According to Article 116 of the Labor Code, assigning the duties of an employee who is temporarily absent from work to his/her permanent replacement without dismissal from his/her main job, if this replacement has obligations to perform the duties of an employee who is temporarily absent from work according to labor legislation, labor contract or job instructions, is formalized by the employer's order and does not require additional consent from the employee appointed to perform temporary duties and no additional payment is made.

Note that Article 116 refers to a "temporary" period. That is, when we say temporary, we mean a certain short period of time. For example, a sick period, a business trip, or a period of professional development can be called a temporary period.

According to Article 259 of the Labor Code, when the duties of a temporarily absent employee are assigned to his/her permanent deputy without dismissal from his/her main job, no additional payment is made.

However, this rule may not apply in all cases. Because if the employee is absent for a long period of time, the employee who performed his duties must be paid an additional fee.

That is, a temporary dismissal from work implies that such a dismissal is short-term. For example, if the director is on leave, on sick leave, or on a business trip. If the position is vacant, this is not considered a temporary absence of the employee.

Based on the above, it can be concluded that if the employee fulfills the duties of the vacant directorate position over a long period of time, he should be paid an additional fee.