Pros and cons of working at night / Sudo Null IT News

Background

Before starting work

Weight: 78 kg Condition: normal, cheerful, cheerful.
Usually worked from 11:00 to 21:00 every day. There were no health problems, no complaints. I received an offer to work at night for an increased fee, I agreed without hesitation, as did several other people from my team. It was necessary to start immediately from the first of August. We had 2 days to prepare.

Month one

August 1st
, the day I started going to bed in the morning. It all started simply: from 21:00 I continued to work until 6:00 in the morning. I felt tired, I felt sleepy, I tried my best not to fall asleep. The alarm clock rang and I instantly fell asleep.

Woke up on August 2

at 13:40, missing all the alarms that I set for 12:00. Miraculously, without fatigue or drowsiness, very cheerful. Work was supposed to start at 20:00, I was doing the usual things.

The second day of work went the same way as the first, I was also tired and was also getting sleepy. Again, I fell asleep at 6:00 without any problems.

I felt tired for about a week, then I returned to my normal routine. I woke up without alarm clocks around 13:30 to 14:30, fell asleep until 6:30 in the morning. But sometimes there was a feeling of “stupid head”, heaviness in the head.

Month two

Work began to bring pleasure. You can feel the delights, for example: silence, only our team with whom we are working, there are not so many distractions. No fatigue, nothing. It’s as if I’ve been working like this all my life. In the second month there is practically nothing to say, everything is ordinary.

Month three

This is the most interesting month. We are completing the project, work with a foreign company is coming to an end, and from the third week we stop working. On August 22, we received a 2-week vacation for rest for meeting the deadlines and securing a bonus.

II. Controversy

Despite such clear regulation, among all labor disputes considered by the courts, one can also highlight disputes related to the unresolved problems of night work.
Let's look at what disputes are most often associated with night work, and what worker demands are typical for this category of disputes. 2.1. Pay disputes

In most cases of disputes arising from night work, these disputes are related to wages. At the same time, both the grounds for claims and the reasons for non-payment in practice are different.

2.1.1. An employee may be absolutely or relatively right in his demands (with minor adjustments in calculations). It happens that the employer, for various reasons, does not pay wages to employees on time, including increased payment for work at night or on holidays. Regardless of the reasons for non-payment, the employee has the right to demand recovery of the payments due to him in court. In this case, he must prove not only the fact of labor relations and the terms of payment agreed upon by the parties, but also the absence (inadequacy) of remuneration, non-payment of increased amounts for work at night, the fact of work itself at night and/or holidays. If the evidence presented is sufficient, the court recognizes the employee’s demands as justified and satisfies them.

Practice: B., who worked as a watchman, filed a lawsuit against the employer to recover wages, including for work at night and on holidays. The employee was able to prove the fact of an employment relationship under the conditions named in the claim, as well as the lack of payment for work at night and on holidays. The only thing that raised questions from the court was an incorrect calculation of the increased wages due to the plaintiff for work at night. The employee’s mistake was not excluding the lunch break time from calculation. Taking into account the clarification of the calculation, the court satisfied all the plaintiff’s demands, collecting the required amounts from the defendant employer. (decision of the Stary Oskol City Court of the Belgorod Region dated July 27, 2011 in case No. 2-1969/2011).

An employee may be sincerely mistaken in the rules for applying the norms of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation on payment for work at night in relation to his shift (work time). For example, an enterprise establishes a shift work schedule of three 8-hour shifts:

1st shift – from 08.00 to 16.00, 2nd shift – from 16.00 to 24.00, 3rd shift – from 00.00 to 08.00.

The fallacy of the employee’s demands related to payment for night work is the requirement for increased payment for the entire shift time (2nd and 3rd shifts), while only the time from 22.00 to 06.00 is subject to increased payment (that is, part of the 2nd shift and part 3 shifts). The erroneous interpretation of the law by the employee is confirmed by judicial practice.

Practice: Shch. filed a lawsuit against the employer to collect arrears of payment for actually worked and unpaid night hours of work, in support of which he indicated that he worked as an inventory inspector on the third (night) shift. He believes that for the entire period of work on the third (night) shift, he was incorrectly accrued and paid wages for work at night. From the pay slips presented by the plaintiff, it follows that Shch’s work at night (from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.) was paid in accordance with clause 4.2.2 of the enterprise’s internal labor regulations with a 40% premium to the hourly wage rate for each hour worked. Additional payment to employees for each hour of work on the night shift during hours not falling on the period from 22.00 to 06.00 is not provided for by either the Labor Code of the Russian Federation or the internal labor regulations of the defendant. The plaintiff’s argument that additional payment should be made for all hours of the night shift, and not just for night time, was not taken into account by the court, since it was based on an incorrect interpretation of substantive law (decision of the Vsevolozhsk City Court of the Leningrad Region dated April 23, 2009 ; determination of the Leningrad Regional Court dated April 28, 2010 No. 33-1781/2010).

An employer may misinterpret the procedure and grounds for charging additional payments for night work. So, for example, if there are requirements of the law and the provisions of the local act of the enterprise that have not been repealed, the calculation of increased pay must be made by the employer in a timely manner and in full based on the timesheet data. Pending changes in the procedure for calculating compensation for night work is not a reason for non-payment of these amounts or for late payment.

Practice: An employee filed a claim with the employer to collect arrears of compensation for work at night and on non-working holidays. In support of the claim, he indicated that upon his dismissal, he received a calculation of the payments due without taking into account work at night, weekends and non-working holidays. For work at night and on non-working holidays, the Defendant was supposed to pay compensation, but this did not happen. The court found that the procedure and amount of remuneration for work at night in relation to the plaintiff was established by a departmental act - the order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia “On approval of the Regulations on monetary allowances for employees of internal affairs bodies of the Russian Federation”, according to which additional payment is made to police officers for work at night in in the amount of 35 percent of the hourly tariff rate. To justify the failure to pay compensation for night work, the employer indicated that changes to the specified procedure were expected, and therefore the specified payments were not made on the day of the plaintiff’s dismissal. The court, satisfying the plaintiff’s demands, indicated that he is subject to the guarantees established by the Labor Code of the Russian Federation (including Articles 149, 140 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation), and evidence that the plaintiff is not subject to payment of compensation for the night time he worked, as an exception , not presented by the defendant. The court collected monetary compensation from the employer for work at night according to the calculation made. (decision of the Priozersk City Court of the Leningrad Region in case No. 2-685/2012).

An employee may be mistaken in providing evidence of night work. The situation is atypical: the employee believes that he works at night, and, accordingly, expects increased pay. However, in reality it turns out that he worked in the evening or morning, which does not fall under the concept of “night work,” which is confirmed by the report card, schedule and other evidence in the case. And the employee’s unfounded statements about working at night cannot be accepted as evidence of his work from 22.00 to 06.00, which, in accordance with Art. 96 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation recognizes night work. Thus, the employee’s demands for increased pay cannot be satisfied without evidence of night work.

Practice: An employee who was dismissed due to staff reduction filed a lawsuit with numerous demands, including the recovery of wages for work at night. The court, having examined the documents presented by the parties, came to the conclusion that the terms of the employment contract concluded between the parties did not provide for the plaintiff’s work at night, but evidence of the plaintiff’s involvement in night work, as well as evidence of the plaintiff’s involvement in night work with the knowledge and on behalf of the employer, it was not presented to the court. From the presented documents it is clear that the wages were paid to the plaintiff taking into account the established work schedule, the duration of working hours, based on the salary established for her. Since the plaintiff’s claims were not proven in any way, the court refused to satisfy her claim in full. (decision of the Kuzminsky District Court of Moscow dated April 18, 2012; appeal ruling of the Moscow City Court dated September 20, 2012 No. 11-20799/2012).

2.2. Disputes about the illegality of hiring people to work at night

In most cases, the dispute itself about the legality or illegality of engaging an employee to work at night does not arise at the court level. As a rule, this circumstance serves only as a catalyst for the emergence of a labor dispute with other demands: reinstatement at work, recognition of the punishment as illegal, etc. So, for example, the hearing of a dismissal case may lead the court to the conclusion that it is illegal to attract an employee to work on the night shift, and, as a consequence, to the illegality of dismissal for absence from work on the night shift. For example, as follows from the explanations contained in paragraph. 39 Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated March 17, 2004 No. 2 “On the application by the courts of the Russian Federation of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation” (hereinafter referred to as Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation No. 2), if the employment contract with the employee is terminated under paragraphs. “a” clause 6, part 1, art. 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation for absenteeism, it must be taken into account that dismissal on this basis, in particular, can be made for absence from work without good reason, i.e. absence from work throughout the entire working day (shift), regardless of the length of the working day (shift). According to paragraph 5 of Art. 96 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, mothers and fathers raising children under five years of age without a spouse, as well as guardians of children of the specified age, may be involved in night work only with their written consent and provided that such work is not prohibited to them due to their condition health in accordance with a medical report. At the same time, these employees must be informed in writing of their right to refuse to work at night. Thus, the employer does not have the right to attract certain categories of workers to work at night, and then classify their absence from work as absenteeism. If violations of the rights of these categories of workers are established, the court recognizes the recruitment to work as illegal and restores the rights of the employee (depending on the latter’s claims).

Practice: The plaintiff filed a lawsuit for reinstatement at work, stating in support of the claim that she was fired for absenteeism. He considers the dismissal on the above grounds to be illegal, since the plaintiff is raising a child under 5 years of age alone, and therefore the employer did not have the right to hire the plaintiff to work the night shift without her consent, the absence of which he considered absenteeism without a good reason. As follows from the case materials, the plaintiff performed the labor functions of a transporter, with the establishment of working hours according to a sliding schedule. Having familiarized herself with the next work schedule, according to which she was supposed to go to work on the night shift, the plaintiff submitted an application to the employer to retain her previous work shift from 08.00 to 15.30 hours on the basis of Art. 96 Labor Code of the Russian Federation. However, the employer refused to provide work on the day shift, since the plaintiff did not provide documents confirming that she was raising a single child under the age of 5, and also because there were no other work schedules for transporters. Despite the plaintiff’s written explanation that she came to work in the morning and was at the enterprise until 10 o’clock, since she was not allowed to work, the employer disciplined her for absenteeism without good reason and fired her. according to sub. “a” clause 6, part 1, art. 81 Labor Code of the Russian Federation. The fact of raising a child under the age of five without a spouse was confirmed by the employee with a certificate of divorce, a personal card f. T-2, a certificate from the place of residence, according to which the plaintiff lives with children, there are no other family members, as well as the prosecutor’s proposal to eliminate violations of labor legislation, which indicates the illegal involvement of the plaintiff to work at night. Based on the foregoing, the court came to the conclusion that the employer had no grounds for refusing the plaintiff’s application to change the work schedule; engaging her to work at night cannot be considered legal. And the plaintiff’s absence from work at night cannot be regarded as a violation of labor discipline, for which disciplinary action may be taken in the form of dismissal under subsection. "a" clause 6 of Art. 81 Labor Code of the Russian Federation. In connection with this, the court satisfied the employee’s claim for reinstatement at work (ruling of the Chelyabinsk Regional Court in case No. 11-4671/2012).

2.3. Discrimination controversy

Infrequently, but in practice, disputes occur regarding... discrimination when establishing work schedules. For example, some workers believe that they are unfairly put on day shifts with lower pay, while their colleagues “get” night shifts with higher pay. In this case, a claim can only be filed with a requirement to change the work schedule or to recognize an already introduced and current schedule as illegal. Or demands can be added to the claim in addition to the already included demands for wages, for the provision of guarantees and compensation, etc. However, the court believes that the employer has the right to decide for himself who to put on the overnight work schedule and who not. And it does not satisfy such demands of employees, considering them unreasonable.

Practice: An ambulance driver filed a lawsuit against the employer to invalidate the order imposing a disciplinary sanction and imposing the obligation to include night work in the shift schedule. In support of the claim, he indicated that he considered the order of punishment illegal, since he did not violate the internal labor regulations. In addition, the plaintiff considers work shift schedules to be discriminatory and violate his rights under labor legislation and the collective agreement. The defendant includes him in the work schedule only during the daytime, depriving him of the opportunity to work at night and receive additional bonuses to his salary for working at night. The court found that by order of the chief physician, the plaintiff was reprimanded for violating internal labor regulations (early leaving work at 20:40 instead of the required 21:00). Having studied the procedure for bringing the plaintiff to disciplinary liability, the court did not find any violation of the plaintiff’s rights by the employer and came to the conclusion that the punishment was legal and justified. With regard to the plaintiff’s demands to be included in the night shift work schedule, the court also did not find any violations of labor laws on the part of the employer, and therefore rightfully left these demands of the plaintiff unsatisfied. Thus, the court rejected the claim in full. (decision of the Almetyevsk City Court of the Republic of Tatarstan dated June 21, 2011; cassation ruling of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Tatarstan dated July 25, 2011 in case No. 33-9174/11).

2.4. Other disputes

There are frequent disputes that are not related either to demands for increased pay for night work, or to the legality or illegality of the work schedule, but include facts of night work as part of the evidence. As a rule, these are disputes about reinstatement or recognition of punishments as illegal. In both cases, the dispute arises over the employee’s absence from work, and specifically at night. Proof of work time is a schedule, time sheet, testimony of witnesses, data from the checkpoint system. So, for example, a dispute about punishment for leaving the workplace before the end of the daily shift (early leaving work) can be resolved in favor of the employee if the work time sheet (shift log, log of entry and exit to/from the territory) and the number of hours/minutes of shortfall by the night or daily shift worker is not noted.

Practice: A watchman who worked on schedule three days later was fired from his job under clause 5, part 1, art. 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation for repeated failure to fulfill official duties. During the consideration of the case, the court found that during the current period, the plaintiff was subject to one punishment (reprimand) for allowing unauthorized persons into the territory without a properly issued pass, and the second - dismissal on the above grounds - for leaving work early. At the same time, the court came to the conclusion that the first punishment was legal and the second, that is, dismissal, was illegal. From the log of reception and delivery of duty at the checkpoint it follows that the plaintiff accepted the shift on August 20, and handed over the shift on August 21. This fact was also confirmed by witness testimony. Thus, the plaintiff’s working hours were 24 hours (daily shift “day + night”), the plaintiff passed his shift, therefore the court considers that there was no violation of labor discipline on the plaintiff’s part. Having also established violations in the procedure for bringing the plaintiff to disciplinary liability when issuing a dismissal order, the court came to the conclusion that the plaintiff’s dismissal under clause 5 of Art. 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation is illegal, since there is no repeated failure on the part of the plaintiff to fulfill his official duties without good reason. The plaintiff was reinstated by the court as a watchman. (decision of the Kyzyl City Court of the Republic of Tyva dated January 11, 2010; determination of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Tyva dated March 16, 2010).

Return point to daytime work

Weight: 84 kg
Day 1

. Here again I woke up as usual at 13:50, doing household chores. At night I tried to sleep - I lay there for 4 hours and decided to wait until morning. 6:00, still awake. I walked around like a zombie all day until 8:00 p.m. and passed out. Woke up at 4:00. (Four colleagues also followed this method in order to quickly return to the normal rhythm of life).

Day 2

. From 4:00 it was very foggy in my head, a feeling of weightlessness. In general, horror and unbearable fatigue. Sleepy. I walked, wandered, and did my homework. I fell asleep at 18:00 (my colleagues had approximately the same feelings).

Day 3-5

. I woke up from 3:00 to 6:00, went to bed similarly from 18:00 to 21:00. The feelings are the same.

Day 6

.
I began to feel a strange pain in my head, as if everything was cracking and blood vessels were bursting. Two colleagues began to feel this on the 3rd day. I went to the doctor. That's where it started.
Blood pressure: 145/100, tachycardia, irritability. They prescribed sedatives and medications to lower blood pressure.

After consulting with my family doctor, I heard: “It’s because of a broken biorhythm, it’s advisable to take medications, but it’s better if there’s an urgent need.”

The remaining 2 days I simply resigned myself to high blood pressure, tachycardia only sometimes. They said it would go away in 2-3 weeks.

Night work concept

What is night work?

Night time is the dark part of the day from 10 pm (22.00) to 6 am. According to Article 96 of the Labor Code, night work lasts 7 hours, that is, an hour shorter than the day shift, and does not require subsequent work. According to an individual employment contract, night work may have a full duration or be regulated by special time restrictions.

Employers who allow women to work at night must comply with all points of the Labor Code.

It is very important to take into account the age of the applicant, her marital status, the presence of small children or disabled people in her care, and assess her state of health and intellectual abilities.

Bottom line

pros

There are not so many distractions
It’s somehow even more peaceful to work
They usually pay more if you agree to work the night shift

Minuses

Increased irritability
Blood pressure has increased (all 8 colleagues have this)
I got hungry at night, that's why I got better
Overall a bad feeling (so far)
Looking at the history of smartwatches, the heartbeat became uneven from the 5th day of the experiment

In general, even those 2 colleagues who gradually changed their work schedule from night to day feel similar disadvantages. And I do not recommend agreeing to such conditions for any money. Or were we all doing something wrong? If you have had a similar experience, I look forward to your answers in the comments.

UPD

: very many thanks to the user berez for his help in placing separating marks) Russian is not my native language.

Concentration of attention

Working at night is not only fraught with obvious health problems. If the body is strong and resilient enough, then some time will pass before a person notices the first signs of malaise, overwork, and fatigue. But loss of concentration can manifest itself almost immediately: a person working at night sometimes cannot focus his attention on performing even very simple tasks. It is for this reason that night shifts often involve automatic work that does not require serious concentration on the actions being performed.

The psychological state after working a night shift also leaves much to be desired: outwardly it looks like full wakefulness, but in fact a person’s sensitivity to external factors is extremely dulled. Being, for example, behind the wheel, such a half-awake night worker poses a serious threat to all road users, since his senses work with significant “brakes”.

A person who falls asleep at the wheel is a threat to everyone

Of course, if possible, night work should be abandoned in favor of a healthier schedule. If there is a need for such work and there is no escape from it, there are ways to minimize the negative impact of night shifts on the body.

Disadvantages of night work

Despite some advantages, working at night has a number of negative aspects:

Human activity is tied to daylight hours , and an intense lifestyle during the dark period of the day will inevitably lead to health problems. The damage to the body is comparable to the harm from drinking alcohol and smoking. To minimize negative consequences, it is recommended to take tonic herbal teas (but not drinks of artificial origin), drink multivitamin complexes, walk in the fresh air, and use all opportunities for relaxation.
Night work can cause the collapse of family life . If spouses work different shifts, then they have practically no opportunity to spend time together. Gradually, the couple moves away from each other, feelings fade away, and family life ceases. Pregnant women are contraindicated to work at night, as in this case the risk of miscarriages or pathological conditions increases by 50%.
A constant lack of proper rest will lead to irrational use of daytime and making mistakes at work at night. This is especially true for early risers.
Constant activity in the dark part of the day disrupts the process of producing the satiety hormone . This awakens an increased appetite at night, which leads to rapid weight gain.
Impaired insulin production and the occurrence of diabetes mellitus of the first degree are also the result of working at night.
Ignoring natural biorhythms provokes irritability, nervousness, problems in the cardiovascular system and hypertension.
Night work increases the risk of cancer (breast, rectal, prostate cancer) by 40%.
Working in the dark for long periods of time leads to constant distraction. Statistics show that the number of errors at night is many times higher than during the day.
People who have worked at this pace for many years develop a tendency toward grumbling, quarrelsomeness, and even aggression.

In addition to the obvious disadvantages of working at night, there are contraindications to working in the dark. It is not recommended to work at night:

Pregnant women.
After a heart attack.
For coronary heart disease.
For heart failure.
For gastrointestinal ulcers.
Other diseases, if there is a risk of severe exacerbations.

Only absolutely healthy people can work at night. Night owls find it easier to adapt to a night schedule than early risers.

Duration and number of night shifts

Art. 96 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation establishes that the duration of night work is from 7 to 8 hours of working time. Hours are assigned to employees based on their normal working conditions and the availability of fringe benefits.

As a general rule, the night shift is work performed from ten o'clock in the evening to six in the morning the next day. An employee of an organization may be assigned a partially night working day, for example, when setting a schedule from 5 pm to 1 am.

Despite the possibility of reducing the period of night work, some categories of employees are not entitled to it.

Such workers include:

employees who, due to other circumstances, are entitled to a reduction in long working hours during the day;
employees specifically hired to work at night - night guards or watchmen, for example.

Art. 103 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation establishes the maximum possible assignment of night work in a row. According to the rules of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, an employer does not have the right to oblige an employee of an organization to go out at night more than twice in a row.