Time Limits in Disciplinary Proceedings against Employees of the Russian Penal System: Theoretical and Practical Aspects

the article is devoted to urgent problems of improving the legal regulation of
disciplinary proceedings against employees of the Russian penal system in relation to such an
element of its procedural form as procedural deadlines. The purpose of the article is to highlight
theoretical and applied aspects of material and procedural time limits in disciplinary proceedings
against employees of the penal system as a factor in ensuring a balance between the effectiveness
of public administration (expediency, efficiency, disciplining effect) and the reasonable and lawful
application of disciplinary punishment. Time limits in this case are not just a formality, but legal
regulators. They limit the time to resolve the issue of the possibility of imposing penalties on discipline
violators, determine temporal limitations of knowledge of the basis of disciplinary proceedings, the
exercise of procedural rights and the performance of procedural duties, thereby acting as regulators
of the dynamics of disciplinary proceedings, the real movement of the case within the framework of its
procedural stages. The methodological basis of the work is formed by general and special scientific
methods (system-structural, formal-legal, descriptive, analysis, generalization, rational criticism),
methods of cognition of legal reality. Conclusions: currently, the theory of procedural time limits in
disciplinary proceedings is under development. Time limits in this proceeding should be considered
as legal regulations, guarantees of reasonable and timely imposition of disciplinary action. In this
regard, it is necessary to study the types and system of time limits, their consolidation and detailing
in the legislation on disciplinary liability of employees of the penal system, since strictly defined time
frames must be observed in order to obtain a legal result in a disciplinary case. The improvement
of the legal regulation of temporal limitations in disciplinary proceedings against employees of
the Russian penal system is possible on the basis of supplementing the legislation on the order of
service with the following procedural deadlines: notification of an employee on the appointment of
an internal inspection; consideration of petitions within the framework of the inspection; completion
of an internal inspection, notification of the employee of its results; execution of penalties imposed
in a written act. It is also necessary to establish uniform rules for calculating time limits in disciplinary
proceedings for the entire civil service system of the Russian Federation.

Keywords: public service; official discipline; disciplinary liability; disciplinary proceedings; disciplinary penalties; procedural form, procedural time limits; penal system.