Shortened Work Time

according to Soviet law, work time of less than 41 hours a week, provided for by law to protect workers of certain categories. Shortened work time has been set at 36 hours a week for industrial and nonindustrial workers aged 16 to 18 and at 24 hours a week for those over 15 but not yet 16.

Industrial and nonindustrial workers exposed to hazardous working conditions may work no more than 36 hours a week; these work categories are established according to a special list. The 36-hour workweek is also fixed for workers of other categories, for example, schoolteachers, doctors, professors, docents, and teaching assistants and instructors in institutions of higher learning, as well as for first- and second-group disabled workers engaged at specially designated enterprises, shops, and sections.

In a six-day workweek, the workday cannot exceed six hours if the workweek is 36 hours or four hours if the workweek is 24 hours. At enterprises and establishments with a five-day workweek, workers aged 16 to 18 cannot work more than seven hours, while workers over 15 but not yet 16 cannot work more than five hours daily.