Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2024, published 113rd ILC session (2025)

Russian Federation

Weekly Rest (Industry) Convention, 1921 (No. 14) (Ratification: 1967)
Forty-Hour Week Convention, 1935 (No. 47) (Ratification: 1956)
Weekly Rest (Commerce and Offices) Convention, 1957 (No. 106) (Ratification: 1967)
Holidays with Pay Convention (Revised), 1970 (No. 132) (Ratification: 2010)

In order to provide a comprehensive view of the issues relating to the application of ratified Conventions on working time, the Committee considers it appropriate to examine Conventions Nos 14 (weekly rest (industry)), 47 (40-hour week), 106 (weekly rest (commerce and offices)) and 132 (annual holidays with pay) together.

Weekly rest

Articles 4 and 5 of Convention No. 14 and Article 8 of Convention No. 106. Special weekly rest schemes – Temporary exemptions – Compensatory rest. Further to its previous comments on sections 113 and 153 of the Labour Code allowing work to be performed on a weekly rest day in a wide range of circumstances without compensatory rest, the Committee notes that the Government’s report does not contain any relevant information on this issue. The Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that work on a weekly rest day is authorized only in limited and well-defined circumstances and that employees who may be required to perform work during their weekly rest day, either regularly or temporarily, enjoy a compensatory rest of a total duration of at least 24 hours, irrespective of any monetary compensation, as required by these Articles of the Conventions.

Hours of work

Article 1 of Convention No. 47. Forty-hour week. In its previous comments, the Committee had noted that: (i) under section 99 of the Labour Code, overtime is allowed not only in the listed temporary and exceptional circumstances, but also in other non-specified situations with the employee’s written consent; and (ii) section 104 of the Labour Code allows for the averaging of working hours with a reference period of up to one year. The Committee notes that in its report the Government indicates that overtime is not a systematic practice, but it may occur occasionally in certain cases. The Committee observes that the above-mentioned provisions, which authorize additional hours in unprecise circumstances, as well as the calculation of hours of work as an average over a reference period of up to one year without stipulating absolute weekly limits in a concrete week, could possibly lead to unreasonably long working hours, in direct contradiction to the principle of progressive reduction of hours of work. In this respect, the Committee recalls that too many exceptions to normal hours of work can result in highly variable working hours over long periods, long working days and the absence of compensation (2018 General Survey on working-time instruments, paragraph 68). The Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that the principle of a 40-hour week provided for by the Convention is fully applied both in law and in practice.

Annual leave with pay

Article 4 of Convention No. 132. Proportionate leave. The Committee notes that in response to its previous comments, the Government indicates that sections 291 and 295 of the Labour Code allow proportionate leave at a rate of two working days per month of work for employees with contracts of up to two months and for those engaged in seasonal work. The Committee however observes that the labour legislation does not provide for the possibility of granting annual paid leave in proportion to the time worked by other employees whose length of service in the first year of employment is less than six months. The Committee recalls that according to Article 4 of the Convention, workers whose length of service in any year is less than that required for the full holidays with pay entitlement shall be entitled in respect of that year to a holiday with pay proportionate to their length of service during that year. The Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to bring the legislation into conformity with this Article of the Convention.