Working hours for pregnant women according to the Labor Code

The pregnancy of one of the employees causes quite natural concern for the employer.

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The establishment of this fact means that a woman has new rights, and the head of the organization, accordingly, has new responsibilities. And failure to comply risks liability.

Let's look at how to avoid conflict in such a situation.

What does the law say?

Even a normal pregnancy is associated with changes in health status, such as increased fatigue or instability of well-being.

Besides. Many types of work, especially those associated with physical activity, can lead to dire consequences. Therefore, the legislator introduces a number of special rules regulating the work of pregnant women.

This is done to preserve their health, and not to complicate the life of the employer.

Normative base

The main document regulating relations in the field of hired labor is the Labor Code. Most of the rules establishing the rights and guarantees of pregnant workers are contained in it.

The provisions of this law apply throughout the country and for any employers, including individual entrepreneurs.

Labor Code of the Russian Federation

As for women working in municipal or public service positions, in law enforcement agencies, etc., their legal status is determined primarily by special laws. The Labor Code applies only in strictly defined cases.

Rights and guarantees

The Labor Code of the Russian Federation establishes a number of rights and guarantees for pregnant women:

inadmissibility of refusal to hire on the grounds of pregnancy;
provision of paid maternity leave;
ban on dismissal;
the ability to use annual leave outside of the schedule;
refusal to travel;
reduced work schedule;
translation into “light work”, etc.

Part-time working hours for pregnant women according to the labor code are established at their request. This is a right that a woman can exercise. Or don't use it. The employer cannot force her to transfer to another regime.

The decision is made voluntarily by the woman. If she decides that a 40-hour week of work will not cause harm to her health, then she continues to work as usual until she goes on her due vacation.

The transition to such reduced working hours does not affect the provision of regular leave.

Its terms, duration and calculation of payment do not change. Moreover, a pregnant woman can use her leave outside the schedule by adding it to her maternity leave.

Employer Responsibilities

But the law obliged the employer, based on the written desire of the pregnant employee, to review the duration of her working hours (Article 93 of the Labor Code).

The employer has no right to refuse transfer to part-time work. Even if this means revising the work schedule of the entire team. However, you can always find a reasonable compromise that will suit both parties.

It is also the employer’s responsibility to review the pregnant woman’s schedule.

The legislator prohibits engaging her in work:

on night shifts (Article 96 of the Labor Code);
on weekends and holidays (Article 112 of the Labor Code);
overtime (Article 99 of the Labor Code);
on shifts (Article 298 of the Labor Code).

Can the sole breadwinner in the family be laid off? Read about it on our website. How to write an application for leave in kindergarten? Find out here.

If a pregnant woman wishes to exercise her right to have her working hours reduced, she applies to her employer.

She can do this at any time. The length of pregnancy or the woman’s work experience in the organization does not play any role.

Part-time work can be negotiated immediately when a woman in this position is hired. You can also return to your normal schedule at any time.

Application example:

Sample employee statement

Visiting a doctor at the antenatal clinic

Registration and receipt of a pregnancy certificate imposes an obligation on the woman to undergo periodic medical examinations.

The working hours of medical institutions, as a rule, coincide with the working hours of most organizations and enterprises. This means that you have to undergo medical examination during working hours.

To ensure that a woman does not lose her earnings and does not refuse medical research on this basis, the legislator has provided a number of measures, namely, maintaining the woman’s average earnings during the medical examination.

In addition, her absence from work is not considered absenteeism. Even if she didn't warn the employer. It is enough to take a certificate from the clinic and provide it to the manager after visiting the doctor.

Time standards and reduction of its duration

Reducing working hours due to pregnancy is possible in the following ways:

Shortening the day (shift)	The number of working days does not change, but their duration decreases	6 hours instead of 8
Shortening the working week	The length of the working day does not change, but the number of working days decreases	Working days are Tuesday-Thursday instead of Monday-Friday
Shortening both the day and the week	The duration of each working day and their number are reduced	Work 6 hours from Monday to Thursday

For example, manager Tarelkina’s working day is reduced from 8 hours to 6.5, and cleaner Chashkina is offered to work 4 instead of 5 working days.

Establishment of part-time work

The procedure for establishing part-time work for a pregnant woman will be as follows:

Get a certificate about your condition from the antenatal clinic.
Write an application addressed to the head of the organization. In it, indicate exactly how you would like to reduce working hours: shorten the day or get an additional day off. The duration of such a regime is also indicated. This can be either all the time before maternity leave or a shorter period of time.
Submit the application and certificate to the personnel service. It would be a good idea to write the application in two copies. This will help if a controversial situation arises.
Read the order establishing a part-time day and sign for it.
Sign the supplementary agreement to the employment contract and keep one copy.

If the employer refuses to change the working hours, the woman can protect her rights by filing a complaint with the labor inspectorate. To do this, you will need a second copy of the application and a certificate of pregnancy.

Find out whether it is possible to hire pregnant women from our article. How are salaries calculated for minors? See here.

How to fire a single mother with a disabled child? Read here.

Documentation

To apply for part-time work, a woman only needs one document - a medical certificate. Its absence gives grounds to consider absence from work as absenteeism and to impose a disciplinary sanction.

The employer, having received the application and certificate, issues an order establishing part-time work, and then draws up an additional agreement to the employment contract, since such a regime entails a change in pay.

Example of an additional agreement:

How can a pregnant woman get time off from work for a routine doctor visit?

One of the most popular queries on the Onlineinspection.RF portal recently has been the question of how a pregnant woman can ask her employer for time off while undergoing medical examinations with a doctor, what documents to provide and whether this is necessary in principle.

To begin with, it should be noted that Article 254 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation gives pregnant working women the right to maintain their average earnings at their place of work while undergoing mandatory medical examinations, which are carried out in health care institutions. But at the same time, the procedure for exemption from work to visit a doctor, as well as the necessary list of documents, are not specified, so discrepancies may well exist.

In this regard, Rostrud specialists recommended that women act as follows:

Before the day of visiting the doctor, notify the employer in writing of the need to undergo a medical examination and ask for release from work;
Confirm the reason for your absence with a certificate from a medical institution indicating the date and time of your visit to the doctor.

If you act in this way, you can avoid any misunderstandings between the employer and the employee. But it is still worth considering that this is rather a woman’s initiative, which is not her responsibility. Therefore, failure to inform in this case cannot be considered a violation, so the employer does not have the right to bring disciplinary action or refuse to pay the employee the average salary for the time she is absent from the doctor.

But at the same time, the woman must confirm the fact of the examination so that the employer has documentary grounds for fulfilling the guarantees specified in Article 254 of the Labor Code. And as confirmation of the reason for your absence from work, a medical certificate indicating the name of the institution, the date and time of the doctor’s visit can be used.

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