Azernews.Az

By Mushvig Mehdiyev

The Labor and Social Protection Ministry of Azerbaijan has developed and approved the production calendar and norms of working time in 2015.

According to the Ministry, days of March 9,25 and 26, as well as May 9, July 11 will be non-working days in the five-day working weeks because of their coincidence with the weekend. Meanwhile, only March 9 and 25 are registered as non-working days in the six-day working weeks.

There will be a total of 242 business days in 2015, eight of which will be pre-holiday days. About 109 days-off, five of which will be days of rest instead of five days-off coinciding with the weekend, were included in the calendar. Meanwhile, 18 holidays, including five days-off falling on the celebrative days, and one nationwide mourning day were registered on the calendar.

Based on the articles 89 and 90 of the Labor Code, a normal working day cannot exceed eight hours, as a five-day working week with two days-off was set as a general rule. A working week cannot go beyond 40 hours given the eight-hour business days. According to the first part of the article 108 of the Labor Code, the duration of the working day on the eve of holidays, nationwide mourning day, voting day is reduced by an hour regardless of the number of working days in a week. The legislation sets the annual norm of working at 1928 hours in 2015 based on the forty-hour working week.

The articles 90 and 108 of the Labor Code requires the daily norm not to surpass seven hours given the six-day and forty-hours working week while it has to equal six at the day before the weekend. The annual norm will be 1928 hours at the six-day working weeks, too.

Public holidays in Azerbaijan are regulated under the Labor Code. The New Year (January 1 and 2), International Women's Day (March 8), Victory Day (May 9), Republic Day (May 28), National Salvation Day (June 15), Armed Forces Day (June 26), Independence Day (October 18), Constitution Day (November 12), National Revival Day (November 17), National Solidarity Day (December 31), Novruz holiday (March 20 and 21), Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr are the official public holidays in Azerbaijan.