Soviet Union Table of Contents
In the 1980s, workers were covered by disability insurance. Individuals who were permanently disabled as a result of on-the-job injuries received a pension equal to 100 percent of their wages, irrespective of their length of service. Compensation for sickness or injury causing temporary incapacity to work but unrelated to employment required appropriate physician certification of the illness or injury. Benefits depended on length of service: 50 percent of full wages was paid for fewer than three years of uninterrupted work; 80 percent for three to five years; and 100 percent for more than eight years. Service in the armed forces, time spent in party or government posts, and maternity leave were not considered breaks in employment. Sick leave was also paid to workers (usually working mothers) who stayed home to care for ill family members. In 1987 the government extended the period of paid leave for the care of a sick child to fourteen days.
Maternity allowances were fairly generous. Expectant mothers were granted a total of 112 days of maternity leave, 56 days before and 56 days after the birth of a child, with payment of full wages, irrespective of length of employment. The postnatal leave period was extended to seventy days for women who had multiple or abnormal births. Mothers were entitled to unpaid leave up to the child's first birthday, without a break in their employment record and with the guarantee of returning to their original job.
Data as of May 1989