Disciplinary Liability

in Soviet law, the liability of production and office workers for their violations of labor discipline. It is imposed through disciplinary punishments by the management of the enterprise, institution, or organization where the worker is employed or by an authorized higher agency. Disciplinary liability should be distinguished from administrative liability for violating the decrees of state administrative agencies, such as traffic and fire prevention regulations. In cases of administrative liability, a monetary penalty is imposed by agencies to which the violator is not occupationally subordinate, for example, the militia and the technical inspectorates of the trade unions.

The Basic Principles of Labor Legislation, the labor codes of the Union republics, and the Standard Factory Rules define the general system of disciplinary liability for production and office workers. Special types of disciplinary liability have been introduced to increase the liability of certain categories of workers, including supervisory and transport workers, as well as to punish particularly dangerous acts. Special disciplinary liability is thus borne by managerial and supervisory workers listed in Appendix No. 1 of the Regulations on Hearing Labor Disputes; workers to whom specific disciplinary regulations apply, including workers in rail, water, and air transport and in communications enterprises; procurators and investigators of agencies of the Procurator’s Office of the USSR; judges; and employees of administrative institutions and of economic management agencies who have violated safety and record-keeping regulations.