The article analyzes the legal regulation of working hours of medical workers in Russia. The relevance of the study is due to the increased social significance of the MR's work, which is carried out in special conditions associated with high psychoemotional stress, responsibility for the life and health of patients, and the need to ensure round-the-clock availability of medical care. The purpose of the work is to identify systemic contradictions and gaps in the legal regulation of MR's working hours and to develop proposals for improving current legislation. The research applied general scientific methods (system analysis, synthesis, comparison) and private scientific methods (formal legal, comparative legal, legal modeling method). The author applies an integrated approach when considering the institution of MR working time as a complex, multicomponent phenomenon located at the intersection of labor, administrative and medical law. The paper identifies and characterizes the specifics of the application of the general norms of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation in relation to MR, analyzes the special norms enshrined in subordinate regulatory legal acts, and determines their relationship with the constitutional principles of health protection and the right to favorable working conditions. As a result of the research, the types of working time accounting used in medical organizations (daily, cumulative) are systematized, the specifics of establishing reduced working hours are detailed, and the legal working hours at night, weekends, and non-working holidays are analyzed. The key problems of law enforcement practice related to violations of standard working hours, failure to account for overwork, and a formal approach to shift schedules have been identified. Specific proposals have been formulated to improve legislation aimed at optimizing legal mechanisms for regulating working hours, taking into account the need to maintain a balance between the interests of patients (continuity and quality of care) and the rights of MR (occupational safety, recreation, prevention of professional burnout).

working hours, medical workers, standard working hours, labor protection, labor law, professional burnout.