The article considers internal labor regulations and the working hours at state-owned enterprises of the Altai Territory in the late XIX early XX centuries. The author pays special attention to the conclusion of employment contracts, working time budget, regulation of standards of conduct in producing and punitive measures for violation of labor discipline. The article is based on extensive sources of the State Archive of the Altai Territory and numerous legislative acts. The Chart of the Industrial Labour of 1893 served as the basis for Internal Regulations developed in February 1899 for the mines, factories and the Kolyvan Grinding Factory of the Altai District It became the norm for the workers of state-owned enterprises of the Altai Territory to conclude a contract — a written agreement on the most important conditions of labour. After signing the contract of employment, the workers got their paybooks giving the size of their wages, deductions and penalties. The author concludes that the working conditions of employees at state-owned enterprises of the Altai territory after the reform of 1861, controlled by existing national and regional laws, were a step forward in the relations between workers and employers of the late XIX — early XX centuries.