Text file: 10408.txt
author: anonimna4
downvotes: 4
end consideration date: 2019-10-18
id: '10408'
number comments: 25
number views: 1444
proposal type: Competent authority response
response: "Response from the Ministry of Justice\nAt the outset, we would like to\
  \ clarify that a distinction should be made between working hours and business hours.\
  \  In the case of public administration bodies, the working time of the civil servants\
  \ employed there is laid down in the Regulation on Working Time in Public Administration\
  \ Bodies (hereinafter referred to as the Working Time Regulation). According to\
  \ Article 4 of the Working Time Regulation, the head of the body has the power to\
  \ schedule the full-time working time of the body's employees, as follows:\n by\
  \ fixing a movable start and end time for a civil servant, or by fixing a start\
  \ and end time for a civil servant performing work the nature of which does not\
  \ allow a choice of arrival and departure times.  \nUnless the full-time working\
  \ time is specifically scheduled by the head of the service or by another person\
  \ under his authority, full-time working time shall be deemed to be scheduled by\
  \ fixing the starting time between 07.00 and 09.00 and the end time between 15.00\
  \ and 17.30, or between 14.30 and 16.30 on Fridays. The opening hours and office\
  \ hours of the public administration bodies are laid down in the Regulation on administrative\
  \ operations. According to the Regulation, the opening hours of government departments,\
  \ ministries and their constituent bodies start at 9.00 and end at 15.30 on Mondays,\
  \ Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, and start at 9.00 and end at 14.30 on Fridays.\
  \ In the administrative units, regional units and branches of the authorities, the\
  \ opening hours start at 08.00 and end at 15.00 on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday,\
  \ start at 08.00 and end at 18.00 on Wednesday, and start at 08.00 and end at 13.00\
  \ on Friday (Article 26 of the Regulation). As can be seen from the above, the opening\
  \ hours of the authority and the working hours of the employees of the bodies of\
  \ the public administration do not therefore coincide to the same extent. It is\
  \ the responsibility of the head of the authority to organise the working hours\
  \ of the employees of the authority in such a way that the business of the authority\
  \ runs smoothly. This does not mean, however, that all employees have to be at their\
  \ workplace for the entire duration of the working time.\nThe Rules of Court similarly\
  \ regulate the business of courts and the working hours of court employees. The\
  \ opening hours of all courts are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Thursday and 8 a.m.\
  \ to 3 p.m. on Fridays. Office hours for uninvited parties are 9 a.m. to 12 noon\
  \ on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and 2 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. on Wednesday in all courts.\
  \ The opening hours for public registers are 9.00 to 12.00 on Mondays, Wednesdays\
  \ and Fridays and 2.00 to 4.00 on Mondays and Wednesdays in all courts (Article\
  \ 50 of the Rules of Court). The working hours of employees are governed by Article\
  \ 51, which also provides for the possibility of staggering working hours by setting\
  \ a movable start and end time, to be decided by the President of the Court. The\
  \ President of the Court may schedule the working time of employees on the basis\
  \ of the need to ensure the attendance of employees during the business hours of\
  \ the Court, the office hours for uninvited parties and the office hours for the\
  \ operation of the public registers.\nWe have also asked the Supreme Court of the\
  \ Republic of Slovenia for its views on your proposal, and in its reply it stated,\
  \ inter alia, that the possibility for court presidents to adjust their working\
  \ time according to the nature of the work of the court is already used by court\
  \ presidents, thereby also ensuring an appropriate work-life balance for employees.\
  \ The Supreme Court also supports the possibility that the Rules of Procedure themselves\
  \ could provide for a range of start and end times, similar to the Working Time\
  \ Regulation, but notes that there are differences between courts in terms of the\
  \ type and volume of work commitments and therefore considers that in any event\
  \ the President of the Court should also be given the possibility to adjust the\
  \ start and end times to ensure the efficiency of the working process.\nThe Supreme\
  \ Court adds that the recently adopted Directive (EU) 2019/1158 of the European\
  \ Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on the reconciliation of professional\
  \ and private life of parents and carers also expects Member States to take measures\
  \ to ensure that workers with children and carers have the right to request flexible\
  \ working arrangements for the purposes of care. This includes not only the possibility\
  \ of flexible working hours, but also, for example, the possibility of working from\
  \ home, which is used by a number of assistants at the Supreme Court.\nIt should\
  \ also be noted that the Supreme Court is conducting an attendance registers project,\
  \ which aims to use the attendance registers information system to prepare and establish\
  \ working time schedules (working time rules) for individuals or departments. The\
  \ first courts are expected to be equipped next year with a system which will, inter\
  \ alia, allow the recording of flexible working hours.\nFinally, we note that some\
  \ of the comments on the proposal could also be interpreted to mean that certain\
  \ civil servants in the courts also end their work commitments at the end of their\
  \ office hours. The Supreme Court considers that these posts will have to be identified\
  \ and either the opening hours extended or the work commitments of the court staff\
  \ adjusted. According to the information at their disposal, the number of parties\
  \ on the registers has decreased significantly in recent years and the public registers,\
  \ which, according to the Rules of Court, also have longer office hours, are becoming\
  \ increasingly computerised. In order to get a broader picture of the issue of changing\
  \ the opening hours, the \"Procedural Justice\" sub-group, which is dedicated to\
  \ improving the customer experience of the courts and the trial process, will be\
  \ asked to examine, as part of its research, whether there is a need to change the\
  \ opening hours of the courts."
response date: 2019-11-19
response due date: null
sent date: 2019-09-18
title: Change of working hours in courts
upvotes: 38
url: https://predlagam.vladi.si/predlog/10408
