Text file: 2521.txt
author: iprsa
downvotes: 2
end consideration date: 2012-04-10
id: '2521'
number comments: 7
number views: 4257
proposal type: Competent authority response
response: "Response by the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs\nWorking\
  \ time is a labour law category that is important for both workers and the company\
  \ and the organisation of work within the company. Working time is regulated not\
  \ only by legislation, but also by a number of autonomous sources (collective agreements\
  \ at different levels of agreement, general acts). Working time is also regulated\
  \ by various international norms, which are characterised by the fact that they\
  \ often regulate various working time issues from the perspective of working time\
  \ as a human right.\nEconomic and technological developments, developments in the\
  \ organisation of work, the situation on the labour market, the process of globalisation\
  \ and increasing competition, demographic changes, changes in the structure of the\
  \ workforce and other similar factors have an impact on innovations in the forms\
  \ and methods of organising working time. From the workers' point of view, the various\
  \ changes in the organisation of working time which entail a departure from the\
  \ normal full-time working week are important. These include, for example, the introduction\
  \ of part-time work and other flexible forms of working time, the introduction of\
  \ reference periods for calculating the average duration of weekly working time,\
  \ the introduction of different forms of working time arrangements which allow individualisation\
  \ of working time, etc.  The interests of employers are of course also relevant\
  \ to working time. In the face of increasing competition within the global economy,\
  \ employers are introducing new working methods and changing the way they organise\
  \ their work in order to maximise productivity and minimise labour costs. This has\
  \ an impact on employers' demands for greater flexibility in the organisation of\
  \ working time. However, the introduction of different ways of organising working\
  \ time often leads to increasing tensions between employers and their demands and\
  \ workers' needs and preferences regarding working time. For this reason, both the\
  \ International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the European Community (preamble to\
  \ Directive 2003/88/EC) point out that improving the safety, hygiene and health\
  \ of workers at work, which is also the aim of proper organisation of working time,\
  \ is an objective that cannot be subordinated solely to the economic situation.\
  \ It is necessary and important to strike a balance between the legitimate interests\
  \ of workers and enterprises.\nBecause of its importance, working time is the subject\
  \ of regulation by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the Council of Europe\
  \ and the European Community. What is common to all international human rights instruments,\
  \ whether in general or only in the field of social and economic rights, is that\
  \ they recognise the right to reasonably limited working time (e.g. the Universal\
  \ Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and\
  \ Cultural Rights, the revised European Social Charter). Norms adopted at international\
  \ level have played an important role in the development of working time regulation\
  \ in national legislation.\nIn Slovenia, since becoming a member of the EU, relatively\
  \ most attention has been paid to European Community law. Of particular relevance\
  \ to working time is Directive 2003/88/EC concerning certain aspects of the organisation\
  \ of working time (hereinafter referred to as the Directive), which lays down the\
  \ minimum health and safety requirements to be taken into account when organising\
  \ working time. The Directive requires Member States to take measures to meet minimum\
  \ safety and health requirements in the organisation of working time in relation\
  \ to the duration of daily rest periods, breaks, weekly rest periods, maximum working\
  \ time, annual leave and aspects of night work, shift work and working patterns.\
  \ Article 6 of the Directive sets out the maximum weekly working time. It requires\
  \ Member States to ensure by their measures that weekly working time is limited\
  \ by law, regulation, administrative provision or by collective agreements or agreements\
  \ between the social partners, and that the average working time in any seven-day\
  \ period, including overtime, may not exceed 48 hours. Subject to Article 16b, Member\
  \ States may, for the application of Article 6, set a longer reference period (the\
  \ period during which working time is averaged), which may not normally exceed four\
  \ months. Due to the possibility of derogating from Article 16b (these possibilities\
  \ are provided for in Article 17(3) and Article 18), the reference period may not\
  \ exceed six months. However, in accordance with the general principles of the protection\
  \ of the health and safety of workers, Member States are free, for objective or\
  \ technical reasons or reasons relating to the organisation of work, to fix longer\
  \ reference periods by collective agreements or agreements concluded between the\
  \ social partners, which in any event may not exceed twelve months (Article 19 of\
  \ the Directive).\nWe consider that the general requirements of the Directive have\
  \ been adequately transposed into the Labour Relations Act (Official Gazette of\
  \ the Republic of Slovenia, No 42/02, 79/06-ZZZPB-F, 46/07-Judicial Decree of the\
  \ European Union, 103/07, 45/08-ZArbit and 83/09-Judicial Decree of the European\
  \ Union, hereinafter referred to as 'the Labour Code'), in the provisions regulating\
  \ working time, night work, breaks, rest periods and annual leave. Article 142(1)\
  \ of the Labour Code limits the maximum duration of full-time working time to 40\
  \ hours per week, which means that no other law or collective agreement, which may\
  \ otherwise provide for full-time working time, may provide for full-time working\
  \ time in excess of 40 hours per week. However, according to Article 142(2), a specific\
  \ law or collective agreement (general, sectoral or company) may provide for working\
  \ time less than 40 hours as full-time, subject to the statutory minimum of 36 hours\
  \ per week. Although it is stipulated that full-time working time may not exceed\
  \ 40 hours per week, this does not imply an absolute weekly limit on full-time working\
  \ time. In the case of unequal distribution and temporary reallocation of working\
  \ time, full-time work is taken into account as an average work commitment over\
  \ a period of not more than six months (Article 147(6)) and, exceptionally, over\
  \ a period of not more than 12 months (Article 147(5)). It should be noted that,\
  \ in the case of uneven distribution and temporary reassignment of full-time work,\
  \ the law sets an absolute limit on weekly working time, i.e. the working time in\
  \ these cases may not exceed 56 hours per week. Only exceptionally, in cases where\
  \ objective or technical reasons or the organisation of work so dictate, may a collective\
  \ agreement at the level of the industry provide for full-time working time of 40\
  \ hours to be taken into account as an average work commitment over a period of\
  \ not more than 12 months. In addition, the provisions of the Labour Code governing\
  \ daily and weekly rest (Articles 155 and 156) must be taken into account in the\
  \ allocation of working time. However, Article 158 allows the possibility that,\
  \ in the case of jobs or occupations, the following may be laid down by law or by\
  \ collective agreements at sectoral level\n where the nature of the work requires\
  \ constant presence or where the nature of the activity requires the continuous\
  \ provision of work or services, or in cases where irregular or increased workloads\
  \ are foreseen\nprovide that daily and weekly rest periods of the average minimum\
  \ duration laid down by law shall be provided over a specified period of time, which\
  \ may not exceed six months. In addition to the general provision of Article 2,\
  \ the HRA therefore makes direct reference to the possibility of derogations from\
  \ the envisaged arrangements for the provision of daily and weekly rest periods\
  \ being laid down by specific laws or collective agreements of the undertakings\
  \ concerned.\nArticle 143(3) of the Labour Code sets a time limit for overtime work,\
  \ namely no more than 8 hours of overtime work per week, no more than 20 hours per\
  \ month and an annual limit of 170 hours. It is also possible to work overtime in\
  \ excess of the annual time limit with the written consent of the employee, up to\
  \ a maximum of 230 hours per year. In terms of additional protection for workers,\
  \ there is also a limit on the daily working time, which may not exceed 10 hours.\
  \ This is therefore a limitation on the daily work obligation which is linked only\
  \ to the performance of overtime work and therefore does not constitute a general\
  \ limitation on the daily work obligation of the worker. It should also be noted\
  \ that the ZDR allows for the possibility that all these overtime limits - daily,\
  \ weekly and monthly - may be taken into account as average limits over a period\
  \ to be determined by law (special law) or collective agreement, but which may not\
  \ exceed six months. Moreover, even if the average daily and weekly limits on the\
  \ number of hours of overtime work are set for a period of up to six months, the\
  \ provisions of the Labour Code governing daily and weekly rest must be observed,\
  \ which means that the maximum possible working obligation of an employee in these\
  \ cases is also 12 and 13 hours respectively, and that 36 and 35 hours of uninterrupted\
  \ rest must be provided in each seven-day period.\nIn the light of the above rules,\
  \ we conclude that the provisions of the HRA governing working time, breaks and\
  \ rest periods constitute, above all, minimum standards which, in order to protect\
  \ the worker as the weaker party in the employment relationship, must be guaranteed\
  \ to workers by law. It is therefore precisely in the case of working time issues\
  \ that the arguments on the scope of the minimum legal rights and protection of\
  \ employees must be weighed particularly carefully in future amendments to labour\
  \ legislation, in the context of the social partners' prior deliberations and coordination\
  \ of the law, since this protection can only be effective if the regulation is as\
  \ balanced as possible between the interests of labour and the interests of capital.\
  \ Any further amendments to labour legislation must, of course, also take account\
  \ of the requirements of international instruments.   \n "
response date: 2012-04-25
response due date: null
sent date: 2012-03-12
title: Limits on the weekly and monthly workload of a worker
upvotes: 24
url: https://predlagam.vladi.si/predlog/2521
