Text file: 4117.txt
author: Anti NWO
downvotes: 10
end consideration date: 2013-01-16
id: '4117'
number comments: 15
number views: 4574
proposal type: Competent authority response
response: "Response by the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs\nWorking\
  \ time is one of the fundamental institutes of labour law, important both from the\
  \ point of view of the interests of employers and from the point of view of the\
  \ interests of employees. From the point of view of employers' interests, working\
  \ time and the allocation thereof are considered to be an economic category, since\
  \ the legal frameworks governing this institute, or the flexibility allowed, determine\
  \ the possibility of organising the working process in accordance with the requirements\
  \ of the business, the capabilities of the technology or the requirements of the\
  \ service to be provided. From the employees' point of view, the safety aspect of\
  \ the regulation of this institution is of particular importance, since the regulatory\
  \ frameworks for limiting the length of working time, the provision of breaks and\
  \ rest periods and the flexibility allowed in the scheduling of working time protect\
  \ employees' health and psycho-physical capacities.\nBoth the length of working\
  \ time and its distribution or forms of working time are important elements in the\
  \ regulation of working time. In defining the length of working time and, even more\
  \ so, in regulating the organisation of working time, the legislator is torn between\
  \ the increasingly accentuated demand from employers for more flexible organisation\
  \ of working time on the one hand, and the requirement to protect the employment\
  \ status of workers and the need to reconcile their work and family life on the\
  \ other. Account should also be taken of the fact that the determination of the\
  \ length of working time and the form it takes determines the wage of the worker\
  \ or the amount of the costs borne by the employer.\nBecause of its importance,\
  \ working time is regulated by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the\
  \ Council of Europe and the European Community (EC). Slovenian labour legislation\
  \ takes account of ILO Conventions on daily, weekly and annual working time, on\
  \ the distribution of working time, on short-time and night work, on daily and weekly\
  \ rest periods and on the protection of special categories of workers.  The Directive\
  \ sets out the minimum health and safety requirements to be taken into account in\
  \ the organisation of working time. It 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 patterns\
  \ of work.\nArticle 142 of the Labour Relations Act (Official Gazette of the Republic\
  \ of Slovenia, No 42/02, 79/06, 46/07, 103/07, 45/08 and 83/09; hereinafter referred\
  \ to as 'the LRA') sets a maximum full-time working time of 40 hours per week and\
  \ a minimum full-time working time of 36 hours. Therefore, between 36 and 40 hours\
  \ per week may be set as full-time working time by law or by collective agreement.\
  \ In the event that no law or collective agreement specifies full-time working hours,\
  \ the law already specifies that full-time working hours shall be 40 hours. The\
  \ only exception to the minimum full-time working time is provided for in the case\
  \ of jobs where there is a greater risk of injury or impairment of health, since\
  \ such jobs may be made subject to a full-time working time of less than 36 hours\
  \ per week by law, by other regulation based on law, or by collective agreement.\n\
  The full-time working time regime resulting from that Article is in line with the\
  \ Directive and the MESL. The Directive stipulates that full-time working time must\
  \ be limited by law, regulation or collective agreement and that the average working\
  \ time in any seven-day period, including overtime, must not exceed 48 hours. However,\
  \ the provision that full-time working time may be fixed by law or collective agreement\
  \ at less than 40 hours per week, but not less than 36 hours per week, takes account\
  \ of the MESL, which obliges Member States to set reasonable daily and weekly working\
  \ time, with the working week to be progressively reduced to a level permitted by\
  \ productivity gains and other relevant factors. The legal possibility to reduce\
  \ working time beyond 36 hours per week in particularly hazardous workplaces is\
  \ also a concretisation of the obligation under the MESL - if the risks inherent\
  \ in unhealthy or hazardous occupations cannot be eliminated or sufficiently reduced,\
  \ the working time of workers engaged in such occupations must be reduced (or additional\
  \ paid leave provided).\nLastly, in relation to the issue raised, the 2002 Labour\
  \ Relations Act (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia No 42/02) reduced\
  \ the statutory maximum weekly working time from 42 to 40 hours, as compared to\
  \ the previous regime. The statutory establishment of a 40-hour maximum full-time\
  \ working time reflected a consensus among the social partners, as it followed the\
  \ arrangements in collective agreements concluded at the level of the industry,\
  \ which had, as a rule, already established such a working time before the entry\
  \ into force of the new 2002 Labour Relations Act.\n "
response date: 2013-02-06
response due date: null
sent date: 2012-12-18
title: Introduction of the 30-hour working day
upvotes: 28
url: https://predlagam.vladi.si/predlog/4117
