Text file: 6501.txt
author: natali74
downvotes: 6
end consideration date: 2015-02-27
id: '6501'
number comments: 11
number views: 4137
proposal type: Competent authority response
response: "Response from the Ministry of Health\nAs an exception to the 40-hour working\
  \ time, Article 143 of the Labour Relations Act (Official Gazette of the Republic\
  \ of Slovenia, No 21/13 and 78/13) provides that for certain jobs (those where there\
  \ are greater risks of occupational injuries or health impairments), a special law\
  \ or a collective agreement may provide for a full-time working time of less than\
  \ 36 hours per week.\nThere are 4 collective agreements in the health sector:\n\
  \ Collective Agreement for the Health Care and Social Welfare Sector of the Republic\
  \ of Slovenia (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 15/94 et seq.),\
  \ Collective Agreement for Doctors and Dentists in the Republic of Slovenia (Official\
  \ Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 14/1994 et seq.), Collective Agreement\
  \ for Employees in Nursing Care (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No.\
  \ 60/98 et seq.), Collective Agreement for the Compulsory Social Welfare Sector\
  \ of the Republic of Slovenia Pension Fund of the Republic of Slovenia (Official\
  \ Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 60/2008 et seq.).\nArticle 29 of the\
  \ Collective Agreement for the Health and Social Care Sector of Slovenia (referred\
  \ to in the proposal) stipulates: 'The working time in institutions and employers\
  \ in the health and social care sector shall be 40 hours per week.\nThe working\
  \ time of workers assigned to workplaces where work is permanently carried out in\
  \ a controlled area of ionising radiation; workers in prosektura; workers in special\
  \ laboratories for which special protective measures against mutagenic, teratogenic,\
  \ carcinogenic agents and materials, organic solvents, formalin compounds are prescribed,\
  \ shall be 36 hours per week. For workers who are entitled by law to reduced working\
  \ hours on account of special working conditions, these working hours shall be considered\
  \ as full-time.\nEmployees with diagnostic or therapeutic responsibility who have\
  \ office hours or work with clients (see annex) are entitled to at least one hour\
  \ per day for professional preparation in the establishment and other professional\
  \ tasks in the establishment.\nEmployees in certain posts (list of posts in the\
  \ Annex) are entitled to 30 minutes of professional preparation for work carried\
  \ out at the workplace and forming part of the work process during regular working\
  \ hours.'.\nIn connection with this Article, it should also be pointed out that\
  \ the Agreement on the implementation of Article 2 of the Annex to the Collective\
  \ Agreement for the Health and Social Care Sector of Slovenia (Official Journal\
  \ of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 76/98; hereinafter referred to as the Agreement),\
  \ which defines as special laboratories those laboratories where the activities\
  \ of molecular biology; tumour biology; special cytology, histology; work with isotopes\
  \ and work with aggressive organic solvents, acids, alkalis and cyanides are predominantly\
  \ carried out, and which also prescribes special protective measures for these laboratories.\n\
  The special protective measures prescribed shall be implemented in the manner and\
  \ under the conditions defined in the Regulation on the protection of workers from\
  \ the risks arising from exposure to carcinogens or mutagens (Official Journal of\
  \ the RS, No 101/05 et seq.) and the Regulation on the protection of workers from\
  \ the risks arising from exposure to chemical substances at work (Official Journal\
  \ of the RS, No 100/01 et seq.).\nThe Arrangement explicitly defines that the workplaces\
  \ in which workers are entitled to part-time work of 36 hours per week and for which\
  \ such work is considered as full-time work shall be defined as specified workplaces\
  \ in those specialised laboratories where the activity is predominantly in the field\
  \ of either molecular biology or tumour biology or specialised cytology or histology\
  \ or isotope work or work with aggressive organic solvents, acids, alkalis and cyanides.\n\
  'Predominant activity of the laboratory' means that the specified activity comprises\
  \ the majority of the activities of the laboratory and, consequently, this condition\
  \ extends to the employees in the posts covered by the agreement, which means that\
  \ the employee must also perform these activities for the majority of his working\
  \ time.\nIt is the employer's duty to ensure a safe working environment and the\
  \ exercise of that duty cannot be a criterion for determining the right to reduced\
  \ working time, which means that the right to be granted reduced working time is\
  \ not affected by the fact that the permitted concentrations of harmful substances\
  \ in the working environment are not exceeded.\nHowever, under the Agreement, the\
  \ establishments were obliged to draw up a list of workers in jobs where the right\
  \ to part-time work is recognised.\nWe consider that the above provision of the\
  \ collective agreement (which is repeated in virtually identical wording in other\
  \ collective agreements in the health sector) is appropriate. First and foremost,\
  \ it is necessary to ensure that workplaces are as safe as possible. If there is\
  \ a possibility that they are not, workers should be assigned to them in such a\
  \ way that they are exposed to as few of these so-called special working conditions\
  \ as possible. The worker in terms of his or her health comes first, not the worker\
  \ in terms of the provision of rights under this heading.\nIn view of the above,\
  \ we do not support the proposal to count 36 hours as full-time work for all employees\
  \ in a particular department, regardless of how long the worker is exposed to harmful\
  \ substances and in which section of the department he or she works.\n \n "
response date: 2015-05-05
response due date: null
sent date: 2015-01-29
title: 36 hours per week as full-time work
upvotes: 32
url: https://predlagam.vladi.si/predlog/6501
