Working time legislation to be amended

In May 2004, the Estonian government approved the drafts of amended legislation on working time. The changes aim to remove contradictions between EU Directives and Estonian legislation in this area. The social partners take differing views of the amendments. This article reviews the current legislation and proposed changes, while also looking at the latest data on actual working time.

The Working and Rest Time Act, which entered into force in January 2002, currently regulates working time in Estonia. The general normal working time for workers must not exceed eight hours per day and 40 hours per week. Reduced working time is established for employees younger than 18 years, depending on their age, while a 35-hour week applies to employees working underground, in jobs that pose a health hazard, and certain specific jobs (teachers and other pedagogical specialists in schools, employees in other institutions dealing with children, nurses etc).

The Act specifies the normal limits on overtime work and for work during the evening or night-time. In general, overtime is limited to 200 hours per year and to four hours per day. Together with overtime, the average working day should not exceed 12 hours, and the average working week should not exceed 48 hours on average over a four-month period. Generally overtime is permitted by agreement of the parties. Exceptions, whereby the consent of employee is not necessary, relate to natural disasters, accidents, damage to the property of the employer, and completion of work. According to the law, pregnant women and minors are not allowed to work overtime .

The legislation provides for additional compensation for work outside normal hours, as follows:

• overtime attracts a pay supplement of at least 50% of the workers' normal rate, and may be also compensated with additional time off;

• work in the evening, from 18.00 to 22.00, attracts a pay supplement of at least 10% of the workers' normal rate;

• work at night, from 22.00 to 06.00, attracts a pay supplement of at least 20% of the workers' normal rate; and

• work on holidays, attracts a pay supplement of at least 100% of the workers' normal rate.

In certain cases, mainly in the event of a temporary decrease in work volume, the employer is allowed to introduce short-time work. The duration of short-time work must be not less than 60% of the standard working time and the overall duration of such short-time work may not exceed three months in a year. The pay for short-time work must not be less than 60% of the minimum wage.

The law also sets standards for working in a second job (ie on top of the worker's main job). An employment contract for a second job must be entered into in the same way as in the principal job. Working time in the second job is not allowed to exceed 20 hours per week.

New legislation proposed

On 6 May 2004, the government approved the drafts of a revised Working and Rest Time Act and Holidays Act. The purpose of the proposed new Acts is to eliminate contradictions between EU labour law Directives and Estonian legislation. These contradictions have been pointed out in course of a survey carried out by the European Commission.

The Estonian Employers’ Confederation (Eesti Tööandjate Keskliit, ETTK) (EE0310102F) has given its support to the proposed new legislation, as the amendments derive from EU law. However, the Confederation of Estonian Trade Unions (Eesti Ametiühingute Keskliit, EAKL) (EE0308101F) is not in favour of the drafts, as the changes are seen as unfavourable to employees.

At the beginning of April, ETTK submitted its views on the European Commission's consultation (EU0402203F) on review of the 1993 EU Directive (93/104/EC) on certain aspects of the organisation of working time. The key issues raised by the Commission are: current derogations from the four-month reference period for the application of the Directive's maximum 48-hour working week, whereby Member States may allow the reference period to be extended to six months or, by collective agreement, to 12 months; and the option for Member States to allow individual workers to consent to 'opt out' from the 48-hour maximum week. ETTK is not in favour of the idea, which has been mooted, of making work above the Directive's working time limits dependent on collective agreements. ETTK wants the possibility to apply additional overtime work of up to 200 hours a year to be retained in the Estonian Working and Rest Time Act. The establishment of restrictions would endanger the flexibility of the labour market, it claims. Also, says ETTK, it is not realistic that collective agreements will start to be concludes in micro and small enterprises, and if such agreements were required in order to use additional overtime work, this possibility would be left unused in these enterprises.

ETTK supports the idea of allowing the four-month reference period for calculating the 48-hour maximum week to be extended to 12 months by law, rather than only by collective agreements. Again, ETTK believes that this would increase flexibility.

Actual working time

According to Statistical Office of Estonia, the average actual working time of employed people in their main jobs stood at 39.82 hours per week in 2003, with male workers on average having longer working weeks than female workers - see table 1 below. There are also differences by employment status and sector of the economy, and between public and private sectors. Data indicate that people employed in the primary sector work longer, and that in agriculture, especially in farms and family businesses, the working time regulations are often not closely followed.