Limiting the maximum working week to 48 hours
Employment policy - 05-11-2008 - 14:58
The maximum working time in the EU should be 48 hours a week, and the opt-outs from this rule should removed within three years, according to the majority of MEPs in Wednesday’s second reading vote at the Employment and Social Affairs Committee.
By adopting a co-decision report from Alejandro Cercas (PES, ES) with 35 votes for, 13 against and 2 abstentions, the committee made clear its disagreement with the Council (where a common position was adopted on 9 June 2008) notably regarding the non-participation clause, more commonly known as the “opt-out”, and on on-call time, an issue of particular importance for the health sector.
No opt-outs
The committee confirmed its first reading position by adopting an amendment stipulating that the non-participation clause should lapse three years after the reformed directive enters force.
The Council had proposed that the working week in the EU should continue to be limited to a maximum of 48 hours, except where a Member State invoked a non-participation clause. This would have allowed workers to agree to work longer, subject to certain limits: no more than 60 hours on average a week when calculated over a period of three months or 65 hours where there is no collecting agreement and “when the inactive period of on-call time is considered as working time.”
On-call time considered working time
On-call time means “any period during which the worker has the obligation to be available at the workplace in order to intervene, at the employer's request, to carry out his activity or duties." This issue principally concerns medical staff.
For the Council, the inactive period of on-call time should not be considered as working time unless national legislation, a collective agreement or an agreement between the social partners provides otherwise. This “inactive period” is when the worker is on-call but no in fact called upon to carry out his or her duties.
In their vote, MEPs in the committee recognise that there is a difference between active and inactive on-call time, and that the latter can be calculated in different way, but they nevertheless insist that the full period of on-call time, including the inactive period, should be counted as working time.
Compensatory rest periods
Where workers have not been able to take their normal rest periods, they should be granted compensatory rest periods. According to the Council’s common position, it is for the Member States to determine what is a reasonable period within which such compensatory rest should be granted. The EP committee, on the other hand, decided that such compensatory rest periods should be granted at the end of the working period, in accordance with applicable legislation or an agreement between the social partners.
MEPs also adopted amendments which aimed at clarifying the situation of workers covered by more than one employment contract: working time in this case should be calculated as the sum of the period of work undertaken under each contract.
In addition, they specified the categories of managers who are not covered by the directive: chief executive officers (or people in comparable positions), senior managers directly subordinated to them and persons who are directly appointed by the board of directors.
Context
The original working time directive, adopted in 1993 was previously amended in 2000. It is these two texts, brought together in a consolidated version, which are to be revised by the proposal now under consideration.
In 1993, the United Kingdom successfully sought an “opt-out” clause, which allows Member States not to respect the 48 hour limit under certain conditions.
The present revision also aims to take account of decisions by the EU Court of Justice regarding on-call time, specifically in the SIMAP and Jaeger cases.
Parliament adopted its first reading position on 11 May 2005.
Next steps
Wednesday’s vote had been brought forward from the scheduled date of 2 December to allow time for informal negotiations with the Council with a view to reaching a possible compromise ahead of the plenary vote in Parliament at the December session in Strasbourg.
An absolute majority (i.e. 393 votes in favour) is required at the plenary session to confirm the amendments proposed by the Employment Committee – or indeed to adopt any other amendments to the Council’s common position.
Procedure: co-decision, second reading -- Plenary vote: December II, Strasbourg
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