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Hours of Work

Banking of hoursIn all sectors, whether these sectors are covered by a Wages Council Wage Regulation Order or not, the employer may introduce schemes to bank hours, whereby up to 376 hours of the normal annual working hours in each calendar year may be banked, thus allowing extra hours over and above the normal weekly working hours to be worked during periods of higher work activity which would be redeemed during periods of lower activity by having working hours below the normal weekly working hours. Notwithstanding the latter, the average weekly working time, including overtime, shall not exceed an average of 48 over the applicable reference period in terms of the Organization of Working Time Regulations, unless the employee concerned has given his consent in writing to work more than a weekly average of 48 hours.

The hours of work which may be banked shall be limited to those hours on any day in a week which attract the normal hourly rate of payment. Similarly any hours of work which have been banked in order to be utilized during weeks of lower work activity, shall only be so utilized on a weekly day of work where the hours of work are paid at a normal rate. Moreover, the parties may also agree to include hours which attract a special rate of pay and in this respect, the hours to be banked shall reflect such special hourly rate of pay.

Part-time and Whole-time employees with reduced hours
Part-time and whole-time employees with reduced hours shall not be obliged to participate in a scheme to bank hours and shall not suffer any detriment by the employer for failing to agree to participate in such a scheme.
DIER Authorisation
Before introducing a banking of hours scheme, authorisation from the Department of Industrial and Employment Relations (DIER) is required. In its authorisation, DIER may impose any conditions deemed necessary.
 Any scheme of banking of hours shall comply with the following:
- The employee is given prior written notice of the number of hours and roster to be worked in the following four weeks under the banking of hours scheme;
- The employer shall have the possibility of making an alteration of the weekly hours to be worked in the following week as long as at least one week’s written notice is given of such a change;
- The weekly basic wage shall remain constant throughout the year;
- In cases where the contract of employment is terminated for whatever reason:
  •  before the banked hours could be redeemed, such outstanding banked hours are to be paid at the applicable overtime rate in force on the date of termination, by the date of the next pay day. In the case of participating part-time employees or whole-time employees with reduced hours, any banked hours shall only be paid at the applicable overtime rate if the total hours worked by such employees when averaged exceed the normal hours of work of a comparable whole-time employee.
  •  where lesser hours than the yearly average have been worked, the employer shall not be entitled to claim a refund in respect of hours not actually worked;
- The employee may be required to work in excess of the scheduled hours of work on a particular day, such extra hours are to be paid at overtime rates at the applicable overtime rates;
- If at the end of a calendar year there are outstanding banked hours which have not been redeemed, such hours are to be paid at the applicable overtime rate unless the employer and employee have agreed in writing to transfer up to one hundred and sixty banked hours to the next calendar year. Such banked hours carried forward from the previous year shall be utilised first and shall not be carried forward again;
Vacation leave and sick leave
With respect to calculation of hours to be deducted from the annual leave or sick leave entitlement when these are availed of by an employee, the hours of work to be deducted from such annual entitlement shall be the number of hours which have been scheduled to be worked by the employee in accordance with the schedule issued by the employer.
Maternity and Other leave
When an employee participating in a scheme for banking of hours takes maternity leave or other paid leave not referred above, that employee shall receive the normal wages which may be due in respect of the maternity leave or other leave, as the case may be. An employee on such leave, shall be considered to have worked the same number of hours scheduled to be worked by virtue of such a scheme, whether these are above or below the normal hours usually worked outside the scheme. Such banked hours shall be considered to have been credited or debited, as the case may be, and be considered for all intents and purposes, in the same way as would apply to similar hours credited or debited by other employees participating in such a scheme.
Unpaid Leave
When an employee participating in a scheme for banking of hours is on unpaid leave, he shall be considered to have worked the same number of hours scheduled to be worked by virtue of such a scheme, whether these are above or below the normal hours usually worked outside the scheme. Such banked hours shall be considered to have been credited or debited, as the case may be, and be considered for all intents and purposes in the same way as would apply to similar hours credited or debited by other employees participating in such a scheme.
Article by DIER, for further information please contact us or visit the website DIER

Reduced hoursFull-time employment with reduced hours is employment in respect of which social security contributions are payable and when the employee agrees with his/her employer to work less hours than those worked by a comparable full-timer. The wage and other entitlements shall be granted on a pro-rata basis.
Before agreeing to work on reduced hours, the conditions of work applicable for full-time work must have been previously established. Hence, the original contract of employment has to be based on full-time conditions of employment. Pro-rata can only be calculated if there exists a basis of full-time work.
 
Article by DIER, for further information please contact us or visit the website DIER

TeleworkingTelework is an important step forward towards better family friendly conditions of employment. With the evolution of information technology certain work that is usually performed at the employer’s premises, can now be carried out away from those premises on a regular basis. Telework may be required as a condition of employment in an employment contract or resorted to by agreement, in the course of the employment relationship.

 
Written agreement

Any agreement for the performance of telework has to be in writing and shall include information as is required by the Information to Employees Regulations, and information which is particular to telework as enlisted in L.N. 312 of 2008 - Telework National Standard Order.

When telework is required as a condition of employment in an employment contract

The conditions of employment shall not be less favourable than those laid down in L.N. 312 of 2008 - Telework National Standard Order.

When telework is not specified in the employment contract and is undertaken in the course of the employment relationship

The employee is free to accept or refuse an employer’s offer of telework. Such refusal shall not constitute a good and sufficient cause for terminating employment, nor shall it lead to a change in the conditions of employment of the employee concerned. On the other hand if an employee expresses the wish to opt for telework, it is in the employer’s discretion whether to accept or refuse such request.

The passage to telework

The passage to telework does not affect the employee’s employment status or his right to revert back to his previous post or, in the event that this is not possible, to another similar post.

Terminating a telework agreement

Teleworkers shall have the same rights of access and rights to participate in training and career development programmes provided by or on behalf of the employer in the same manner as comparable employees at the employer’s premises and be subject to the same appraisal policies as comparable employees.

Privacy of the teleworker

Unless otherwise agreed upon by the employer and the teleworker in the written agreement on telework, the employer is responsible for providing, installing and maintaining the equipment necessary for the performance of telework and for providing the teleworker with an appropriate technical support facility. On the other hand the teleworker is obliged to take good care of the equipment and data provided by the employer and he shall not collect or distribute illegal material via the internet.

Organisation of work

The employer is obliged to inform the teleworker about the provisions of the Data Protection Act and shall take the appropriate measures, particularly with regard to software, to ensure the protection of data used and processed by the teleworker in the carrying out of his duties. From his/her end, the teleworker shall abide by the provisions of the Data Protection Act and by the measures taken by the employer in terms of this regulation.

Collective rights
 
The teleworker enjoys the same collective rights as comparable employees at the employer’s premises and has the right to participate in, and to stand for elections to bodies representing employees. Moreover the teleworker is to be included in the calculations for determining thresholds for the purposes of worker representation, for the purposes of information and consultation rights in terms of L.N. 433 of 2002 - Transfer of Business (Protection of Employment) Regulations, and of the L.N. 10 of 2006 - Employee (Information and Consultation) Regulations, and for the purpose of determining a collective redundancy in terms of L.N. 428 of 2002 - Collective Redundancies (Protection of Employment) Regulations

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Article by DIER, for further information please contact us or visit the website DIER

Part-Time-Employment

Who is to be considered a Part-time Employee?

A part-time employee is one whose normal hours of work, calculated on a weekly basis or on an average over a period of employment of up to one year, are less than the normal hours of work of a comparable whole-time employee and who is not a whole-time employee with reduced hours.
In this regard, an employer should ensure that the total number of hours worked by a part-time employee over a period of one year, do not reach or exceed the total number of normal hours (excluding overtime) worked by a comparable whole-time employee over the same one year period.
If the total number of hours worked by the part-time employee equal or exceed those of a comparable whole-time employee, then that employee shall thenceforth be considered as a whole-time employee.
 
Pro-rata entitlements for Part-timers
All part-time employees, irrespective whether their employment is their principal employment or not should enjoy all the entitlements due to comparable full-time employees, on a pro-rata basis calculated on the weekly hours worked. Pro-rata entitlements include statutory bonus and weekly allowance, all public holidays, vacation leave, sick leave, birth leave, bereavement leave, marriage leave, injury leave and any other leave in terms of law.

Calculating the Pro-rata Entitlement

The pro-rata is calculated as the proportion that the number of weekly hours worked by the part-time employee bears to the number of the normal weekly hours worked by a full-time employee performing same work.

(The vacation leave of a full timer working 40 hours per week is 208 hours. If the part-timer works 25 hours a week, the pro-rata vacation leave entitlement is 25/40x208 hours = 130 hours.)

In case where the working hours of a part-timer are based on irregular weekly working hours, the pro-rata is calculated over the average of hours worked over a period of 13 weeks (Quarterly:- January to March; April to June; July to September; October to December).

Article by DIER, for further information please contact us or visit the website DIER

 

Shift-WorkThere is an entitlement to shift allowance in certain Wage Regulation Orders. One should check the respective W.R.O about any such entitlements. Ad hoc arrangements may also be applicable in enterprises governed by a collective agreement, or if there are specific clauses in a contract of employment making reference to such an allowance.

Article by DIER, for further information please contact us or visit the website DIER

 

Normal-Hours-of-Work

The normal hours of work for full-time employment and the maximum hours for part-time work vary according to the relevant sector of industry. These are established in Wage Regulation Orders that regulate such sectors according to their activity of work (see also L.N. 247 of 2003 - Organisation of Working Time Regulations).

Usually, the normal hours of work (excluding overtime) are based on 40 hours a week. However, in certain cases as may be established by law, normal hours of work can be more, but not exceeding a maximum of an average of 48 hours a week spread over a reference period of 17 weeks. In certain sectors, as the manufacture and tourism sectors, the reference period is of one year.
An employer can ask an employee to work more than an average of 48 hours per week. However in such a case, a written consent is required from the employee concerned. If an employee does not give his/her consent, the employer can neither force nor victimize that particular employee as a consequence of his/her refusal. On the other hand, if the consent is given, the employer has to ensure that the employee is given the daily rest and weekly rest periods due as established by law.
If an employee consents to work for more than an average of 48 hours per week, the employee can demand that the consent will be withdrawn. This can be done through written notice which is given to the employer. Notice must be given at least seven days before the withdrawal of the consent or at such longer periods, not exceeding three months, as may be agreed between the parties.
If the employee has not consented to work over an average of 48 hours a week, the maximum working hours including overtime shall not exceed such an average when calculated over a reference period, usually of 17 weeks. It is important to clarify that if an employee who normally works on a 40 hour week is asked to perform overtime, such overtime may be of more than 8 hours in a particular week, provided that the provisions at law regarding daily rest and weekly rest periods are observed.
Article by DIER, for further information please contact us or visit the website DIER
 
  1. Rest periods
  2. Night Work

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