Structural reform of the labour market: greater working time flexibility on the way?

Kris Peeters is wanting to reform labour law and to start by reviewing the statutory working time provisions. He’s right. Most of the legislation in this regard dates from the 1980s or before. Societal changes mean it’s now outdated.

The Minister also wants to allow workers to better manage their daily lives by permitting more flexibility in the organisation of their working days.

By letting them have a working life that’s better suited to their daily living conditions, the Minister hopes to (i) reduce stress and burn-out, (ii) help people work longer and (iii) make employers more competitive.

He suggests three lines of thinking.
 

1. The “base” at company level

These are the provisions applying to all workers:

1. Annualised working time: as is already so in certain companies that practise minor or major flexibility, weekly working time as applying to each worker should average out over a period of a year and no longer, as currently, by the end of the week. Anyone should therefore be able to work nine hours a day and 45 hours a week without doing overtime provided the weekly average laid down (usually 38 hours) is not exceeded by the end of a year owing to recovery time being taken.

2. Maximum working time: employer and employee can agree between themselves that extra time will be worked provided it does not exceed 11 hours a day and 50 hours a week and no more than 143 hours of overtime mount up across a quarter. The additional wage for overtime continues to be due.

3. Overtime not to be recovered: however, not all overtime has to be recovered to achieve the annual weekly average. Each worker will get a 100-hour credit, which they can either have paid out or credited to their “career account”. Those who decide not to recover it will therefore earn more.

The 100-hour quota of non-recovered time can be raised to 360 by sector-level collective bargaining agreement.

Note: in practice, the Minister is allowing major flexibility in all companies, by which the situations of a number of them can be corrected.

1. Training objective: the inter-professional training objective is raised to five days a year per full-time equivalent instead of the current 1.9% of payroll.

It seems that the objective can be reached over several years but, from 2017, each worker will already be entitled to two days of training a year.

Special measures are laid down for SMEs with fewer than 20 workers. And very small enterprises with fewer than ten workers will not be affected because the Minister takes the view that training occurs informally in that type of company.

This training objective can be set down in sector-level CBAs providing for progressive planning depending on efforts already made or by introducing an “individual training account” for each worker into companies, to which each worker will credit the time spent by them on training.

Training time will be paid. It can be done during or outside working time but no overtime pay will be due if it’s done outside working hours.

1. Occasional teleworking: the rules will be changed to allow occasional teleworking. The industrial accidents legislation will be reviewed and regulations will set down the official formalities to be gone through or, for example, the cost reimbursements to be provided.

1. At sector level: “manoeuvrable” work

1. Working time/annualisation of work: apart from the “base” provisions, the joint committees (failing which, companies themselves) can adopt CBAs on working time, though they must adhere to the relevant European directive. Thus, where there are production cycles within a sector or company that exceed a year (e.g. production of a type of car), annualisation of working time can be deviated from and a maximum of six years can be agreed to take account of these economic constraints (general application of the “plus minus conto”).

2. Interim workers can have open-ended contracts: interim agencies can agree open-ended contracts with their workers. They must provide for a form of pay between two assignments that is not tantamount to economic redundancy.

3. Employer groupings: these rules will be reformed to ease access.

4. Part time: the rules on part-time working will be simplified. The draft legislation is already before the employer and employee representatives (social partners).

1. At sector level: “feasible work”

1. Career savings: the joint committees can allow companies to permit their staff to have “career savings”. CBAs will lay down how workers can off their own bat build up a capital of holidays not taken or overtime to be recovered. The capital can be used as they see fit.

2. Time credit and palliative care: the length of time credit to care for a family member can be extended by three months or leave taken to provide palliative care by one month, provided the effect is neutral for budget purposes.

3. Floating schedules: will be legalised. Currently, they’re just tolerated. A floating schedule allows workers to arrive at or leave work at a time that isn’t fixed but that is within a given time span.

4. Gifting holidays: though there’s no question but that each employee can take at least four weeks of holiday a year, gifting holiday to a colleague with a seriously ill child may be provided for under a sector or company CBA if a union organisation so requests at sector level.

1. And, what should we think?

The Minister has initiated a process that’s been wanting for a long time.

Because there is as yet no official document, there are some grey areas

What will a “career account” or “career savings” look like? These are notions as yet undefined, even if their content can be surmised.

The unions say they reject the reform even before it’s been discussed within the Group of Ten. The draft will therefore have to traverse the maelstrom of social dialogue.

But there can be no doubt that the end result will be an improvement for employers and their employees alike.

1. Timing

The Minister is aware that the Group of Ten will have to look at his proposed reforms. However, he wants to make haste. The matter has therefore been referred to the National Labour Council and a schedule of meetings is planned at which each point in the reform will be dealt with. The cabinet should debate a bill before the summer recess, which should table before parliament in the autumn so that a new act can be passed before the 2017-2018 inter-professional negotiations.