Amendment Allowing Flexible Working Hours Reaches the Government
The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications recently submitted amendments to the Employment Contracts Act to the government. These amendments would allow employers and employees to agree on flexible working hours, meaning work hours could be determined within a time range rather than as a fixed number.
Chamber's Longstanding Proposal Moves Forward
The Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has repeatedly proposed amending the Employment Contracts Act to allow more flexibility in agreeing on working hours. Under the current law, workload must be agreed upon as a fixed number, such as 20 hours per week. However, the law does not permit working hours to be defined as a range, for example, 20–30 hours per week.
A More Flexible Agreement May Soon Be Possible
The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications has submitted amendments allowing employers and employees to enter into a flexible working hours agreement. Under this arrangement, an employee’s working hours would be divided into agreed-upon hours and additional hours. This means that, in addition to the agreed working hours, an employee may work extra hours up to a full-time workload, and these extra hours would not be considered overtime.
The draft legislation outlines several conditions that must be met to establish a flexible working hours agreement. Compared to earlier versions of the draft, these conditions have been relaxed based on the Chamber’s recommendations.
Conditions for a Flexible Working Hours Agreement
According to the draft law, a flexible working hours agreement must be concluded in writing and include at least the agreed-upon working hours, the number of additional hours, and the minimum notice period for scheduling these additional hours. Additionally, the agreement must specify that the employee has the right to refuse extra hours and that the acceptance of extra hours must be confirmed by the employee in a format that allows written reproduction.
The total of agreed-upon hours and additional hours cannot exceed full-time work, meaning 40 hours per week. This allows employees to take on extra hours up to the full-time limit. However, the draft stipulates that the employee’s minimum workload must be at least 10 hours per week, which is a quarter of full-time work.
If an employee works beyond the agreed-upon hours and additional hours, this will be considered overtime. For example, if an employee’s agreed working hours are 10 hours per week and additional hours are 10 hours, they may work up to 20 hours per week. Any hours beyond this would be classified as overtime.
The draft law also stipulates that a flexible working hours agreement can only be concluded if the employee’s hourly wage is at least 1.2 times the minimum hourly wage. However, exceptions apply to minors and employees who have worked for the employer for less than four months or a total of fewer than 168 hours.
Employees have the right to refuse additional hours, and any acceptance of extra hours must be confirmed in a format allowing written reproduction, such as by email.
Compared to earlier versions, the draft no longer restricts flexible working hours agreements to specific groups, such as students, parents of children under seven, or other target groups. Now, the draft allows flexibility for all employees who want or need it.
Employees with a flexible working hours agreement cannot be subject to a non-compete agreement.
When using summarized working time accounting, the employer must provide the employee with a clear schedule at the end of the accounting period, showing the breakdown of agreed-upon hours, additional hours, and overtime.
Implementation Date Unknown
According to the draft, the amendments related to flexible working hours agreements will take effect ten days after being published in the State Gazette. However, before that, the government must approve the changes, and the Riigikogu (Parliament) must pass the legislation. Therefore, the exact date of implementation remains unknown.