The current framework for working time arrangements.

The new technologies that are developing rapidly and are constantly changing the way businesses are organized and run, as well as the intention to limit the labor costs entailed by the remuneration of overemployment, have gradually imposed the establishment of rules that allow, through individualized arrangements and depending on the production needs , the "elasticity" of working time.

These rules, aiming in their doctrinal documentation at the adaptation of businesses to the new competitive conditions, but also at ensuring a high level of employment, are part of the so-called "flexibility law", introducing substantial deviations from the traditional limitations of Labor Law.

Thus, while as a rule, within the framework of delimiting the legal working hours, it is not allowed to set off the extra working hours of a week, a month, or a year with any fewer hours of employment of another week, month, or year, respectively, already with the article 41 of Law 1892/1990 established for the first time in our country the possibility of applying a system of "adjustment" (increase or decrease) of daily and weekly working hours. The regulations of 3 of L.2639/1998, 5 of L.2874/2000, 2 of L.3385/2005, 7 of L.3846/2010, 42 of L.3986/2011 and finally, the recent regulation of article 55 § 2 of Law 4808/2021.

According to the current legislative framework, there are three (3) forms - possibilities of arranging the working time of the staff of a company, specifically: a) the arrangement on a six-month basis (article 41 § 1a΄ Law 1892/1990), b) the settlement on an annual basis (article 41 § 2a L.3986/2011) and c) the settlement on a weekly basis (article 55 § 2 L.4808/2021).

Based on the first of the above systems (the six-month arrangement) it is foreseen for a period of time ("increased employment") the possibility of employing an employee beyond his contractual weekly hours and up to two (2) hours a day beyond eight (in total i.e. . up to 10 hours), while then, for another period of time ("reduced employment"), the employee's work should be reduced accordingly either by working fewer hours than the contractual schedule or by granting more rest days or by combining reduced employment and granting rest days. In any case, the above periods of time ("increased" and "reduced" employment) may not exceed six (6) months in a period of one (1) year.

It is important to mention that the law does not limit the right to freely determine the time span of the above periods, however, the average weekly hours of work during the semester must be kept within the framework defined by the same regulation: 40 hours or less, if a contractual working time of less than 40 hours is applied, with a maximum limit of 48 hours, including the hours of overtime and overtime that may occur, during the periods of reduced employment.

The second system (of the annual arrangement) provides for the possibility of allocating up to 256 hours of the employee's total working time in a calendar year and adding the same number of hours to the daily and weekly working time of a period of the same calendar year, which it cannot exceed 32 weeks ("increased employment" period). Correspondingly, for another period of the same calendar year, which may be equal to the rest of the year, the employee should work fewer hours than his contractual weekly schedule or receive more rest days or a corresponding increase in the number of days of his leave or reduced employment and the granting of additional rest days or leisure leave days may be combined.

It should be pointed out that even in the above settlement system, the average hours of weekly employment should be kept within the framework provided by the same provision (see above), while, during the period of increased employment, the employee's daily work may not exceed 10 hours.

The third and last system (of the weekly arrangement), which was established by Law 4808/2021, allows the company to employ the employee for 10 hours a day on a four-day weekly basis, offsetting the two (2) hours worked, during the four (4) days of the week, in addition to his contractual working hours, with one (1) day of rest, which the employer is obliged to grant, on the fifth day of the week.

In conclusion, it is important to mention that all three of the above working time arrangement systems can be implemented either with an operational collective labor agreement or with a special agreement between the employer and the employee representatives, or even with an individual agreement.

Tasos Tarpinidis

Lawyer