COMPUTATION, DURATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE WORKING DAY. A PROPOSAL FROM LEGE FERENDA IN LIGHT OF THE PROPOSAL FROM THE MINISTRY OF LABOR

The Ministry of Labor has put on the table a proposed Law on the use of time and time rationalization. The proposal, whose main objective is to reduce the working day without affecting the salary, offers a substitute alternative to the current arts. 34 ET-Day- and 35 ET- Overtime-, and other related precepts such as arts. 36 ET and 37 ET. The purpose of this study is to critically assess this proposal in order to provide my own proposal. My proposal does not touch the current maximum legal working day of 40 hours per week, but it introduces profound reforms that the Ministry does not consider. The reforms that I propose are necessary, I believe, to make the regulatory framework of working time serve adequately to combine the recognition of worker sovereignty in the management of working time with the protection of the interests of companies, essential for them to be able to compete in the context of a global and digitalized economy and adequately fulfill its social function of creating employment.