Skrevet af
Registration of working hours: changes to the Executive Order on Rest Periods and the Executive Order on Systematic Working Environment Work
The Executive Order on Rest Periods and the Executive Order on Systematic Working Environment Work have been amended in light of the new rules on registration of working hours.
Skrevet af
Christian Thorborg Pedersen
Forfattere
In April this year, the Ministry of Employment sent out draft amendments to the Executive Order on Rest Periods and the Executive Order on Systematic Working Environment Work for consultation.
The purpose of the amendments was, among other things, to align the so-called ”self-organiser rule” in the Executive Order on Rest Periods with the new self-organiser rule in the Working Time Act. Also, the amendments were aimed at making it mandatory to include information on rest periods based on the working time registrations made from 1 July 2024 in the collaboration on health and safety in the workplace and, lastly, at adjusting the rules regarding on-call shifts in the Executive Order. Our article on the draft amendments can be read here.
The changes have been adopted in the amending Executive Order without any significant changes compared to the draft consultation paper and will therefore take effect on Monday 1 July 2024, i.e. at the same time as the new requirements for registration of working time.
In addition to the above changes, the amending Executive Order provides a new possibility to derogate from the rules on rest periods for a specific type of employees.
The rules can now be derogated from in relation to persons who are employed by a municipality under the Social Service Act to provide personal assistance and care, or help or support for necessary practical domestic tasks, to a close relative in their own home, and who predominantly perform this work in their own home. For such persons, it is only a requirement to have an 11-hour rest period each day, not 11 consecutive hours, and it is not necessary to grant compensatory days off.
Norrbom Vinding notes
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that the amending Executive Order aligns the concept of self-organiser under the Working Time Act and the Executive Order on Rest Periods, which means that employees who meet the criteria for being self-organisers can be exempted from the requirement to register their working hours without having to meet two sets of different conditions; and
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that, at the same time, it is important to be aware of the obligation to include the issue of rest periods in the collaboration on health and safety at the workplace.
The content of the above is not, and should not be a substitute for legal advice.
Forfattere