Amendment to allow employees to self-schedule their working hours

Currently, the Labour Code allows employers to delegate the right to schedule working hours to their employees only in the context of remote work (teleworking) and a shared workplace (where employees who share one job position may themselves divide the hours between them). Other employees may influence their working schedules only under an arrangement on flexible working time but nonetheless must work within the limits set by the employer in the form of fixed working time periods. This is now about to change: from 1 January 2025, the amendment to the Labour Code will allow for the possibility to arrange that employees may self-schedule their working hours and shifts, subject to agreed-upon conditions. 

The amendment does not specify these conditions. The explanatory memorandum to the bill states that the employer should (contractually) agree with the employee on the employee’s obligation to observe statutory breaks, minimum rest periods, safety breaks, or maximum shift lengths. Employers will remain liable for any breaches. Other restrictions may also be recommended, e.g., that the employee should not schedule work for nights, weekends, or holidays. The agreement may also specify whether the working time should be evenly distributed or not.

Once employees are allowed to self-schedule their working hours, employers will still be obliged to keep records of working time. Therefore, it may be advisable to contractually agree on the employee’s obligation to cooperate, e.g., by delivering timesheets at an agreed-upon frequency. It may also be practical to stipulate that under certain conditions, the employer may limit the employee's freedom to self-schedule their working hours.

The amendment explicitly provides that the Labour Code’s regulations concerning working hours shall not apply to self-scheduling, except for the employee’s obligation to be at their workplace at the beginning of the shift and to leave it only after the end of the shift, and the obligation to ensure that one single shift shall not exceed 12 hours. The employee's average weekly working hours agreed upon in their employment contract will have to be completed within a settlement/balancing period determined by the employer.

The amendment also deals with possible obstacles to work, vacations, and business trips: in these cases, a back-up working time schedule shall apply, which the employer will be obliged to set in advance. However, for other important personal obstacles at work on the part of the employee, employees who schedule their own working hours will not be entitled to wage or salary compensation (with exceptions). 

As for the termination of the agreement on self-scheduling of working hours, the amendment assumes either that both parties will agree, or that one party will give notice with a 15-day notice period starting on the day the notice is delivered to the other party.