The Council of Ministers has approved, on the proposal of the Ministry of Labour and Social Economy, the Preliminary Draft Law for the reduction of the maximum duration of the regular working day and the guarantee of the registration of the working day and the right to disconnection.
“Today we are taking a decisive step to improve the lives of millions of working people in our country, a new impetus to the social agenda,” said the second vice president of the Government and Minister of Labor and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz.
In this way, the law begins its parliamentary procedure so that the maximum legal working day is 37.5 hours per week in annual computation after more than four decades of validity of the one currently established, of 40 hours per week. This reduction will allow workspaces now to return to life after an undoubted technological and economic evolution in our country.
“It is a question of lowering the working day by law so that this right reaches where the collective bargaining does not reach as waiters whose average working day is 39.4 hours, cashiers and dependents who work more than 39 hours just like farmers or caregivers with 38.6 hours a week” explained the second vice-president.
This law is also justified by the opportunity to adapt the labor regulations to the new realities and forms of organization that have demonstrated the viability and benefits associated with the shorter working days.
The measure is also fundamental in terms of safety and health at work, as it will contribute to reducing the physical and mental burden that, in turn, results in a decrease in work stress and fatigue, increase productivity and reduce the risk of accidents at work. The long working days caused, in the world, 745,000 deaths due to stroke and ischemic heart disease in 2016, a figure 29% higher than in 2000.
The new regulation hinges on a reliable and interoperable working time record, an essential instrument to ensure compliance with the working time regulations and, consequently, the right to effective rest and to eradicate overtime that is not in accordance with the law.
On the other hand, the right to disconnection is more effectively guaranteed, to avoid requiring the development of the benefit outside the agreed schedules, respecting the right to rest and the privacy of the working people themselves.