Sejm commission backs proposal to reduce working week beginning next year

Sejm commissions have spoken out broadly in favor of cutting the amount of working hours from 42 to 40 a week beginning next year, and will now recommend Sejm implement the changes in the Labor Code. The new law will not be accompanied by salary cuts. The draft also plans to extend the amount of the extra hours in annual terms from the current 150 to 200. The combined working day, which includes extra hours, must not exceed an average 12 hours a day and 48 hours a week. Simultaneously, in the companies with collective agreements, working time could be agreed more flexibly, which means that the owner and the workers could raise the number of extra hours up to 400 a year, under the condition that the 48 hour working week is kept. Commissions were working to established a plan to progressively cut down on the amount of hours a week. The 40-hour week should be achieved in 2004. (Prawo i Gospodarka, page 8) P.S.