May 2, 2005—The European Parliament’s Employment Committee wants the right of individual workers to opt out of the maximum 48-hour working week to be scrapped three years after the new working hours directive enters into force. They also want hours “on-call” to count as working time in most cases.
The committee thus disagrees with the proposal put forward by the European Commission, which would keep the individual opt-out while tightening up the conditions for its application. Again in contrast to the Commission, MEPs want the entire period of any time spent on-call, including the “inactive part, to be regarded as working time.
But the committee decided that Member States could allow inactive parts of on-call time to be calculated in special ways in order to comply with the maximum weekly average working time.
In further amendments to the Commission’s text, MEPs decided that working hours should be organized in such a way as to give employees the opportunity for life-long learning. They also want to achieve the right balance between reconciling work and family life and the need for more flexible organization of working time.
For more on the European Parliament Employment Committee, visit its Web site.
