Executive Summary

• Author: Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (European Commission), European Centre of Expertise (ECE)
• Pages: 1-4

Flash Re por t 1 2/2018

Decem ber 20 18

1

Execut ive Sum mary

1 Nation al level develop me nts

In Decem ber 2 018 , important

dev elop m en t s in labou r law t ook place in

many Mem b er Stat es an d European

Econo mic Area (EEA) countr ies ( see Table

1) . Legislativ e in it iat ives and case law

focused specifically on t he follow in g

issu es:

Minim um w age

In Bulgaria, using the new Art icle 244.1

of the Labour Code, th e Council of

Minist ers hav e set the n at ion al m inim um

wage for 2 019 by Decr ee at BGN 560

(EUR 280 ) per month and BGN 3. 37

(EUR 1.4 5) per h ou r. I n Cr o atia , t he

Minim um Wage Act has been adop t ed

(Official Gazette No. 118 / 2 018). The

legislat or’s objectiv e is t o gradu ally

in creas e t he min im um w age rel ati ve to th e

average salary. I n Eston ia , t h e Estonian

Transpor t and Road Workers Tr ade Union

and th e Union of Estonian Aut omobile

Enterpr ises have published a dr aft

collect ive agr eement, t he aim of wh ich is

to increase the m ont hly mi nim um wage in

th e t ransport sector. This agreem ent

m ainl y c oncer ns lor ry dr ive rs. Acco rdi ng to

th e dr af t, t he m ont hly m inimum wage

starting fr om May 2019 will be EUR 95 0.

In 20 20, t he minim um month ly wage will

be in cr eased by EUR 50, and by EUR 100

per month in 202 1. I n Lu x em bou r g, on

th e b asis o f t he b iann ual gene ral revi ew of

th e social minim u m wage—the t r adition

being to adapt it to the general

dev elopment of salar ies—it will increase

by 1.1 per cent aft er 01 Janu ary 20 19. I n

Port u g al, Decr ee Law No. 117/ 201 8, of

27 December, est ab lishes that from

01 Januar y 201 9, the nat ional minim um

month ly wage will be EUR 600. In

Rom ania , t h e m in imum wage will

increase from 01 January 2019 at t w o

lev els: a general m in imum wage and a

special m inimum wage f or certain

cat egor ies of employees. The g en er al

minim um gross w ag e will b e RON 2 080

(about EUR 450 ) . Th er e ar e two

exceptions: higher education graduates

with at least one y ear of seniority in the

field of t heir st udies will b e ent itled t o a

minim um gross w ag e of RON 2 3 50 per

month , and constr uction will be

RON 3 000. I n Slo venia, the Act on

Amendm ent s t o the Minim um Wage Act

was r atif ied on 1 3 December 2018. Some

changes/ addit ional pr ovisions have been

introdu ced: the int r od uction of a

calcu lation of t he amount of m inimum

wage based on a new f or m ula has been

postponed fr om 01 January 2019 to 01

January 202 0. The proposed st at u tor y

prov ision s have been com plemented by

pr ovision s on fines.

W ork ing t im e

In France, Act No. 2018-771 of 05

Sept em ber 2 018 pr ovi des th e po ssibi lit y o f

der ogat ing from t he m axim um w ork ing

ti me of 35 hou rs a wee k a nd 8 ho urs a d ay

for individuals under t he age of 18 years

for cer tain act ivities. Where th e

organisat io n of work warrants, it will be

possible, aft er notifying t h e Regional

Dir ectorat e for Com panies, Fair Trading ,

Consum er Affairs, Labour and

Emp loyment, to increase th e m ax imum

weekly w or king tim e by 5 hours and the

maxim u m daily working tim e by 2 h ou rs.

In H unga r y , t here have been im portan t

reform s on working t im e. On t he one

hand, the m aximum possible r ef er ence

per iod t o calculat e w or k in g t im e th at can

be determ in ed by collect ive agr eement

has been increased to 36 months ‘if

ju st ified by technical r easons or r easons

re late d t o w ork or gan isat ion’ . On th e ot her

han d, the m aximum am oun t of ov er tim e

hours has been extended substantially ,

all owin g t he em ploy er t o r equest a w ork er

to w ork 250 hours of overtim e per y ear,

and an agreem ent bet ween the em ployer

and em ployee can add up to an additi onal

15 0 h our s or ‘n on-im pose d’ over tim e wor k

per ye ar. I n I r eland , the Em plo yme nt Act

2018 has b een enact ed. Am on g t he most

im portant ch an ges are the prohibition of

zero-hours contracts in m ost

circumstances an d t he introdu ct ion of a

ban ded hou rs p rov ision so th at emp loyees

are ent itled to be placed on a ban d of

hour s that bet ter ref lect s th e re alit y of the

ho urs t hey w ork . I n Latvia, th e Par liam en t

adopt ed am endments to t h e Medical