On April 11, 2023, the Chamber of Deputies approved the bill that reduces the working day to 40 hours, which will soon be promulgated and then published in the Official Gazette. The new obligations established by this law for employers will begin to govern in a differentiated way, in the deadlines indicated for each one of them (in no case before one year counted from their publication).

Below is a summary of the main aspects of this project:

Reduction of working hours and gradual implementation.

The ordinary working day will be reduced to 40 hours per week. This decrease will take place in the form Gradual: one year after the publication of the law, the working day will go from 45 to 44 hours weekly, once 3 years have elapsed since the publication of the law, the working day will go from 44 to 42 hours weekly, and, once 5 years have elapsed since the publication of the law, the working day will go from 42 to 40 weekly hours. Consequently, the 40-hour working day will not come into effect until after 5 years after the publication of the law in the Official Gazette.

Possibility of agreeing on longer weekly days with an average of 40 hours in cycles of up to 4 weeks.

The employer and the worker may agree weekly shifts lasting more than 40 hours in the as long as a weekly average of 40 hours is maintained within cycles that do not exceed 4 weeks. In this case, the ordinary weekly working day may not exceed 45 hours or exceed 40 hours for more than two continuous weeks in the cycle. If the worker is unionized, it will also require the prior agreement of the union organization to which he is affiliated.

Through collective bargaining or direct agreements with unions, and only with respect to their affiliates, it will be possible to agree that the aforementioned weekly limit be extended to 52 hours.

Possibility of distributing the ordinary day in 4 days of work for three of rest.

The ordinary 40-hour day established by this law may be distributed over 4 days, leaving three days rest weeks. As of its publication in the Official Gazette, this may be applied by the companies that already have shifts of 40 hours or less.

Possibility of different entry and exit times for mothers, fathers and caregivers of girls and boys up to 12 years old.

The mothers and fathers of children up to 12 years of age, and the people who have the personal care of they will be entitled to a band of two hours in total, within which they can anticipate or delay the beginning of their work in up to one hour, which will also determine the departure time at the end of the day. The foregoing, unless it is incompatible with the operating hours of the company, or for the nature of the services provided by the worker.

Possibility of compensating overtime with additional days of holidays.

It is allowed to agree that overtime is compensated for additional days of holidays. In that case, up to five working days of additional rest per year may be agreed, which must be used by the worker within the six months following the cycle in which the overtime arose. The compensation of overtime for additional days of holidays will be governed by the same surcharge that corresponds to your payment, that is, for each overtime hour there will be an hour and a half of holiday.

Modifications for workers subject to special working hours regimes.

Modifications applicable to the days of workers subject to special regimes of day, such as drivers, restaurant workers, workers who work on board fishing vessels, among others.

Possibility of authorizing exceptional systems with a maximum average of 42 hours per week per cycle.

The Department of Labor may authorize exceptional systems for the distribution of working hours that they consider a maximum average of weekly work hours, in the respective cycle, that does not exceed 42 weekly average hours, the excess over the average must be compensated with additional rest days of 40 weekly hours per cycle. It is also allowed that these additional rest days are compensated in money if the parties so agree.

Restrictions to the exclusion of limitation of working hours.

The type of work that is excluded from the limitation of the working day is restricted, and the Labor Inspection to determine if the work of a worker is subject or not to this exclusion.