The Law on Labour Relations defines a legal mechanism for limiting the duration of normal hours of work (full-time), as well as over-time work.

Full-time hours of work

Labour legislation does not define the actual duration of full-time hours of work, but only the upper limit to regulate normal duration. Hence, full-time hours of work should not be longer than 40 hours per week. So, in the Republic of North Macedonia, the limitation of full-time hours of work is done on weekly basis and not on daily basis (8 hours per day).  

Hours of work in the duration of less than 40 hours per week, but not less than 36 hours per week, may be defined by law or collective agreement as full-time hours of work. Within this ‘flexible scale’ (from 36 to 40 hours), there is a possibility for social partners to define the number of hours of work to be considered as full-time hours of work. Exception to this rule is reducing full-time hours of work below the lower limit (36 hours), and only for cases defined by law, other regulation in accordance with the law or collective agreement, for workplaces with hazards presenting risks for injury and health. In this context, one should have in mind the right to work with reduced hours of work to be used by workers in ‘special cases’ (disability, medical rehabilitation in accordance with social security regulations) and under ‘special conditions’ (particularly difficult, arduous and unhealthy work, with harmful effects on the employee’s health, i.e. on their capacity to work, which cannot be fully removed by virtue of protective measures). In both cases, reduced hours of work shall be considered as full-time, and the worker is entitled to payment and other employment rights the same as full-time hours of work.

Overtime work and additional work in cases of natural disasters and other accidents

 Overtime work may be defined as work in excess of full-time hours of work, done by the worker upon request by the employer.

Reasons thereof, i.e. legal grounds for introducing overtime work are listed in the Law on Labour Relations as the following:

• exceptional peaks in the workload;
• need to continue the business or production process;
• urgency to remove damages to the equipment or machinery that would cause interruptions to work operations;
• need to ensure safety of people and property, as well as safety of trade circulation;
• other cases laid down by law or collective agreement.

Limiting the duration of overtime work may be done on weekly, quarterly and yearly grounds. Overtime work shall not exceed eight hours in the course of one working week. For work that due to the specific work process, cannot be interrupted, or when it is not possible to organize the work in shifts, overtime work may be calculated for a time period of three months. Overtime work within a period of three months shall not exceed in average eight hours a week. Finally, overtime work on yearly basis may not exceed 190 hours per year, except for particular activities (such as for employees at the Ministry of Internal Affairs).

Labour legislation has also prescribed other provisions for increasing the transparency when introducing overtime work for the purpose of protecting health and safety of workers, and rights of workers. In this aspect the employer is obligated to keep separate records of overtime work and to state separately the hours of overtime work in the employee’s pay slip. Any introduction of overtime work should be accompanied by the employer notifying in writing the regional labour inspector. In addition, the Law on Labour Relations absolutely bans overtime work for certain categories of workers (e.g. female workers during pregnancy or up to one year following childbirth, workers under the age of 18, and other categories), however this ban is relative in terms of allowing overtime work by written consent of other categories of workers (e.g. female workers with children between one and three years old, older workers, and other categories).

Labour legislation has also prescribed other provisions for increasing the transparency when introducing overtime work for the purpose of protecting health and safety of workers, and rights of workers. In this aspect the employer is obligated to keep separate records of overtime work and to state separately the hours of overtime work in the employee’s pay slip. Any introduction of overtime work should be accompanied by the employer notifying in writing the regional labour inspector. In addition, the Law on Labour Relations absolutely bans overtime work for certain categories of workers (e.g. female workers during pregnancy or up to one year following childbirth, workers under the age of 18, and other categories), however this ban is relative in terms of allowing overtime work by written consent of other categories of workers (e.g. female workers with children between one and three years old, older workers, and other categories).

The only way to compensate workers for overtime work is to increase their salary (allowance), excluding transformation of overtime work into days off. The amount of the allowance for overtime is defined in the collective agreements.

In cases of natural disaster or other accident, the worker is obligated to undertake work full-time or, as agreed, with reduced hours of work at their workplace, or to perform other works related to removal and prevention of disaster or accident consequences. This work may last until it is necessary to save human lives, protect health of people, or prevent irreversible material damage.

Organizing hours of work is defined in the labour legislation of the Republic of North Macedonia as ‘scheduling’ and ‘schedule’ of hours of work. Additionally, the Law on Labour Relations allows for organizing hours of work in shifts and night work. 

Scheduling and schedule of hours of work

Scheduling the hours of work covers key aspects in organizing hours of work including number of working days in the week and number of working hours during a working day.

Schedule of hours of work refers to the start and the end of working hours within a working day.

Scheduling of the hours of work usually covers the working week that typically lasts for five working days. Scheduling of full-time hours of work may also be done in a period longer than five working days (but not  exceeding six working days), and in a period less than five working days, or less than eight working hours during the working day. In this case, the Law has stipulated three additional limitations – first, the minimal number of working days within a week that may be used to schedule full-time work, not less than of four working days; second, the minimal number of hours of work a worker may undertake daily within a full-time schedule, and not less than four hours per day; and third, the upper limit regarding full-time hours of work, restating that full-time work may not exceed forty hours per week.

The schedule of hours of work is a technical issue giving the employer the right to organize hours of work. Hence, the employer schedules hours of work, i.e. sets the start and the end of hours of work in the course of a working day. In case of temporary rescheduling of the hours of work, the employer is obligated to notify workers in writing at least a day in advance.

If work is organized in shifts, the Law on Labour Relations stipulates an obligation for notifying the trade union at the employer prior to introducing shift work, i.e. prior to applying the shift work organizational plan.

Night work refers to the time period between 22:00h and 6:00h the next day; night workers are individuals who work at night for at least three hours of their regular daily hours of work, i.e. workers who fulfill one third of the full annual hours of work at night. Night workers have more rights related to health and safety protection. Such rights are longer rest period; adequate food; professional supervision of the work and production process, and medical examination, prior to their assignment to night work and at regular intervals laid down by law. The Law on Labour Relations also refers to additional limitations in night work including ban for night work longer than eight hours for workers under greater hazards risking injury and health; ban for scheduling workers for night work if the employer fails to provide conditions for transport of workers to and from the workplace and fails to ensure periodical rotation of night workers.