Published: 13.08.2024.
Translated by machine translator

The employer is obligated to organize the company’s operations and the employee's working hours in such a way as to ensure compliance with the Labor Law's provisions on rest periods for employees. The organization of working and rest time must ensure the employee’s health and safety in the workplace.

In the context of the Labor Law, rest time is the period during which the employee is not required to perform their work duties and can use at their discretion. This includes daily rest, weekly rest, holidays, work breaks, and vacations (for explanations on vacation, see ExplanationsàVacations).

The daily rest period within a 24-hour period must not be less than 12 consecutive hours. For children, the daily rest period within a 24-hour period must not be less than 14 consecutive hours. 

The weekly rest period within a seven-day period must not be less than 42 consecutive hours. Therefore, it is essential that within any seven-day period, the employee has a rest period that starts and ends, or starts, continuing for a continuous 42 hours.

In the case of summarized working time organization, employees must be provided with a daily rest period of at least 12 hours on average per day and a weekly rest period of at least 35 hours on average per week, including the daily rest time (Section 6 of Article 140 of the Labor Law). These average rest periods are determined at the end of the reporting period by summing the employee's rest period duration and dividing it by the number of days or weeks in the reporting period.

For a five-day workweek, the employee is granted two days of weekly rest. Both days of weekly rest are usually granted consecutively. For a six-day workweek, the employee is granted one day of weekly rest.

The general weekly rest day is Sunday. If continuous operation is necessary, it is permissible to employ the employee on Sunday, providing them with rest on another day of the week.

The employer is entitled, with a written order, to involve the employee in work during the weekly rest period, but in such cases, must grant them equivalent compensatory rest, ensuring at least two 42-hour weekly rest periods within any two weeks (14 days) (i.e., not one double (84-hour) weekly rest but two 42-hour weekly rest periods within any 14-day period).

However, such rights are strictly limited to legally specified cases, which should be interpreted as narrowly as possible to prevent the employee from being unfairly employed during the weekly rest period. These cases are:

- If required by the most urgent needs of society;
- To prevent the consequences of force majeure, accidental events, or other exceptional circumstances that adversely affect or may affect the normal operation of the company;
- Urgent work to complete within a specified time that was not previously anticipated.

During the weekly rest period, individuals under 18 years of age, pregnant women, and women in the postnatal period up to one year, or if breastfeeding, throughout the breastfeeding period but not longer than the child’s second birthday, may not be involved in work.

Employees are not employed on public holidays specified in the law "On Holidays, Remembrance Days, and Celebratory Days." If continuous operation is necessary, it is permissible to employ an employee on a public holiday, provided they are given rest on another weekday or compensated accordingly.

Therefore, if work is performed on a public holiday, regardless of whether the employee is employed full-time or part-time and regardless of the type of working time organization applicable to the employee, the parties have the right to choose a compensation mechanism for work on the public holiday—either paid rest on another weekday or a supplement according to Article 68 of the Labor Law (see Explanations—Wages—Supplements). Accordingly, a supplement for work on a public holiday is not paid if the employer provides the employee with a paid rest day on another weekday.

Breaks at work must be organized by the employer in accordance with Article 145 of the Labor Law. Every employee is entitled to a break if their daily working time exceeds six hours. Adolescents are entitled to a break if their working time exceeds four and a half hours.

The frequency and procedure for breaks at work must be determined by the employer in an internal regulatory act, observing the general provisions of the Labor Law and ensuring at least the minimum rest time.

The break must be proportionate to the resources expended by the employee during their working hours. The employer must organize work in a way that the organization of working and rest time ensures the employee's health and safety in the workplace, while the employee is obligated to adhere to the employer's established procedures, including the prescribed working hours and breaks.

The duration of the break is determined by the employer after consulting with employee representatives, but it must be at least 30 minutes.

Breaks must be granted no later than four hours from the start of work. Observing occupational safety and health principles, the collective labor agreement may specify a different procedure for granting breaks. If possible, adolescents should be given a break after completing half of their contracted daily working time.

If it is not possible to schedule a meal break due to the nature of the work, the employer must provide the employee with the opportunity to eat during work hours, while a rest break must still be granted.

If it is not possible to grant the entire rest break at once, it can be divided into parts, each of which must be at least 15 minutes long.

The general regulation states that break time is not counted as working time, and therefore, the employer is not required to pay for this time. The employment contract or collective labor agreement may stipulate otherwise.

The employee may use the break at their discretion and is entitled to leave their workplace. If the employment contract, collective labor agreement, or work rules impose a sufficiently justified restriction on leaving the workplace during the break and the employee cannot use this time at their discretion, such a break is counted as working time.

The employer provides additional breaks to employees who are exposed to specific risks. The duration of these breaks is determined by the employer after consulting with employee representatives, and these breaks are counted as working time.

An employee who has a child until the age of one and a half shall be entitled to additional breaks for feeding the child. The employee shall notify the employer in good time of the necessity of such interruptions. The term “employee” means both women and men, and breaks in the feeding of a child may also be used by both parents if they are employed by the same employer.

in accordance with the Labour Law, breaks in the feeding of a child not less than 30 minutes shall be granted at least every three hours in . in the , if an employee has two or more children under the age of one and a half years, a break of at least one hour shall be granted. . The duration of the interruption shall be determined by the employer after consultation with the employee representatives m.. When determining the procedures for granting a break, the wishes of the employee concerned shall be taken into account as far as possible.

Breaks in the feeding of the child may be added to the break at work or, if requested by the employee, transferred to the end of the working hours, with the duration of the working day reduced accordingly.

Interruptions to the feeding of a child shall be included in the working time, keeping the work remuneration for such time. Average earnings are paid for this time to employees with a fixed chord salary.