Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2005, published 95th ILC session (2006)

Hours of Work (Industry) Convention, 1919 (No. 1) - Lithuania (Ratification: 1931)

The Committee notes the Government’s last report and the information supplied in reply to its previous comments.

Article 1, paragraph 1, of the Convention. The Committee notes that under section 148 of the Labour Code of 2002, some unspecified sectors of economic activity may, taking into consideration the seasonal nature of work and other conditions, be exempt from the provisions regulating the hours of work. The Committee requests therefore the Government to indicate whether any industrial enterprises within the meaning of Article 1, paragraph 1, of the Convention have so far been exempted from the provisions of the Labour Code on working time and also to indicate the working time regulations applicable to the workers concerned.

Article 2. The Committee notes that under section 144(5) of the Labour Code, the working day of persons employed in one undertaking but under two or more employment contracts may not be longer than 12 hours (including breaks to rest and eat). The Committee considers that such an arrangement may only undermine the purpose of setting a daily limit on working time and is therefore inconsistent with the basic requirement of this Article of the Convention. The Committee requests the Government to indicate the measures taken or contemplated to bring its legislation into full conformity with the Convention in this respect.

In addition, the Committee notes that with reference to on-call or stand-by assignment, section 155(2) of the Labour Code provides that the entire duration of being "on duty" at the enterprise and at least half of the time spent "on duty" at home must be counted as working time. The Committee recalls in this respect that, if being on duty requires the worker to be at the disposal of the employer and the worker is restricted from engaging in personal activities during that time, the time spent on duty must be considered as hours of work and should be remunerated accordingly regardless of the location in which the on-call assignment is carried out. The Committee draws attention to paragraph 51 of the 2005 General Survey on hours of work on this topic. The Committee would appreciate receiving additional explanations of the scope of on-call or stand-by as referred to in section 155(2) of the Labour Code.

Article 4. The Committee notes that section 5 of Government Resolution No. 248 of 20 February 1996 allows averaging of working time over a period of up to one year. The Committee reminds the Government that respect for daily and weekly limits on hours of work is an essential guarantee to safeguard workers’ health and welfare, and therefore the reference period for the purpose of averaging working time should not be unreasonably long.

Articles 2 and 5. The Committee notes that section 10 of Government Resolution No. 248 of 1996 sets limits not on the hours of work but on driving time for those working in road transportation. However, section 8 of the Resolution defines working time as including driving time as well as time spent on other non-driving tasks. Therefore, the actual working time remains unregulated by the Resolution. Recalling that working time is time during which the employee is at the disposal of the employer, the Committee requests the Government to take appropriate action to bring its legislation into conformity with the maximum working time limits prescribed by these Articles of the Convention.

As regards rail transportation, the Committee notes that section 16 of Government Resolution No. 248 allows employees who service train passengers to work up to 18 hours per 24-hour period and up to 60 hours per week. Section 16 further provides that the period of rest per 24-hour period must account for at least 50 per cent of their working time. The Committee requests the Government to specify how working time is calculated for workers in rail transportation and to indicate the actual hours of work these workers are allowed to perform per day or week. While recalling that the Convention only allows work up to 48 hours per week on average, the Committee asks the Government to clarify how could the above provisions be construed as being in line with the requirements of the Convention.

Article 6, paragraph 1(b). The Committee notes section 151 of the Labour Code which permits overtime, among other cases, in the case of: (i) work performed in the place of another shift worker who failed to arrive at the workstation, if the working process may be impeded because of this absence; and (ii) work related to loading and unloading and other related transportation work, when it is necessary to vacate warehouses of transportation enterprises and in order to avoid the accumulation of freight in dispatch and designation points and idle vehicle time. The Committee considers, however, that the above circumstances go beyond the wording of the Convention which only authorizes temporary exceptions in exceptional cases of pressure of work. It therefore requests the Government to consider appropriate modifications in order to bring the relevant provisions of the Labour Code into closer conformity with the temporary exception possibilities set out in this Article of the Convention.

Article 7. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would supply in its next report detailed information on: (i) the enterprises which are deemed to be necessarily continuous in character; (ii) the working of any agreements falling within the meaning of Article 5 of the Convention; and (iii) the regulations on permanent and temporary exceptions, as required under this Article of the Convention.