The reduction of the working day to 37.5 hours from 2025 that is being negotiated on the one hand bilaterally by employers and unions and, on the other, in a tripartite format, by the social agents together with the Ministry of Labor includes a whole series of possible changes that would affect the regulation of working time in Spain.
Among these issues, the regulations on overtime – with which productive needs would be compensated when the maximum legal working day is 37.5 hours – will be a key issue.
In addition, the UGT union proposed this Thursday that overtime work be also incorporated as one of the new parameters that social agents are negotiating with Social Security to be able to advance retirement, without penalty, due to worker wear and tear.
The Spanish regulations on overtime basically consist of the following aspects: its voluntary nature, unless it is mandatory by law or agreement;
the maximum number of overtime hours that each worker is allowed to perform per year, which is 80;
how much they should be paid, at least equal to the ordinary hour;
and the obligation of the company to have a daily time record to determine the number of this type of hours that each employee works.
Some of these issues, above all, their limit and cost could be modified during the negotiations on the reduction of working hours precisely to pave an agreement on this matter.
The other issue that could contribute to an agreement between unions and employers to reduce the maximum legal working time would be for this reduction to be applied more progressively than currently planned – starting in 2025 – according to negotiation sources.
In terms of calendar, the general secretary of UGT, Pepe Álvarez, has set summer as the deadline to agree with employers on how to move up to 37.5 hours of maximum workday.
After that date they will demand that the Government legislate, also coinciding with the plans expressed by the leader of CC OO, Unai Sordo, a few days ago.
In any case, in the dialogue tables that address both the reduction of working hours and the new parameters to be able to advance retirement, they undoubtedly look to Europe in search of examples of how to regulate overtime, which can be found in an exhaustive study prepared by UGT in collaboration with the Faculty of Law of the Autonomous University of Madrid presented this Thursday.
The document reflects how Spain has the most restrictive regulations in all of Europe, with its insurmountable limit of 80 overtime hours per year per worker.
While at the other extreme are countries that do not put any limits on the realization of these hours at all, such as Denmark, the United Kingdom and Estonia.
On this more lax side are also Hungary and Slovakia with a maximum of 400 hours per year, agreed in a collective agreement (this would be equivalent to doing ten or more weeks of full work).
In other countries, such as France, the regulatory level is intermediate and there is a limit of 220 hours per year, but beyond this limit you can consult to increase it with the workers' representatives;
and something similar happens in Italy, with a maximum limit of 250 hours per year that can be extended by collective agreement.
In Portugal, the limits of extras that can be done vary depending on the size of the company: 175 hours per year in micro and small companies;
and 150 for medium and large companies (in both cases they can be extended to 200 overtime hours per year by collective agreement).
Pay more
Although the unions will demand that if this limit of 80 annual overtime hours is increased, they will also be paid more than what the law currently establishes — which is that they be paid at least as one ordinary hour.
Also regarding the payment of this type of hours, “Spain is a European anomaly,” Pepe Álvarez insisted this Thursday during the presentation of this European comparison.”
In fact, to begin with, in the absence of an individual agreement or pact that says otherwise, overtime is compensated by rest in the four months following its performance.
And if the company chooses to pay them, they cannot be compensated less than normal hours, but the Supreme Court has determined what an ordinary hour is, excluding extra-salary supplements, "so workers in Spain may end up receiving amounts less than those who charge for their ordinary day,” complains UGT.
According to this study, the most common wage premium paid in Europe for overtime is 50% more than an ordinary hour.
This happens in Austria;
and in Belgium, which increases to 100% on Sundays and holidays, as in Cyprus, as in Denmark;
Estonia;
Finland pays 50% for the first two overtime hours and 100% from the third;
Hungary;
Latvia;
Lithuania;
Malt;
or Poland.
Although other States do not pay overtime or the amount is negotiated in agreements, as is the case in Germany;
Sweden;
Romania;
Netherlands or Ireland among others.
In Spain, apart from the negotiations for the reduction of working hours, the UGT union already presented a claim in January to the Social Rights Committee of the European Union for overtime to be paid 25% more than ordinary hours.
And now they have also demanded from the Government that its implementation be taken into account when workers can advance their retirement age without penalizing the amount of their pension, something on which those responsible for Social Security have not expressed themselves.
Having said all this, Álvarez has concluded that although in Spain the days agreed in collective agreements reduce the average working day (not the effective one) to 38.4 hours, placing it within the average of the European Union - and meeting the objective of the Government to cut the maximum legal working day to 38.5 hours already in 2024—“it is necessary that the reduction of the maximum working day to 37.5 hours be put into law,” because this reduction in the average working time is the result of a larger cut in large companies and sectors where there is a strong union presence and 40-hour days in SMEs and less unionized sectors.
Specifically, he has assured that 50.21% of workers have a maximum working day of between 38.5 and 39.5 hours per week;
29.82%, between 37.5 and 38.8 and only 12% less than 37.5.
Thus, the study also points out that the average working day in Spain is well above countries such as Germany and France, with 35.6 hours on average, but below Eastern European countries and Greece, which have 40 hours on average.
All this shows, according to the number two of UGT, Fernando Luján, that "the most productive countries have shorter days and higher salaries", which is what Spain should aspire to, he concluded.
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