Working Hours Bank

Working hours bank means a system for reconciling working time and time off by which working time, earned time off or monetary benefits converted into time off may be saved and combined. The reason behind the system is to promote productivity and competitiveness of companies and their personnel. There are provisions about working hours bank in the Working Hours Act and collective agreements. Regardless of the provisions in the collective agreement, working hours bank can be used based on the Working Hours Act.

Working hours bank requires a written agreement between the employer and the shop steward, elected or another representative of the employees. The agreement can be made with the whole personnel or a specific group of people. A single deposit’s transfer into the bank requires an approval from both the employer and employee.

Working hours bank agreement should include the following:

• Who are the employees included in the arrangement

• What can be deposited in the bank (for instance additional and overtime work, flexible working hours’ balance, allowances, Sunday work increase, holiday bonus and so on)

• The maximum hours to be deposited (for instance a maximum of 180 hours per year)

• Expiration of the working hours bank and compensation of the bank’s accrual at the moment of expiration

• Principals and procedures of accrued leaves

An employee has the right to deposit at least 2 weeks of working hours per year into the bank. If the deposited time is more than 10 weeks, the employee has the right to take out at least 1/5 of the accrual as time off.