This year, Tiit Riisalo, Minister of Economic Affairs and Information Technology, Jaan Hendrik Toomel, Chairman of the Estonian Trade Union Confederation and Arto Aas, Head of the Estonian Employers’ Confederation, signed a goodwill agreement which set the growth rate of the minimum wage until 2027, the year in which it will reach 50% of the Estonian average wage. According to the goodwill agreement, increases to the minimum wage will be implemented in stages, reaching 50% of the Estonian average by 2027. The exact amount of the minimum wage in 2024 was confirmed on by these social partners in the autumn of this year. According to the agreement, the minimum wage will increase by 95 euros, reaching a total of 820 euros (the minimum wage in 2023 is 725 euros). As a result of the agreement, the minimum wage will, in 2024, make up 42% of the Estonian average as estimated by Eesti Pank.
In spring the European Court of Justice made a judgment that will change the current implementation of working and rest time requirements in Estonia and may affect companies whose employees work based on a schedule. According to the judgment, daily rest time is not part of weekly rest time and must precede it. This means that at least once every seven days, an employee must be provided back to back both the daily (11 hours) and the weekly (36 hours under cumulative working hours and 48 hours under standard working hours) rest time: 11 hours + 36 or 48 hours = a total of 47 or 59 hours. Until now, the working and rest time requirements have been considered met if employees had 36 or 48 consecutive hours of weekly rest time in a seven-day period without the daily rest time of 11 hours preceding it. The Labour Inspectorate finds that the purpose of the amendment is the protection of the employees’ health. Providing employees with sufficient time off work and adhering to working and rest time limitations is essential to prevent and reduce overworking, occupational diseases and occupational accidents, and thus prevent employees from being absent from work for health reasons. From 1 January 2024, the Labour Inspectorate will exercise supervision of working and rest time requirements on the basis of these new amendments.
As of 15 December 2021, an employer operating in the retail trade sector has the opportunity to enter into a variable hours agreement with its employees. This means that employees working in the retail sector may, in addition to their normal working time in part-time employment, carry out additional work of up to eight hours per seven-day period on the basis of a written variable hours agreement. This is a fixed-term amendment to the law, and such, the corresponding agreements can be entered into until 14 June 2024. As of 15 June, the provision will become invalid. The initial results showed that there is interest in the variable hour agreements, but employers found it difficult use the variable hours agreement on a large scale due to the bureaucratic nature of its implementation. Since the employers who have used the variable hours agreement would like to continue to do so after 15 June, but under more lenient conditions, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications is asking the parties of the labour market to express their opinion on how the current variable hours agreement should be changed or how to ensure sufficient work time flexibility in other ways. This change to the regulation of working and rest time of the Employment Contracts Act should enable more flexibility in working while taking into consideration the interests of both parties in the employment relationship.
In the summer of 2023, Riigikogu adopted an amendment to the Family Act which gives same-sex couples the legal right to marry. The Employment Contracts Act will thus also be amended from 1 January to accommodate this change. The purpose of these amendments is to ensure equal treatment of the spouse or registered cohabitant of the parent raising a child, and to enable the equal treatment of parents in all employment relationships. Parental leave, paternity leave and maternity leave are intended for the parent to ensure their ability to provide childcare. These amendments will apply to parents both in same and different sex relationships. For example, in a same-sex marriage parents have the right for paternity leave, except for women, who are entitled to maternity leave. Thus, paternity leave can be used by the child’s other parent, regardless of their gender. In addition, the regulation will be specified with an explanation about who has the right to request annual leave at a suitable time. Henceforth, any parent has the right to request annual leave following paternity leave, and during a woman’s maternity leave.
The Employment Contracts Act does not regulate the concept of a trial day, but offers the Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund’s opportunity for a work trial together with the employment placement service. A work trial will give the person seeking employment the opportunity to become familiar with their new potential place of employment. Before concluding an employment contract, the work trial will give the employer confirmation about the suitability of the candidate. The precondition for organising such a work trial is that the employer is looking for an employee for the vacancy through the Unemployment Insurance Fund. The work trial service ends in 2023. As of 2024, it will no longer be possible to participate in the work trial service.
Vladimir Logatšev.
