The parliamentarians said that the mandatory number of daily working hours should not be calculated, with the duration of a working day stipulated in a collective contract or by separate agreement.
The Seimas supported the idea of having a 40-hour working week as a standard, while a working week with overtime should include 48 hours. Under the draft, employees should not have more than eight hours of overtime per week, unless they have consented to working up to 12 extra hours per week.
The decision is not yet final – after discussing the entire Labor Code, the parliament will vote on the entire bill before proceeding to the phase of adoption.
The government says that the new, more liberal Labor Code is necessary in order to attract more investment and create new jobs.
Trade unions say, however, that it will lead to a reduction of social guarantees for employees, primarily due to shorter periods of notice of termination of employment and smaller severance payments.
