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working hours
Hello dear expats. I wondered if you coudl share your thoughts on this: my contract calls for a 40hr week, more than the BE legal 38.5hours. Recently my company has had some difficulty so we have been asked to work for over 50hr - not for a day or two, but for many months and indefinitely, and there is no overtime paid on this. So my question is: can this be asked? Would you bow to the request? Is there anything one can do, as the extra hours are not paid and I have other commitments too? Thanks for your thoughts.
It's a question that would be best directed towards a union rep. The 40 hours a week may well be normal, and you may well have compensation days for the extra time worked (a lot of places do this).
Given the number of international institutions in Belgium, it would not be safe to assume you are on a standard Belgian contract of employment, nor would it be safe to assume that your employment status or role is subject to the Working Time directive.
If you are not in a Belgian contract, you should check the legislation of the country in which you have your contract.
In Belgium the legal weekly working hours depend on the labour agreement under which you are working at. Check from your contract/HR/pay slip the number of your 'commission paritaire'. Then contact your union (or one of the uniopns if you are not a member) and ask for more info.
As mentioned above for white collar workers it is very common that, whilst the contractual working hours are 38h per week, the actual working hours are 40h and as compensation you get one extra day of vacation per month.
Your company should have working regulations (reglement de travail) that define the rules on over time (maximum limits and compensation). If they do not have working regulations, the rules defined in labour agreement for your commission paritaire should be followed. It is very common practice that the overtime is compensated with time off not with extra pay.
If your company is in economic difficulties it may have made some temp. agreement with the unions on increasing the working hours. Chekc with your unions.
Unfortunately it is usually very difficult for the employee to proof that he has been asked to work overtime since the companies rarely actually ask this directly. If the employer explicitly asks for overtime he will also have to follow regulations on compensating it. If instead the employer burdens the employee with excessive amount of work, he can always claim that the overtime was done on employees initiative and the employer was not aware of and therefore not responsible of reimbursing it.
If you decide to refuse the excessive work, first make sure you have good proof record of the work load and over time hours, that you have filled in all your legal responsibilities and get advise and support form labor union.
Just following up on this question before I start my own. Does anyone know how to join the worker's unions? I have a Belgian contract but am not Belgian. Thanks!
