Filenews 6 November 2022 - by Adamos Adamou
It may be that, pending a relevant European Directive, the Government has put aside the bill on teleworking, however, remote work is expected to be imposed by another law. Specifically, the legislation that is already before the Parliament on paid parental leave enshrines, among other things, employees, not in their entirety, but those who have children up to 8 years old, the right to telework, among other flexible forms of employment.
This bill, which is expected to be voted on - at least as the parliamentary Working Committee has pledged - before the end of the year and before the closure of the Parliament's work in view of the Presidential Elections, aims, as we know, to adopt a European Directive on work-life balance for parents and carers. Article 19 of the legislation prepared to transpose the Directive into national law - a directive that had to be adopted last August - refers precisely to the right of every worker or carer to request flexible working arrangements for caring purposes. Under the legislation promoted, a carer "means a worker who provides personal care or support to a relative or a person who resides in the same household as the employee and who is in need of significant care or support for a serious medical reason" and an employee "means a person employed for another person either under a contract or employment or apprenticeship or under such circumstances from which the existence of an employer-employee relationship may be inferred."
Teleworking and more
Flexible employment arrangements, under the legislation, means "the possibility for workers to adapt their working patterns, including through the use of teleworking arrangements, flexible working hours or the application of reduced working hours". As mentioned, Article 19 of the Leave (Paternity, Parental, Caring, Force Majeure) and Flexible Working Arrangements for Work-Life Balance Law of 2022, which is proposed for voting, specifically provides that "every employee, who is a parent of a child up to the age of 8 or a carer, has the right to request flexible working arrangements for caring purposes, provided that he/she has completed six (6) months' continuous employment with the same employer".
However, the right of the employee to request flexible working arrangements can be rejected by the employer under the law, with the latter having the obligation to justify his decision. Specifically, as stated in what is promoted, the employer examines and processes the request for flexible arrangements and informs the employee in writing of his decision within one (1) month from the submission of the request. It is clarified that, when examining a request for flexible working arrangements, the employer takes into account the needs of both himself and the employees and may approve the request and agree with the employee the period of application of the arrangements, postpone the request, or reject it. It is understood, however, that before postponing or rejecting the request, the employer must take into account the employee's representations and inform him in writing of his decision, justifying the reasons for the postponement or rejection.
The bill also clarifies that, at the end of the agreed period of application of the flexible working arrangements referred to in Article 19, and provided that they are of limited duration, the employee has the right to return to the original form of employment. Furthermore, the employee has the right to request his return to the original form of employment before the end of the agreed period, if this is justified by a change in circumstances. In such a case, the employer shall consider and process the request for an early return to the original form of employment taking into account the needs of both himself and the employee. The bill also provides for a ban on terminating the employment of employees if they exercise any of the rights included in the new law, which include the right to apply for flexible forms of employment, but include and record specific cases where the release of staff does not constitute an offense. Under the law, any employee who considers that he/she is affected by a violation of the Law has the right to apply to Inspectors of the Inspection Service of the Ministry of Labor.
And parenting flexibly
The same bill provides that parental leave itself can be taken in flexible ways, such as teleworking, flexible working hours or the implementation of reduced working hours. Specifically, it states that every employee has the right to take parental leave in flexible ways, to be agreed between the two parties, with the clarification that the right to take parental leave in flexible ways is limited to the possibility of taking it in a weekly arrangement, and not daily or hourly. "It is further provided that the employee's right to receive parental leave allowance, in accordance with the provisions of Article 10, is not affected by the manner in which parental leave is taken," the bill states. More generally, for parental leave, the bill as we wrote again provides that parents with children up to 8 years old will be entitled to parental leave of 18 weeks, of which eight weeks will be paid. Parental leave could be taken in instalments with a minimum duration of one week and a maximum of five weeks per calendar year.
Dislike of the Minister's decision
The references to the bill on parental leave, flexibility and teleworking, come to reinforce the need for legislative regulation of remote work but also the voices that have recently been for the decision of the Ministry of Labor not to submit the bill prepared on the issue in anticipation of the social dialogue that began at European level on the issue that will lead, except for the unexpected, in the new year, at best, in the preparation of an EU directive on the issue.
On the issue just last week, the Pancyprian Conference of SEK expressed its dissatisfaction with the fact that "the Minister of Labour refuses to submit to parliament a bill prepared by the ministry for the legislative regulation of teleworking", stating that "the bill is a product of the social dialogue that preceded it in the Labour Advisory Body has successfully received an evaluation of the relevant legislative control by the General Prosecutor's Office and must be submitted as it stands in the House for a vote. The pretext of the ongoing debate at European level cannot be an alibi."
