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The Executive proposes to reduce the duration of working hours by the draft law on Making Amendments and Addendum to the Labor Code of the Republic of Armenia, making it from 8 to 7 hours per day, from 40 to 35 per week, while maintaining the salary. For this purpose, the NA Standing Committee on Labor and Social Affairs organized a work discussion on March 3.

The discussion was attended by the NA deputies, the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Narek Mkrtchyan, the Deputy Minister Ruben Sargsyan, representatives from the Republican Union of Employers of Armenia, the ACSES Analytical Center, and the Confederation of Trade Unions of Armenia.

The Committee Chair Heriknaz Tigranyan informed that although the draft has not yet been officially sent to the National Assembly, the Committee considered it necessary to address the draft at this stage of discussions in order to hear the views of both deputies and social partners.

According to the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Narek Mkrtchyan, the draft was posted on www.e-draft.am, received both positive and negative opinions. “We will discuss an institution that is more than 160 years old. Now, in the 21st century, it is time to address the possibility of reducing working hours,” the Minister said in particular. It is expected that the amendment will contribute to the effective distribution of time and resources between work and personal life, that is, it will create an opportunity to increase leisure time, spend more time with family, reduce stress, tension and overwork.

Employees will have more time to fully solve personal problems, self-development, and will have the opportunity to be equally involved in all spheres of life. It is expected that the amendment will contribute to increasing work efficiency, lead to increased productivity, and contribute to the creation of new jobs in both the public and private sectors.

The Deputy Minister Ruben Sargsyan also stated that international studies have been conducted, in particular, the experience in France, Iceland, Belgium and a number of other countries. Before the development of the draft, 5 models were studied. According to him, the idea of ​​​​ this draft will benefit not only the employee, as it seems at first glance, but also the employer, since it will promote the growth of productivity, motivate employers to apply new management models.

The President of the Republican Union of Employers of Armenia Vahagn Hambardzumyan and the Director of the ACSES Analytical Center Haykaz Fanyan did not agree with these expectations, who did not consider the above-mentioned claims to be substantiated, presenting some research data and proposals.

The President of the Confederation of Trade Unions of Armenia Elen Manaseryan had the opposite viewpoint. Welcoming the Government's initiative, she noted that this is one of the initiatives of recent years that has been positively assessed from the viewpoint of the employees.

The Chair of the NA Standing Committee on Health Care Arsen Torosyan proposed in his turn to apply the amendment in the state system, which was not considered advisable by the Director of the ACSES Analytical Center Haykaz Fanyan.

The initiative was positively assessed by the member of the NA Standing Committee on Protection of Human Rights and Public Affairs Marina Ghazaryan, who presented a number of situations related to human rights violations in the workplace. According to the MP, reducing working hours can also have a positive impact on solving demographic problems. In this context, the positive experience of Lithuania was presented.

Many of those who spoke had the same opinion on one issue: Violations of human labor rights in the workplace are frequent. In this context, it was noted that last year alone, 655 complaints were received, most of which related to non-payment of the final paycheck.

Summing up the discussion, the Chair of the NA Standing Committee on Labor and Social Affairs Heriknaz Tigranyan assessed the discussion as effective, where a number of proposals were made. The Committee Chair noted that they would be discussed later.