The working day in Chile will be 40 hours per week: is it feasible to apply it in Peru?

Last Tuesday, April 11, the Chilean Congress approved reducing the working day from 45 to 40 hours a week, which means that you can work four days and rest. In addition, there is a limit of five overtime hours per week, and no longer up to 12, as the norm currently allows. The next step for these changes to proceed is for President Gabriel Boric to enact this law. It would take place on May 1, precisely, in the International Workers’ Day.

Once the law is official, the implementation of these changes to the working day will be applied gradually over a period of five years. In this way, during the first year, 44 hours a week would be worked, in three years it would drop to 42 hours and in the fifth year of validity it will go to 40 hours.

Faced with this scenario, the question arises as to whether this measure would be viable to apply in the Peruwhere the maximum working day is eight hours a day or a maximum of 48 hours a week, according to current legislation.

Fernando Cuadros Luque, former Vice Minister of Employment Promotion, points out that it is time to begin discussing this type of initiative in the country. In his opinion, the eight hours a day should be maintained, but the weekly shift should be reduced to 40, which would allow a person to work only five days maximum. However, the also economist indicates that any change that is proposed in labor material should first have a feasibility study.

“What could be done in Peru is that the eight-hour day or 40-week day should predominate, it should be the standard for people to work five days a week and any extra work that is required on a sixth or seventh day is with the hiring of additional workers. Everything would have to be analyzed based on the reality of the national labor market and also seeing if there is enough productivity to assume this reduction in hours by the companies,” says the specialist.

For his part, Brian Ávalos, a partner in the Labor Area of ​​Payet, Rey, Cauvi, Pérez, Abogados, maintains that, although this reduction in working hours is in line with the recommendation of the International Labor Organization (ILO), this decision should be based on Work market of each country, since this measure only reaches formal workers, which, if it is replicated in our country, the beneficiaries would be few.

“Chile has an informality of approximately 30% and Peru already exceeds 80% informality. That is, the reduced working day in Chili It will be applied to 70% of workers, while in our country the 48-hour weekday only applies to 20%, all the informal workers do not have attendance control and work much more,” the labor lawyer details.

Ávalos states that the main thing for the Legislative and Executive is to promote policies that increase the labor formalization so that, in an eventual discussion of this measure, the impact is for a larger group of workers and not just a few.

“Can the same thing happen in Chile as in Chile? Yes, there may be a rule that is promulgated that reduces the 48 hours to something less, but the issue is that this reduction would only apply to 20% of formal workers because informal workers do not even one of the least inspected subjects by the sunafil It is the issue of the working day, that is, they do not check you on the issue of whether you have an attendance control and they do not check you on the issue of overtime,” he notes.

Regular overtime

Finally, Cuadros Luque also proposes that the extra hours work, since it has been a practice widely used by employers, when ideally it should only be applied in extraordinary situations.

“Overtime hours must be regulated, since they should only be extraordinary and should not occur every day, and in Peru they have been assumed in many cases as part of the working day, which ends up being 12 hours a day,” he comments. the former Vice Minister of Employment Promotion.