Iraq - Working time - 2011

1 June 2011

Act No. 71 of 1987 promulgating the Labour Code, as amended with the Law No. 17 of 2000 from the Revolutionary Council introducing the second amendment and up to the Coalition Provisional Authority Order No.89.

The term "hours of work" means the time during which the worker is at the disposal of the employer engaging him, but excluding the rest periods provided to permit the worker to eat his meals and to rest. The employer shall determine the times at which the working day shall begin and end.

Worker means any person who performs work in return for wages, in the service of an employer and under the employer’s authority and supervision.

Employer means any individual or legal entity who employs one or more workers in return for wages.

Night work is the wok performed in the interval between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Young worker is the worker who has at least 15 years old and who has not reached 18 years of age.

Hours of work shall be a maximum of 8 hours per day, subject to the exceptions provided for in this Act.

The number of hours of work per day shall be reduced for work which is arduous or harmful to health. Employers shall determine such types of work and the number of maximum working hours applicable to them in accordance with instructions drawn up by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs based upon proposals made by the National Center for Occupational Health and Safety.

The working hours may be extended in order to prevent an imminent accident or in other cases of force majeure and urgent work. The increase in the number of hours of work shall be in relation to the time necessary to address the particular situation involved.

An employer may extend the working hours in the following instances:
(a) to handle an exceptional increase in work at the time of festivals, seasonal work or for other reasons;
(b) to repair or maintain devices, tools and machines whose shut-down would entail immobilizing work or making a great number of staff inactive;
(c) to avoid the deterioration of substances or products;
(d) to establish annual inventory and accounts, prepare for sales or open for the season.

A young person who has not reached eighteen (18) years of age may not work for more than seven (7) hours per day.

The working hours may be extended in order to prevent an imminent accident or in other cases of force majeure and urgent work. The increase in the number of hours of work shall be in relation to the time necessary to address the particular situation involved.

An employer may extend the working hours in the following instances:
(a) to handle an exceptional increase in work at the time of festivals, seasonal work or for other reasons;
(b) to repair or maintain devices, tools and machines whose shut-down would entail immobilizing work or making a great number of staff inactive;
(c) to avoid the deterioration of substances or products;
(d) to establish annual inventory and accounts, prepare for sales or open for the season.

In performing preparatory or complementary work in industry, or in handling extraordinary work, no more than 4 hours per day shall be worked as overtime. In non-industrial activities, nor more than 4 hours per day shall be worked as overtime.

Wages shall be increased by 50% when overtime work is performed during the day.

Daily working hours shall include one or more rest periods, with a total duration of time between 30 minutes and 1 hour, to allow workers to eat their meals and to rest; these rest periods shall be arranged by the employer in such a way that no period of work lasts more than 5 hours at a time.

Daily hours of work shall include one or more rest periods totaling at least one (1) hour in order to allow the young person to rest; the rest periods shall be arranged so that no period of work lasts more than four (4) consecutive hours.

Women workers shall be entitled to a period of at least 11 consecutive hours of rest each day, and that period must include 7 hours falling between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Every worker has a right to at least one paid day of rest per week.

The employer shall schedule the weekly day of rest on the same day for all staff, or shall grant the weekly day of rest on a rotating basis, as long as each worker can take his day of weekly rest on a predetermined day.

An employer may, with the workers’ agreement, have workers perform work on the weekly day of rest as long as they receive either a supplement amounting to 100% of their wages or compensatory days off.

Work performed during rest period, on the weekly day of rest or outside normal working hours shall be deemed to be overtime work.

Working on a rest day has a compensation supplement of 100% of the normal wage.

When a worker works on his or her day of weekly rest, the worker shall receive a compensatory day of rest on another day of the week.

A worker shall have a right to 20 days’ leave for each year of work.
A worker employed in work which is arduous or harmful to health shall have a right to 30 days’ paid leave for each year of work.
A worker shall have a right to proportional leave in relation to any fraction of a year of work.
An employer may, in case of necessity and upon the worker’s request, grant unpaid leave.

The length of a worker’s annual leave shall be increased by 2 days after every additional 5 years of continuous service with the same employer.

The employer shall allow the worker to take the annual leave unless serious reasons related to the nature of the work or the circumstances in which it is performed require is to be deferred; the worker shall nonetheless take the minimum amount of leave and shall, in respect of the leave he has been unable to take, receive compensation in an amount equal to his total wages payable for such period.

At the time the leave is granted, a worker shall be paid the wages due for the period of annual leave.

A worker shall take his annual leave all at one time.
Annual leave may be divided up if the necessities of the work and the interest of the worker so require. In such a case, at least 6 continuous worker days of leave shall be taken at one time. The remaining days of leave shall be granted in accordance with agreed procedures and within no more than one year after the performance of the work.

Work rules shall determine the period of annual leave. If there are no such rules or if the existing rules do not seat leave schedule, the worker shall fix the date of his annual leave in agreement with the employer.

A worker shall not engage in any remunerative activity during his annual leave.
Any agreement under which a worker partially or totally waives his right to take annual leave in return for compensation or for any other reasons shall be null and void.

Young persons who have been admitted to work shall have the right to thirty (30) days paid annual leave per year.

A worker is entitled to leave at full pay on holidays fixed by law.

An employer may, with the workers’ agreement, have workers perform work on a holiday as long as they receive either a supplement amounting to 100% of their wages or compensatory days off.

Working on a public holiday has a compensation supplement of 100% of the normal wage.

Night work is the wok performed in the interval between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m.

The working hours shall not exceed 7 hours of night work per day, and 7 and 1/2 hours of mixed schedule work.

For work which is performed during the day and during the night on an alternating basis, a worker shall not perform night work for more than one month at a time.

Wages shall be doubled when overtime work is performed at night.

Mixed schedule work, performed in a period which spans the hours of both day and night work; in this case no more than 3 hours may be performed as night work.

It shall be prohibited to make women work at night, unless the performance of night work is required by the necessity of preventing loss or raw materials or perishable products.
The prohibition does not apply to:
(a) women workers engaged in administrative work;
(b) women workers employed in health or recreational services; or
(c) women workers employed in transport or communication services.

For work performed in two shifts and intermittent work, the limit of hours that a worker may perform per day is also 8 hours.

For work performed in two shifts and intermittent work, the worker shall not be required to be present at the workplace for more than 12 hours in total.

In industrial activities which are performed in shifts, no more than one hour per day shall be worked as overtime.

In establishments where work must be performed without interruption owing to technical reasons or the very nature of the production or services offered, workers shall have a right to one or more rest periods totalling at least twenty minutes.

In activities which are performed in two shifts, the rest period separating the two shifts shall last from 1 to 4 hours.