What does Andorran labor legislation provide for working time and remuneration of foreign workers in the areas of trade and catering?
Expert of Augé Grup’s Immigration Department Olga Donskikh answers:
In accordance with Law 35/2008 on Professional Relations of 18 December 2008 (“Llei 35/2008, del 18 de desembre, del Codi de relacions laborals”) contractors and employees have certain obligations. It should be noted that the Andorran legislation protects employed collaborators adequately. This is mainly due to the peculiarities of the Andorran economy, which is mainly oriented towards tourism and trade.
The working day / week: The actual working time of an employee is 40 hours per week. Adjustments to working hours (eg an increase in hours) for technical, organizational or operational reasons are communicated to the employees 15 days before. Executives and managers are not affected by this obligation, they must adapt their time to the needs of the company.
In the quarterly, half-yearly and annual calculation of hours, the following should be taken into account: for each of these periods, the weekly average shall not exceed 40 hours without overtime or 60 hours maximum including overtime, and never exceed 12 hours per day. Mandatory rest is of 12 hours per day minimum and at least one full day in the week. If the employee’s working day is longer than 6 hours, he is entitled to a 30-minute break. The annual working time shall not exceed 1800 hours.
The working time arrangements brought to the schedule are communicated to the interested employees 8 days before.
Salary remuneration: The salary consists of a fixed part and, in some cases, a variable part (incentives, commissions, bonuses, etc.). This remuneration requires the payment of the compulsory contributions to the Social Insurance Fund (22% of social contributions, 15.5% paid by the employer and 6.5% by the employee). At present, in 2017, the minimum wage for residents with a work permit is € 991.47/month.
The remuneration for night work, that is to say, between 22:00 and 06:00, is increased by 20 per cent, in the absence of a written agreement.
Overtime: Up to 2 hours per day, 15 hours per week, 50 hours per month and 426 hours per year can be accumulated. It is prohibited to work overtime for minors, pregnant and nursing mothers. The payment of overtime is regulated: a 25% surcharge for the first 4 hours, 50% for the following 4 hours and 75% beyond the 9th hour. Payment is made in cash or in hours of rest pursuant to the contract signed between the employer and the employee.
Work on public holidays: During traditional national and parish (municipal) holidays, the employee is entitled to one additional day off. Or if not, pay for the worked hours is double. For example, 6 worked hours on a public holiday entitle the employee to the payment of 6 additional/overtime hours (not 8 hours, in the case of a typical working day). If the holiday corresponds to the employee’s day of rest, the latter can not move it or claim for any compensation. Regarding compulsory holidays, the Andorran calendar provides for 4 mandatory rest days (1st January, 14th March, 8th September and 25th December) in all sectors of activity, except for medicine and tourism. If one of these days is worked, the employee then recovers 2 days of rest or receives a daily triple remuneration compared to the base salary.
Holidays: compulsory annual leave is 30 days of the calendar year or proportional to the number of worked hours. Vacations shall be taken during the calendar year or, in exceptional cases, during the first quarter of the following year. The employee can not refuse the holidays.
