Shift workers have different work arrangements than day workers. Therefore, there are numerous provisions in the collective wage agreements that only refer to shift workers.
According to collective wage agreement of the state and the municipals shift workers do not have any specially defined time to take coffee and meal breaks. In general, there is a provision on that in article 2.6.9 in the collective agreements. The provisions are similar in the agreements to this of Samflot and the Icelandic Association of Local Authorities:
2.6.9. Shift workers don’t have special coffee-or meal breaks. Regardless, the employees are allowed to take breaks to eat and drink during the shift when possible.
A special shift incentive is paid as proportion of the monthly wages. It is calculated based on the types of shifts worked and the number of shifts during the month. Shifts are divided into four categories; days, evenings, nights and weekends. An employee must work at least two types of shifts and work for at least 15 hours in each category to be elegable for the special shift incentive. The minimum hours outside the daytime working hours to reach the shift incentive are 42 hours. The employee must also turn up for work at least 14 times. The shift incentive can be between of 2,5%-12.5% of the employee’s monthly wages.
The value of the obliged working hours is addressed in article 2.6.8 in the collective wage agreements.
The obliged working hours have different values outside the daytime according to shift schedules. The working hours that have 33.33% and 55% shift premium have the value of 1.05 which means that every 60 min equals 63 min towards the work obligation. Hours that are paid for with 65% and 75% shift premium have a value of 1,2 so every 60 min equals 72 min.
The working hours can though never go below 32 hours per week.
A shift premium is paid for work outside the daytime limit:
A fraction of an hour is paid proportionally.
The yearly workload of shift workers that work regular shifts shall as a rule be the same as with daytime workers.
Shift workers may need to work on public holidays and major public holidays when those days land on their work schedule. If they do they get paid special festive premium. Whether the shift worker is on duty those days or not their workload will be reduced by 7,2 hours (proportionally less for those that are not full-time employees) because of those major and public holidays that fall on weekdays and by 3.6 hours because of Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.
Normally those extra hours should be used within the shift schedule, but an employee can ask to save up those hours for later use. If they choose to dp so the employee should inform the management about this before the next shift schedule is introduced and planned. The manager should do everything in their power to respect the employee’s wishes.