Fewer hours or working away from the office: how to write the agreement
It has become common in Baghdad and elsewhere for a company to hire a translator who works from home, an accountant who comes in three days a week, or a support agent who covers the evening hours. Each time, the employer asks the Law Office of Ali Barakat in al-Yarmouk: is this person an “employee” in the full sense? And what do we put in the contract? The answer differs between two things. Working fewer hours is regulated by an express provision. Working from somewhere other than the company’s premises is left by the Law to agreement. We deal with each through what we actually write into the contract.
First: fewer hours, and what the text fixes
When is work part-time? When its hours fall below the ordinary daily hours set by the Law, whether it is done every day or on certain days of the week, with the hours counted weekly or as an average over a given period (art. 1). Ordinary hours are, in principle, no more than eight a day or forty-eight a week, with exceptions listed in article 67.
What are the limits of the contract? Part-time hours may not go below twelve a week or above twenty-four (art. 39, second paragraph). If the company needs the person for thirty hours a week, that is no longer a part-time contract in the sense of article 39, and it should be written on that footing.
What rights does the part-timer have? All the rights and duties of a worker under the Law, without reduction (art. 39, third paragraph). The only difference is that money entitlements and days of annual leave are worked out by the ratio between the hours worked and the pay (art. 39, fourth paragraph). An accountant who works half the week has annual leave, but in proportion to her time.
A note on the cross-reference in the text: the first paragraph of article 39 refers, for the contract’s conditions, to “article 30”. Article 30 in the published text concerns foreign workers’ permits, while the particulars of an employment contract sit in article 37. We therefore draft a part-time contract to the particulars in article 37, and keep the reference as published when quoting the provision.
Second: working from home or on a flexible schedule
The Labour Law has no chapter headed remote work or home working. The Law’s silence does not mean it is forbidden, and it does not mean a remote worker loses protection. The test that governs the relationship stays the same: does the person work under the employer’s direction, supervision and management for pay? (art. 1). A support agent who logs into the company’s system from home during hours the company sets, and takes tasks from a manager, is a worker like any other.
What we put in the contract in practice
The mandatory particulars in article 37 are the natural place to arrange these details, and we use them like this:
- Nature and type of work, its duration and start date: we state expressly that all or part of the work is done from a place the worker chooses or from home, and whether attendance at meetings on the premises is required.
- Working hours and how they are divided: in a part-time contract we write the weekly hours within the legal band and the days they fall on. In flexible work we fix core contact hours, so it is clear when the worker can be called to account for being unavailable.
- Pay, and how, when and where it is paid: in part-time work we set out how pay is calculated in proportion to hours.
- Equipment and running costs: who supplies the computer and the connection, and what is handed back when the contract ends. This is not one of the article 37 particulars, but it heads off many disputes.
A written contract is made in three copies: one for each party, and the third lodged with the Employment and Loans Department (art. 37, first paragraph). It may start with a probation period of up to three months for someone who has no professional certificate proving his skill, and probation may not be repeated with the same employer (art. 37, second paragraph).
What does not change when the place or hours change
Working from home does not lift the employer’s other duties: a work permit if the worker is foreign; social security contributions where Workers’ Pension and Social Security Law No. 18 of 2023 applies; paid weekly rest of not less than a full day; and official holidays on pay (arts. 70 and 74). Holiday rules are on the page on official holidays in the private sector. If the question is about the length of the contract itself, see the page on fixed-term and open-ended contracts. The worker-status test in detail is on the page on who counts as a worker.
Legal basis and sources
Frequently asked questions
How many hours a week may a part-time contract cover?
Between twelve and twenty-four hours a week, under article 39, second paragraph.
Does a part-time worker get annual leave?
Yes. He has every right a worker has, and his annual leave and money entitlements are worked out by the ratio of his hours to his pay.
We want an employee to work from home two days a week. Do we need special permission?
The Law does not call for permission for that. It is enough to write the arrangement into the contract under the nature of the work and its hours, with every other obligation remaining in place.
Can a part-time worker be paid only for hours actually logged?
Pay is set in the contract, and for part-time work it follows the ratio of hours to pay under article 39. What the contract cannot do is cut away rights the Law gives every worker, such as paid weekly rest and official holidays.
Related topics and articles
- 01When is the person working for you a “worker” in law?A three-question working test for worker status under Iraq’s Labour Law, and how a worker differs from an independent contractor or a public servant.
- 02Fixed-term and open-ended employment contractsFixed-term and open-ended contracts under articles 37–42 of Labour Law 37/2015: the one-year limit, renewal more than once, and equal rights.
- 03Building the year's calendar in a private workplace: paid rest, feast days, and work on a holidayHow a private employer in Iraq builds the year's calendar: the weekly rest day, general, special and temporary holidays under Law No. 12 of 2024, and the rate payable if someone works on a holiday.
- 04End-of-service entitlements under Labour Law No. 37 of 2015The end-of-service gratuity under Labour Law 37/2015: the two-week formula, the statutory exceptions, and how it differs from benefits under Law 18/2023.
- 05Which labour and social-security rules apply in the governorates and in the Kurdistan Region?The reach of Labour Law 37/2015 and Law 18/2023 in the governorates not organised in a region, and how work is organised in the Kurdistan Region.