E/C.12/GC/23 D. Article 7 (d): rest, leisure, reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay, as well as remuneration for public holidays 34. Rest and leisure, limitation of working hours and paid periodic holidays help workers to maintain an appropriate balance between professional, family and personal responsibilities and to avoid work-related stress, accidents and disease. They also promote the realization of other Covenant rights; therefore, although States parties have flexibility in the light of the national context, they are required to set minimum standards that must be respected and cannot be denied or reduced on the basis of economic or productivity arguments. States parties should introduce, maintain and enforce laws, polices and regulations covering several factors, as outlined below. 1. Limits on daily hours of work 35. Working days spent in all activities, including unpaid work, should be limited to a specified number of hours. While the general daily limit (without overtime) should be eight hours,28 the rule should take into account the complexities of the workplace and allow for flexibility, responding, for example, to different types of work arrangements such as shift work, consecutive work shifts, work during emergencies and flexible working arrangements. Exceptions should be strictly limited and subject to consultation with workers and their representative organizations. Where legislation permits longer working days, employers should compensate for longer days with shorter working days so that the average number of working hours over a period of weeks does not exceed the general principle of eight hours per day.29 Requirements for workers to be on-call or on standby need to be taken into account in the calculation of hours of work. 36. Legislation should establish the maximum number of daily hours of work, which could vary in the light of the exigencies of different employment activities but should not go beyond what is considered a reasonable maximum work day. Measures aimed at assisting workers to reconcile work with family responsibilities should not reinforce stereotyped assumptions that men are the main breadwinners and that women should bear the main responsibility for the household. If substantive equality is to be achieved, both male and female workers with family responsibilities should benefit from the measures on an equal footing.30 2. Limits on weekly hours of work 37. The number of hours of work per week should also be limited through legislation. The same criteria as indicated for daily limits on working hours apply. The limitation should apply across all sectors and for all types of work, including unpaid work. Reduced working weeks may apply, for instance, in relation to arduous activities. The Committee is aware that many States parties have opted for a 40-hour week and recommends that States parties that have not yet done so take steps progressively to achieve this target.31 Legislation 28 29 30 31 See ILO Hours of Work (Industry) Convention, 1919 (No. 1), art. 2, and Hours of Work (Commerce and Offices) Convention, 1930 (No. 30), art. 3. While very wide in scope, they do not cover all areas of economic activity, such as agricultural and domestic workers, that later ILO conventions and recommendations take on board. Adapted from ILO Hours of Work (Industry) Convention, 1919 (No. 1), art. 2 (c) (referring strictly to shift work). ILO Workers with Family Responsibilities Convention, 1981 (No. 156). See ILO, “Working time in the twenty-first century”, report for discussion at the Tripartite Meeting of Experts on Working-time Arrangements (17-21 October 2011), para. 40, which notes that 41 per cent of countries provide for a regular 40-hour workweek. 9