There are several laws and regulations surrounding the working hours of employees and their legal entitlements to rest breaks, overtime, and paid holidays. Some key points to consider are:
- Employee’s normal working hours should be contained in their contracts and should specify what the working hours are and detail any working patterns.
- According to the Working Time Regulations, most workers should not work more than an average of 48 hours a week, with the average working week calculated over a 17-week period. Workers can, however. elect to opt out of the 48-hour week by signing an opt out agreement but they cannot be required to do so or subjected to a detriment for refusing. The worker is also entitled to opt back into the 48-hour week at any time by giving a period of notice.
- The law states that a worker is entitled to a minimum rest period of 11 consecutive hours (12 consecutive hours for young workers) in each 24-hour period during which he/she works for their employer and one entire day off in each working week (2 days for young workers under the age of 18).
- Young workers under the age of 18 cannot usually work more than 40 hours a week or an eight-hour day.
Rest Breaks
An employee who works longer than 6 hours in a working day is entitled to a rest break which must be a minimum of 20 minutes. Whether breaks are paid or not will depend upon the terms specified in the employment contract.
Overtime
Contracts of employment, office manuals and staff handbooks should refer to overtime pay arrangements in respect of authorised “extra hours” worked by employees, as there is no legal right for overtime pay for extra hours worked. Some employers opt to offer employees “time off in lieu” instead of paying overtime.
Paid Holiday
Entitlement to paid holiday for workers commences on the first day of employment. The current statutory minimum is 5.6 weeks which, if you work a 5-day week, equates to 28 days including bank holidays.
There is no statutory entitlement to paid time off for public holidays; any rights must be in the terms of the contract. Employers should specify, in the contracts of employment, whether the holiday entitlement includes or excludes public holidays. Part time workers are entitled to the same holiday as their full-time colleagues with their entitlements calculated on a pro-rata basis.
Upon termination of employment workers should be paid for any accrued untaken holiday recalculated up to the last day of employment. There is no legal right to carry holiday forward to the following holiday year unless the contract provides for this or the worker is unable to take the holiday in the current year due to sickness or some form of statutory leave (such as maternity). Staff Handbooks or office manuals should have holiday procedures set out in them to provide clarity to employees.
When do the regulations not apply?
The regulations don’t apply to people who are genuinely self-employed and providing a service to the business, rather than working for them. The regulations also don’t apply to services such as the armed forces or the police.
The above information is not intended to be a complete or definitive statement of the law. For more information or advice please click here to contact our Employment Law team.
