History
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Working time in the United Kingdom is regulated in UK labour law in respect of holidays, daily breaks, night work and the maximum working day under the Working Time Regulations 1998. While the traditional mechanisms for ensuring a "fair day's wage for a fair day's work" is by collective agreement, since 1962 the UK created minimum statutory rights for every individual at work. The WTR 1998 follow the requirements of the Working Time Directive, [1] which allowed an "opt out" from the maximum working week, set at 48 hours. Other reforms have included the 28 holiday minimum per year, 20 minute breaks for each six hours worked, and a maximum average of 8 hours work in a 24-hour period for night-workers (the average is usually calculated over 17 weeks, but it can be over a longer period of up to 52 weeks if the workers and the employer agree). [2]
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The most concrete measure of the WTR 1998 is, following basic rights in international law, [3] mandating a minimum period of 28 days, or four full weeks, in paid holidays for all workers each year (though this includes public holidays). [4] There is no qualifying period for this, or any other working time right, [5] because beyond the importance of the law in seeking to strike a balance between work and life, sufficient periods of rest and leisure are seen as a critical element of workers health and safety. [6] Nor is it possible for an employer to give a worker "rolled up holiday pay", for instance an additional 12.5% in a wage bill, in lieu of taking actual holidays. The employer must make sure the worker does in fact take paid holidays, and if the worker has not done so and the job terminates, the employer must give an additional payment for the unused holiday entitlement. [7]
Where a person works at night, they may only do 8 hours in any 24-hour period on average, or simply 8 hours at most is dangerous. [8] It can be called a night shift.
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Every worker must receive at least 11 consecutive hours of rest in a 24-hour period, and in every day workers must have at least a 20-minute break in any 6-hour period. [9]
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The most controversial and widely known provisions in the working time laws, however, concern the maximum working week. Under the Directive, this is 48 hours. Although people in the United Kingdom work the longest hours on average in Europe, and among the longest in the developed world, highest work related stress and absentee rates, successive UK governments have remained sceptical about the maximum working week's merit. The maximum does not apply to anyone who is self-employed or who can set their own hours of work, as it is aimed to protect workers who possess less bargaining power and autonomy over the way they do their jobs. [10] Nevertheless, all UK workers may "opt out" of the 48-hour week by individually signing an opt out form. [11] Theoretically a worker may always change her mind after having opted out, without suffering any detriment. [12] If the employer has not got the worker to opt out, then the 48-hour week is not a rigid maximum, but is taken as an average over 17 weeks. [13] The same rules have developed as for the minimum wage, regarding "on call" time, so that people with jobs involving long periods where they must make themselves available, but not necessarily be active, are regarded as working if they are bound to remain awake and close to their workplace. [14] This created a significant problem for junior doctors, where the culture has typically been in all European countries that very long hours are expected. The European Court of Justice's decision in Landeshauptstadt Kiel v Jaegar [15] that junior doctors' on call time was working time led a number of countries to exercise the same "opt out" derogation as the UK, albeit limited to medical practice. The Health and Safety Executive is the UK body charged with enforcing the working time laws, though it has purposively taken a "light touch" approach to enforcement.
Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways:
United Kingdom labour law regulates the relations between workers, employers and trade unions. People at work in the UK benefit from a minimum charter of employment rights, which are found in various Acts, Regulations, common law and equity. This includes the right to a minimum wage of £8.91 for over-25-year-olds under the National Minimum Wage Act 1998. The Working Time Regulations 1998 give the right to 28 days paid holidays, breaks from work, and attempts to limit excessively long working hours. The Employment Rights Act 1996 gives the right to leave for child care, and the right to request flexible working patterns. The Pensions Act 2008 gives the right to be automatically enrolled in a basic occupational pension, whose funds must be protected according to the Pensions Act 1995.
Working time is the period of time that a person spends at paid labor. Unpaid labor such as personal housework or caring for children or pets is not considered part of the working week.
In United Kingdom law, the concept of wrongful dismissal refers exclusively to dismissal contrary to the contract of employment, which effectively means premature termination, either due to insufficient notice or lack of grounds. Although wrongful dismissal is usually associated with lack of notice sometimes it can also be caused by arbitrary dismissal where no notice was required but certain grounds were specified in the contract as being the only ones available but none existed.
The National Minimum Wage Act 1998 creates a minimum wage across the United Kingdom. From 1 April 2021 this was £8.91 for people age 23 and over, £8.36 for 21- to 22-year-olds, £6.56 for 18- to 20-year-olds, £4.62 for people under 18 and £4.30 for apprentices.
The weekdays and weekend are the complementary parts of the week devoted to labour and rest, respectively. The legal weekdays, or workweek, is the part of the seven-day week devoted to working. In most of the world, the workweek is from Monday to Friday and the weekend is Saturday and Sunday. A weekday or workday is any day of the working week. Other institutions often follow this pattern, such as places of education. The constituted weekend has varying definitions, based on determined calendar days, designated period of time, and/or regional definition of the working week. Sometimes the term "weekend" is expanded to include the time after work hours on the last workday of the week.
Directive 2003/88/EC or Working Time Directive (WTD) is a Directive in European Union law. It gives EU workers the right to at least 4 weeks in paid holidays each year, rest breaks, and rest of at least 11 hours in any 24 hours; restricts excessive night work; a day off after a week's work; and provides for a right to work no more than 48 hours per week. It was issued as an update on earlier versions from 22 June 2000 and 23 November 1993. Since excessive working time is cited as a major cause of stress, depression, and illness, the purpose of the directive is to protect people's health and safety. A landmark study conducted by the World Health Organization and the International Labour Organization found that exposure to long working hours is common globally at 8.9%, and according to these United Nations estimates the occupational risk factor with the largest attributable burden of disease, i.e. an estimated 745,000 fatalities from ischemic heart disease and stroke events alone in 2016. This evidence has given renewed impetus for maximum limits on working time to protect human life and health.
The Employment Rights Act 1996 is a United Kingdom Act of Parliament passed by the Conservative government to codify existing law on individual rights in UK labour law.
The Posted Workers Directive96/71/EC is an EU directive concerned with the free movement of workers within the European Union. It makes an exception to the Convention on the Law Applicable to Contractual Obligations 1980, which ordinarily requires that workers are protected by the law of the member state in which they work.
European labour law regulates basic transnational standards of employment and partnership at work in the European Union and countries adhering to the European Convention on Human Rights. In setting regulatory floors to competition to for job-creating investment within the Union, and in promoting a degree of employee consultation in the workplace, European labour law is viewed as a pillar of the "European social model". Despite wide variation in employment protection and related welfare provision between member states, a contrast is typically drawn with conditions in the United States.
The working time regulations 69 is a statutory instrument in UK labour law which implements the EU Working Time Directive 2003. It does not extend to Northern Ireland.
MacCartney v Oversley House Management [2006] IRLR 514 is a UK labour law case regarding the National Minimum Wage Act 1998.
Robinson-Steele v RD Retail Services Ltd (2006) C-131/04 is a European labour law and UK labour law case concerning the Working Time Directive, which is relevant for the Working Time Regulations 1998.
Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs v Stringer and Schultz-Hoff v Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund [2009] UKHL 31 is a European labour law and UK labour law case concerning the Working Time Directive, which is relevant for the Working Time Regulations 1998.
Barber v RJB Mining (UK) Ltd [1999] ICR 679 is a UK labour law case concerning the Working Time Directive and the Working Time Regulations 1998.
An employment contract in English law is a specific kind of contract whereby one person performs work under the direction of another. The two main features of a contract is that work is exchanged for a wage, and that one party stands in a relationship of relative dependence, or inequality of bargaining power. On this basis, statute, and to some extent the common law, requires that compulsory rights are enforceable against the employer.
Child care in the United Kingdom is supported by a combination of rights at work, public sector provision and private companies. Child care is usually undertaken by the parents, and more often the mother who takes leave from employment. Early childhood education in a crèche or nursery is not freely available from the public sector, while fee-paying pre-schools are.
Directive 92/85/EEC is a European Union Directive. It concerns the basic rights of workers during and after pregnancy in the European Union.
Part-time Work Directive97/81/EC is one of three EU Directives that regulate atypical work. Alongside the Fixed-term Work Directive and the Agency Work Directive, its aim is to ensure that people who have not contracted for permanent jobs are nevertheless guaranteed a minimum level of equal treatment compared to full-time permanent staff.
Russell v Transocean International Resources Ltd [2011] UKSC 57 is a UK labour law case, concerning the interpretation of the Working Time Directive. It is notable that Lord Hope remarked that the right to paid holidays is probably best interpreted as requiring that workers may take a whole week at a time, rather than individual days.
