Manager Guide to Working Hours and Breaks

TABLE OF CONTENTSPAGE

  1. Introduction
  2. The guidelines
  1. Working Hours2
  2. Adult Workers2
  3. Young Workers2
  4. Activities included in working time 3
  5. Opting out of the 48 hour week3
  6. Rest Breaks3
  7. Overtime4
  8. Sunday Working4
  9. Shift Swapping 4
  1. FAQ’s4
  2. Other reference documents6
  1. Introduction

These Manager Guidelines have been written to help you manage working hours and breaks. The working time regulations govern the hours employees can work. We are mindful that you need to be fully aware of the regulations that apply to working hours and breaks and understand your accountabilities as a manager.

  1. The Guidelines

Working Hours

Hours of work vary throughout the Company. An employee’s contracted hours will be detailed in their terms and conditions of employment.

Adult Workers

There is a 48 hour limit on the weekly working hours of adult workers (i.e. those aged 18 or over), which is averaged out over a period of 17 weeks. We have a duty to ensure our employees do not exceed this limit. The more likely it is that the limit will be exceeded; the greater the requirement for us to manage this.

You can require an employee to work more than 48 hours in any one or more weeks, provided that the overall weekly average over the 17 week period is 48 hours or less.

Please note that overtime is included in an employee’s weekly working hours.

Young Workers

A young worker is an employee that is above school leaving age, but under the age of 18. You have a responsibility to adhere to the below in connection with a young worker. Unlike the rules that apply to adult workers, these limits are absolute, and cannot be averaged out over a 17 week period:

  • They must work no more than 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week
  • They must have 2 rest days per week
  • You do not permit them to perform shift working between the hours of 10.00pm and 7.00am
  • They have a daily rest period of 12 consecutive hours
  • They must have a rest break of 30 minutes every four-and-a-half hours

There are exceptions to the above, including where no adult worker is available and:

  • work has arisen due to unforeseen circumstances beyond our control, is of a temporary nature, and needs to be done immediately
  • work is necessary to maintain continuity of service or production or to respond to a surge in demand, and performing the work would not have an adverse effect on the individual's education or training.

Please speak to a member of the HR team should this situation arise.

Activities included in working time

Activities included in working time:

  • working lunches
  • work related training
  • work taken home at the request of the manager
  • overtime
  • “on call” time during which a worker is required to be at his or her place of work

Opting out of the 48 hour week

Employees that are 18 or over who want to exceed the 48 hour average limit can choose to-opt out of the 48 hour limit by signing our opt-out agreement. It is your responsibility to ensure that the opt-out agreement is signed by the employee and placed on their personnel file. An employee can withdraw their opt-out agreement by giving the business seven days’ notice.

Rest Breaks

We all need breaks, and an employee’s right to rest is protected by the working time regulations, which define how many breaks employees are entitled to each day and week. But what happens when employees have to work through a break, or their break is interrupted by urgent business? In these cases, employees may be entitled to compensatory rest.

Compensatory rest is allowed when an employee has to work through a rest period. The employee is entitled to take the rest when possible, ideally on the same day.

The period of compensatory rest allowed should be equal to the interrupted portion of rest - not the entire break.

The working time regulations allow adult workers a daily rest period of 11 hours per day, a weekly rest period of 24 hours' uninterrupted rest per week, and one rest break of 20 minutes after working for more than six hours.It is your responsibility to manage this. During busy trading periods such as Christmas and Easter an employee can elect to have less than 11 consecutive hours rest break provided they do not risk their own or others health and safety. You have a duty to allocate compensatory rest for the period of rest the employee has missed.

Overtime

When required, employees may be requested to work overtime to meet the needs of the business. It is important that you try and give the employee advance notice of the requirement so as to minimise any personal inconvenience for the employee. If an employee is unwilling to work overtime and has said no to your request on a number of occasions you should remind them that they have a contractual obligation to undertake reasonable overtime when requested. The employee will be entitled to the applicable overtime rate for any hours over 39 per week.

Sunday Working

An employee that started their employment with Booths before the 26th August 1994 has the right not to work on Sundays unless they are employed to work on a Sunday only. An employee that started their employment on or after this date that is required to work on a Sunday can give three months written notice to opt-out of Sunday working.

Shift Swapping

If an employee needs to swap their shift they should arrange this with the person they want to swap their shift with. The employee swapping their shift should inform you of the swap and you should make a record of this. You should also explain that failure to attend the agreed shift will be regarded as unauthorsied absence.

  1. Frequently asked questions

Can 16 and 17 year olds opt-out of the 48 hour limit?

No, they should work no more than 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week.

Is overtime excluded from the 48 hour limit?

No, overtime is included in an employees working time.

Can an adult worker, over 18 years old, who hasn’t opted out of the 48 hour limit work more than 48 hours in one week?

The average working hours are calculated over a ‘reference’ period. This is a 17 week period.

Someone can work more than 48 hours in one week, so long as the average over 17 weeks is less than 48 hours a week.

If an employee of ours has a 2ndjob can the amount of combined hours be more than 48 hours a week?

No, if an employee has a 2nd job, the amount of combined hours shouldn’t be more than 48 hours on average a week.

Workers with more than one job could either:

  • consider signing an opt-out agreement if their total time worked is more than 48 hours
  • reduce their hours to meet the 48-hour limit

What is an employee’s daily rest entitlement?

Workers have the right to 11 hours rest between working days (eg if they finish work at 8pm, they shouldn’t start work again until 7am the next day).During busy trading periods such as Christmas and Easter an employee can elect to have less than 11 consecutive hours rest break and you can ask them to work during a period that would otherwise be a rest period provided they do not risk their own or others health and safety. You have a duty to allocate compensatory rest for the period of rest the employee has missed.

Can I say when an employee takes their rest break?

You can say when employees take rest breaks during work time as long as:

  • the break is taken in one go somewhere in the middle of the day (not at the beginning or end)
  • Employees are allowed to spend it away from their desk or workstation (ie away from where they actually work)

It doesn’t count as a rest break if you instruct an employee back to work before their break is finished.

What is compensatory rest?

If an employee has to work during a period that would otherwise be a rest period or rest break, the employer must, wherever possible, allow the worker to take an equivalent period of compensatory rest. The widespread view is that this should equal the length of the interruption(s) to the period of rest, and not the entirety of that period. Compensatory rest should ideally be taken during the same or following working day. The key objective of compensatory rest is to ensure that employees receive adequate rest, rather than to reduce working time.

  1. Other reference documents
  • Working Hours and Breaks Policy
  • Opt-Out Agreement Form for employee to sign
  • Working Hours and Breaks Policy

Page 1 of 6

Ref: POL 14

Policy Owner: Amy Hargreaves

Date: December 2014