Employers have a responsibility to make sure that they are adhering to the Working Time Regulations, which cover working hours, rest breaks and holidays, and include specific provisions for employees under 18, and night workers.
In order to comply with the Working Time Regulations an employer must ensure that employees are taking the appropriate rest breaks, including holidays and that they don’t work more than 48 hours a week (averaged over 17 weeks).
If you have employees who do choose to work more than 48 hours a week (averaged over 17 weeks), we suggest that in order to minimise the risk to the business you make sure that the employees have signed a form stating that they agree to opt out of the Working Time Regulations.
An employee wants to reduce their hours, do I have to agree?
Requests would need to be considered on an individual basis, giving consideration to the business needs and the knock on effect on your team. The only time that you would have a legal obligation to give serious consideration to such a request would be if the individual were a parent of a child under 6 (or 18 if disabled), or a carer. We would suggest that in these cases, you don't make a snap decision, as this will leave you exposed legally.
Can I change an employee's hours of work from those stated on their contract of employment or offer letter?
If there are clear business reasons why a change must be made to the hours of work, and an employee refuses point blank to agree to the change even after consultation, then you may have grounds to terminate their existing contract and only offer re-engagement on the new terms. However, this is a very serious step to take and could leave you exposed to an unfair dismissal claim.
We would advise that you think carefully on why the change is needed and spend the time and effort to consult properly with staff to gain their feedback and suggestions. For further advice then feel free to contact us.
One of our employees is refusing to work late in order to complete a deadline for a project we have. They say that they only have to work their hours of 9 - 5 as per their contract, is this true or can I make them work later in order to meet the deadline?
If you don't have a clause in your contract of employment that states staff are required to work the hours to fulfil their duties or otherwise requiring them to work additional or overtime hours, you may be stuck! If you would like help in drafting such a clause then please call us.
If you have a clause and the employee is still refusing, in theory they are breaching their own contract by failing to follow a reasonable instruction.
However, if this is an attitude problem and not and hours problem, you could persue the route of misconduct.
We have a number of part time office workers who think that they are entitled to a break if they work 5 hours per day. Is this correct?
Under the Working Time Regulations 1998, workers whose hours of continuous work will exceed six hours per day are entitled to a rest break of 20 minutes. This should be allowed for during the six hours, not added onto the end but need not be a paid break. If the worker is a 'young person' the break entitlement is 30 minutes after four hours of work.
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