Employment Law - Late Night Working

So as part of my challenge from my 1st day on the Bristol, Level 1 HRM autumn 13 group i was challenged to start an online chat. Low and behold an issue has been raised in my workplace already on Late Night Working so here goes..........

Our policy states that employees are entitled to 11 hour break from work. If they work past 10pm we do not expect them to arrive 9am the following morning....

Do we insist on this or do we allow them to arrive at 9am if they wish to do so?

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  • Hi Verity

    I work in a call centre and we have the same rule that they have to have an eleven hour break between shifts, mainly due to the fact they are computer based.

    If they wish to come in earlier then we allow them to do so as that it their own personal choice, however we would never schedule this ourselves only at the request of the employee.

    Thanks
    Rachael
    • The Working Time Regulations are based on health and safety principles - to ensure employees and workers have adequate rest time.

      For the principle of taking annual leave (also covered by WTR), if an employee does not book their leave, they lose their entitlement, so I am of the view that if it is an employees choice to start work with less than the  required break time, it is their choice.

      However, overriding all of this is the need to ensure working practices are safe and the quality of work is not affected - and that's where we need line managers to use their judgement - and that's a whole other discussion!!

  • Hi

    I work for a Railway Industry, and we have 12hrs rest between our shifts, if someone would like to start early (before 12hrs shift) if the person is doing a safety related job like Driving or working on the Train as a Train manager, will not be able to start their shift before 12 hrs, but if someone in clerical or in Retail can start before 12 hrs rest with permission from his/her line manager. Hope this helps.

  • You might find the ACAS guidelines useful here Verity http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1373

    They state like you mention above:

    In general the Working Time Regulations provide rights to:

    • a limit of an average 48 hours a week on the hours a worker can be required to work, though individuals may choose to work longer by "opting out"
    • 5.6 weeks' paid leave a year
    • 11 consecutive hours' rest in any 24-hour period
    • a 20-minute rest break if the working day is longer than six hours
    • one day off each week
    • a limit on the normal working hours of night workers to an average eight hours in any 24-hour period, and an entitlement for night workers to receive regular health assessments.

    I would say therefore you must insist but I agree with Olenka's comment this isn't just about keeping in with the law but also being a responsible employer.

    • Hi Mike, 

      Thanks for the comments. I find this a difficult one as I did insist they had a clean break but they chose to be here for 9am. I have highlighted this issue to my MD who is going to discuss in the management meeting so hopefully this will not happen again.

      Thanks

      • Difficult really when the individual chooses to do this - the law is there but I see this being a little bit of a grey area. Not sure you picked up the link the chat area but there was a similar discussion recently concerning the directive - might be useful to read and make contact with Jennifer to see how she got on.

        Working Time Directive - Courage to Challenge

        Let us know how it progresses

        • It was a broken link Mike.

          • oops sorry - correct link attached above

            • Thanks Mike, great result today though. Have highlighted the issue to the Director's and i have just been given the go ahead to recruit a new member to help relieve the pressure :-)

              • That's great news Verity well done!

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