![]() ![]() The employer in these cases is not obliged to keep records of hours actually worked by the individuals concerned. These agreements have to be in writing, signed and contain a notice clause. In the case of the weekly working hours’ limits, individual agreements are possible between worker and employer, excluding the standard 48-hour limit. NEU’s position is clear: if your time is not your own, to do as you please, and your employer can call upon you to carry out work on their behalf in emergencies or when something untoward occurs, then you are working and the time should be counted under the Working Time Regulations. The immediacy of the requirement to provide services in emergency situations or when something untoward occurs.The extent of the worker’s responsibilities. ![]() The extent to which the worker’s activities are restricted by the requirement to be present and at the employer’s disposal.The employer’s particular purpose in employing the worker.The EAT also laid down four factors to be considered when deciding whether someone is entitled to the national minimum wage: These are: The EAT concluded that the carer was performing time work during her sleep-in shift, whether asleep or not. However, throughout the night she had sole responsibility for keeping a listening ear and to use her professional judgement and detailed knowledge to decide when she should intervene. The carer was not allocated any specific tasks and could sleep. This case involved a carer whose sleep in shift was timed to last for 9 hours. Roberts, the Employment Appeal Tribunals considered whether sleep-in time counted as time worked for the purposes of national minimum wage. In the leading case of Focus Care Agency Ltd v. This has major significance for NEU members who, for instance, may be working as housemasters/housemistresses or house-parents, and are expected to respond to calls or emergencies at any time of day or night. The controversial element is whether time ‘on call’ or time spent working at home counts as ‘working time’. The averaging period disregards periods away from work for sickness, maternity, paternity, adoption or parental leave or the minimum statutory leave, but includes other periods of holiday, which tends to lower the average of hours worked. In residential institutions, the averaging period is 26 weeks. The working week is limited to a maximum of 48 hours, averaged over 17 weeks. The key features of the Regulations are as follows. The regulations can make a significant positive contribution to reducing working hours and providing adequate rest breaks. There are some national differences in the legislation, for instance, in Northern Ireland the relevant law is contained in the Working Time Regulations (NI) Statutory Rule 386. The primary purpose of the Working Time Regulations is to safeguard the health and safety of employees. If your contract of employment cannot help you and custom and practice does not apply, you are reliant on the legal limits to the number of hours that can be reasonably worked and specified rest breaks. So, if your contract of employment is silent on working hours, your rights and responsibilities may have been set by custom and practice and this may enable you to challenge the introduction of new duties. And, of course, then there are boarding schools! To compound matters is the unwritten expectation that teaching staff in independent schools will undertake numerous extra-curricular activities and lunchtime duties. Unfortunately, for those working in the independent sector, hours of work are often unspecified, vague, or there is a clause in the contract containing the catch-all phrase “whatever hours the head considers reasonable for carrying out your duties”. This is true of the state maintained sector. In most jobs or occupations, the number of hours that the employee is expected to work is defined in the contract of employment. One of the disadvantages of working in the independent sector is the long working day.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |