Working time: extension of the regulations

Introduction

The Working Time Regulations 1998 provide a number of basic rights and protections to workers. These include:

  • a limit of an average of 48 hours each week that workers can be required to work;

  • a limit of an average of eight hours' work in 24 that night workers can be required to work;

  • a right for night workers to receive free health assessments;

  • a right to 11 hours' rest a day;

  • a right to a day off each week;

  • a right to an in-work rest break if the working day is longer than six hours;

  • a right to four weeks' paid leave per year.

    Originally the Working Time Regulations 1998 applied to all sectors of activity except air, rail, road, sea, inland waterway and lake transport, sea fishing, other work at sea and the activities of doctors in training.

    On 1 August 2003 the Working Time (Amendment) Regulations 2003 came into force and extended the scope of the Working Time Regulations 1998 (albeit to varying degrees) to protect workers in those sectors previously excluded.

    Road transport

    The Working Time (Amendment) Regulations 2003 extend the provisions of the Working Time Regulations 1998 in full to non-mobile workers (eg clerical/administrative personnel) in the road transport sector.

    The situation regarding mobile workers is a little more complicated. The European Commission has adopted a Directive (Directive 2002/15/EC) dealing specifically with the working time of mobile workers, but some activities fall outside its scope, eg couriers and workers who drive people carriers, taxis or vans. Such workers will therefore benefit from the Working Time (Amendment) Regulations 2003 and be entitled to a 48-hour limit on their working week, four weeks' paid annual leave, regular health assessments for night workers and transfer to day work, wherever possible, when suffering from a health problem connected with night work. The amending Regulations do not, however, extend the provisions of the Working Time Regulations 1998 to such workers in relation to length of night work, daily and weekly rest, and rest breaks, although they are entitled to 'adequate rest'.

    Rail transport

    The Working Time Regulations 1998 are extended to mobile and non-mobile rail workers. However, not all of their provisions apply to all workers in this sector. The new regulation 21(f) disapplies the provisions on length of night work, daily rest, weekly rest and rest breaks in respect of railway workers in railway transport whose activities are intermittent; who spend their time working on trains; or whose activities are linked to transport timetables and to ensuring the continuity and regularity of traffic.

    Air transport

    The Working Time Regulations 1998 are extended in full to non-mobile workers in this sector. A separate Directive has been adopted by the European Commission in relation to mobile workers. The EC Aviation Directive (Directive 2000/70/EC) limits the annual working hours of airborne personnel, including some elements of standby time, to 2000 hours, in which block flying time is limited to 900 hours. Member states must implement the EC Aviation Directive by December 2003.

    Sea transport

    The Working Time (Amendment) Regulations 2003 extend the provisions of the Working Time Regulations 1998 in full to non-mobile workers in this sector. The provisions are not extended to mobile workers; they are covered by the EC Sea Farers Directive (Directive 1999/63/EC), which sets out working time rules specific to this sector.

    Inland waterway and lake transport

    The Working Time Regulations 1998 are extended in full to all non-mobile workers in the sector. Mobile workers are specifically excluded from the amendments introduced by the Working Time (Amendment) Regulations 2003. Instead, similar entitlements will be provided by amendments to be made in the autumn to the Merchant Shipping Act 1995. Such amendments will provide for an entitlement to a 48-hour working week, four weeks' paid annual leave and health checks for night workers. Night workers will also have the right, wherever possible, to be moved to day work where it is shown that they are suffering from ill health connected with night work. There are no provisions applicable to workers in this sector in relation to the length of night work, rest breaks and daily and weekly rest entitlements, although workers are entitled to 'adequate' rest.

    Sea fishing

    The provisions of the Working Time Regulations 1998 are extended in full to all non-mobile workers in this sector. Mobile workers will be covered by amendments to the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 to the same extent that mobile workers in the inland waterway and lake transport sector are covered.

    Other work at sea

    This category includes offshore work in the oil and gas industry. The Working Time (Amendment) Regulations 2003 extend the provisions of the Working Time Regulations 1998 to all non-mobile workers in this sector, and to mobile workers except in as far as the provisions relating to length of night work, daily and weekly rest, and rest breaks are concerned.

    Doctors in training

    The provisions in the Working Time Regulations 1998 are extended in full to doctors in training. However, the provision on the 48-hour week can be phased in over a number of years. The amending Regulations allow for an initial transitional period of five years, beginning on 1 August 2004, with a possibility of extending the period for a further two years to take into account any difficulties in providing adequate patient care.

    Tony Hyams-Parish is a solicitor in the Employment Team at Rawlison Butler (ahyamsparish@rawlisonbutler.com)
    Further information on Rawlison Butler can be accessed at www.rawlisonbutler.com

    Previous articles in this series