Contracts of employment: Maximum 48-hour week is a statutorily implied term in all employment contracts

In making the Working Time Regulations, Parliament intended that all contracts of employment must be read so as to provide that an employee should work no more than an average of 48 hours per week during any 17-week reference period, holds the High Court in Barber and others v RJB Mining (UK) Ltd 3.3.99 High Court. This is a mandatory requirement which must apply to all contracts of employment, and it followed that the workers in the present case were entitled to a declaration making the position under their contracts clear.