Factsheet
9: Employer Information #4
There are Working
Time Regulations - implemented
According to the Health & Safety Executive, as an
employer of personal assistants, your
employees can be considered to be in the
category where ‘special circumstances’ apply,
in the context of a worker’s ‘activities involving the need for
continuity of service’.
These legislated employee rights are as follows:
·
a 48 hour limit for an average
weekly working week
·
a paid minimum annual leave
·
minimum daily/weekly rest periods
& rest periods at work
·
an 8 working hour limit for night
workers, and a requirement to
·
offer health assessments
However, under the ‘special circumstances’ flexibility
provision and with mutually agreed employment contracts of terms and
conditions, you will not be required to conform to all of this legislation. The
minimum paid annual leave requirement will still remain in force though.
Employer’s Responsibilities
If you have an employee regularly working over 48 hours
per week, it is advisable to have a mutually agreed and legally binding
contract for them to work in excess of the working week limit. However, this
contract must also allow your worker to bring this agreement to an end. A
notice period of up to 3 months should also be specified, and if your employee
decides to end this agreement, a written notice of their intention is required
by you.
In addition, the employer must maintain records of these contract agreements, and the actual
hours worked by your employee. These records need to be kept and, if requested,
be available for inspection by the Health & Safety executive or local
authority Environmental Health Officers. These
records are needed to show that as an employer you are complying with
the Working Time Regulations, even if individual employee agreements do not
require full compliance due to ‘special
circumstances’.