Your monthly at-a-glance answers to frequently asked questions. This month we look at holiday entitlements, working hours, and the rights of part-time employees.
Q: What are the forthcoming changes to minimum holidays I’ve read about?
A: Currently, full-time employees are entitled to a minimum of four weeks’ holiday a year, which can (or cannot) include the UK’s eight bank holidays. The government now intends to make the entitlement, across the board, 28 days inclusive of bank holidays. The details of implementation have yet to be confirmed, but the plan is to increase the entitlement in two stages: from 4 weeks to 4.8 weeks on 1 October 2007; and from 4.8 weeks to 5.6 weeks on 1 October 2008.
Read about Statutory holiday entitlement
Q: Are there any rules for setting the hours of my employees’ shifts?
A: Yes. There is a range of requirements you have to comply with when deciding on your workers’ hours. The most high profile of these is the limit of 48 hours in an average week that employees are allowed to work (although they can opt out of this). Other things to bear in mind are that employees are entitled to:
- at least one day off per week
- 11 hours of rest each day
- a rest break if the working day exceeds six hours
There are stricter rules for employees working at night. They cannot work more than an average of eight hours per 24-hour period, and they are entitled to free health assessments to ensure their night-work isn’t adversely affecting their health.
Find out more about working time regulations
Q: Are part-time employees entitled to fewer rights than full-time workers?
A: No. You cannot treat part-time employees less favourably than comparable full-timers. They are entitled to the same rate of pay and the same holiday entitlements (on a pro rata basis). They must also be given the same access to training, maternity and parental leave, and any career-break programmes you operate. And if you have to make redundancies, you cannot treat part-time employees less favourably when choosing who is to be made redundant.
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