Following
an initial consultation period last year, the DTI has issued a further
consultation paper on the new laws required to comply with the Young Workers’
Directive, having amended the original proposals.
The
new law will apply to ‘young workers’, defined as those over school-leaving
age, but under 18.
The
latest position, which will be introduced through amendments to the Working
Time Regulations 1998, are:
Working
Hours
–
a young worker’s time shall not exceed eight hours a day or 40 hours a week
(whether working for one or more employers)
–
the maximum 8-hour day/40-hour week shall not apply where the work is necessary
to maintain continuity of (or respond to a surge in) service or production,
where the additional hours will not interfere with training and where there is
no adult worker available to perform the work
Night
Work
–
young workers are not permitted to work between either 10pm and 6am (the
default position) or, if the contract of employment provides, between 11pm and
7am
–
unless they work in particular sectors (agriculture, retail trading, a hotel, a
bakery, catering activities other than a restaurant or a bar, or
postal/newspaper deliveries), when the prohibited hours of work are between 12
midnight and 4am
The
further consultation period is open until 6 September, and the new legislation
will be introduced shortly afterwards.
For
more details, go to http://www.dti.gov.uk/er/individual/youngconsult.htm
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