End to 48-hour-week Opt Out Looms

At the moment, many employers manage the Working Time Regulations by asking staff to sign an opt out. The European Commission is currently investigating the use of the opt-out clause in the UK, and will be reviewing the situation during 2003.

Our best guess is that the opt-out will be declared unlawful, as the rationale for the Regulations, when they were introduced, was that they were declared to be a health and safety measure. Following that rationale we believe that the relative inequality of bargaining in the workplace will lead to a decision that staff do not freely consent to run the health risk and therefore the opt-out should be abolished.
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