Continuous Working Periods

Michael Gardner
Member - 3 posts

I think it's 12 hours

Martin Brewer - Mills & Reeve
Online advisor - 92 posts

actually it depends what you mean by shift. Under the Working time regulations if a worker is scheduled to work 6 hours or more then he or she is entrilted to an uniterruptable break away from work ofm 20 minutes to be taken in the 6 hour work period. Ignoring these breaks, the regulations also requires that in each 24 hour period there is a continuous rest period of 11 hours making the longest working time (leaving aside the 20 minutes break every six hours) of 13 hours. Note that there has to be a 24 hour break every 7 days or 48 hour break every 14 days.
The rules are a bit tighter for night work so you may need further advice.

Michael Gardner
Member - 3 posts

Thanks very much Martin - this does clarify my particular area of concern.

DAVID HEWITT
Member - 5 posts

This isn't true - Reg. 12(1) just states that 'Where a worker's daily working time is more that six hours, he is entitled to a rest break". For adults, the break is 20 minutes, but it doesn't satate anywhere that the break has to be taken within the six hours - it just becomes an entitlement if the working day is longer than six hours. The entitlement is only to "a" rest break, so even if an adult works the maximum 13 hours, there is only one entitlement to 20 minutes break. It is generally accepted that the rest break has to be taken within the daily working time, so I suppose, in theory, an adult could work for 12h 39m, have a 20 minute rest break and then finish the day by going back to work for one minute!

Jayn Bond - Workplace Law Network
Online advisor - 90 posts

David -I need to point out that Martin Brewer of Mills and Reeve is correct in saying that the 20 minute break needs to be taken within the 6 hours. The regulations do indeed state that the break cannot be taken at the end of the 6 hrs.

Noel George
Member - 14 posts

A good employer should be providing breaks in line with what is the "accepted" or better still "best practice" for the trade or industry in which they are engaged not "what they can get away with". The law is always open to interpretation and in any case only states the minimum standard.

DAVID HEWITT
Member - 5 posts

Jayn - so which 'the 6 hours' out of the 13 permissible hours are the Regulations referring to and, as a matter of law (and not the DBERR 'sloppy shorthand' guidance), which regulation over-rides or limits the application of Reg. 12(1)? Martin's later reference to a '20 minute break every six hours' doesn't appear anywhere in the regulations as far as I can see.

Noel - I agree entirely - it would be foolish (and probably a breach of the H&S duty of care) to expect employees to work a 13 hour shift with only one 20 minute break. However, the original question was "What is the maximum length of time for a single period of continuous work?" , and I still maintain that the answer is 12 hours 39 minutes!

James Fairchild
Member - 336 posts

David/Jayn, I am slightly confused. May I give an example.

Lets say the working day is 06:00 to 19:00 (six days a week) thereby affording the 11 hours daily rest.

Are we saying that the 20 minute break must take place _within_ the period 06:00-12:00, or are we saying that a 20 minute break must take place after working six hours?

In option A, the break could be at 10:00 to 10:20, or as I see it could be 06:01 to 06:21 or 11:39 to 11:59?

In option B, the break would be 12:00 to 12:20.

I guess I'm asking whether the maximum continuous working period is 6 hours, or 5 hours 40 minutes.

carmen wanless
Member - 1 post

Can anyone advise what the rules are for breaks when an employee is doing overtime.

ex contracted to work 18.00 - 22.00 = 1x 10 min break.
volentery overtime working 15.00 - 18.00.

Can anyone advise on this please?

Kevin Brown
Member - 110 posts

It's great that there's already provision for a 10 minute break in the normal hours. How you treat the overtime depends on whether it extends attendance to 7 hours or stands alone as a three hour stint.
If continuous I'd say that under the legislation the employee is entitled to a 20 minute break timed so as to avoid exceeding the 6 hour maximum working period either before or after it.
If the overtime stands alone, perhaps on a different evening, the working hours are nowhere near the maximum and any breaks would be by agreement rather than statutory.

Kevin Brown
Member - 110 posts

James
(Nearly forgot), DTI guidelines stated that the 20 minute (continuous) break should be taken within the 6 hours, but not at the beginning or end of it. Unfortunately they didn't reveal what an acceptable 'buffer' is, so maybe the ideal break is the 20 minutes straddling the 3 hour mark!
If you're expecting to work 13 hour shifts you're inevitably going to have 2 periods exceeding 6 hours long, so plan both 20 minute breaks to avoid any possibility of a further 6 hour gap. I'd suggest 12:00 and 16:00.
(If you're wondering why I posted twice its because my mouse seemed to develop a trasient stammer. Perhaps it too needs a DSE assessment).

DAVID HEWITT
Member - 5 posts

This is exactly what I mean by 'sloppy shorthand' - particularly from DBERR (ex-DTI). It doesn't say anywhere in the WTR that an adult has to take a break after/within 6 hours' work - just that a (one) 20 minute rest break has to be allowed where the working day exceeds 6 hours. The break is only an 'in work' break by inference - it self-evident that it must be taken during (not at the beginning or the end) of the working day otherwise, by definition, it wouldn't 'break' the day, but even that isn't specifically stated in the Regs.

I think some readers are trying to interpret the rest and breaks sections of the WTR as if they are a parallel replacement for previous legislation, such as Section 86(c) of the 1961 Factories Act (which set down a maximum number of working hours after which women and young persons had to be given a break) but they shouldn't be interpreted this way.

The wording of the WTR regarding the rest break is unambiguous and does not need 'interpreting' to give it efficacy. Look at the ACAS website - they give the correct answer - "a 20 minute rest break if your working day is longer than 6 hours".

If you want a further example of 'sloppy shorthand' from DBERR, look at their guidance on discrimination - it all states that discrimination on the ground of 'marital status' is unlawful. Where's that come from? I can't find it!

Section 3 of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (Discrimination against married persons in employment) only states that "...a person discriminates against a married person...on the ground of his or her marital status if..." The 'marital status' referred to is plainly 'married', and there is no sex discrimination legislation prohibiting discrimination against single people, even though 'single' is also a marital status.