48 Hour Opt Out.....

The European Commission may have offered UK employers a glimmer of hope when it recently stated that whilst it remains in principle "supportive" of the eventual phasing-out of the right to opt out of the 48-hour weekly limit on working time, it does not believe that present economic conditions allow it.

The Commission's opinion is the latest step in the long-running debate over amendments to the Working Time Directive to remove the opt-out.  At the end of last year, the European Parliament voted in favour of its abolition - meaning that within 3 years of the new Directive coming into force (i.e. by 2012) staff would no longer have the ability to work more than an average 48 hour per week even with agreement.  However, because the decision went against the decision of EU Employment Ministers earlier in 2008 to retain the opt-out (albeit under stricter conditions designed to protect workers' health and safety), the Parliament and the Commission then entered into negotiations to reach agreement.  Given that the Commission's opinion rejects a number of the Parliament's proposed amendments, agreement appears unlikely and there will now be a period of conciliation between the two parties to see if a compromise can be reached.  If an agreement is not reached by the end of the conciliation period, the existing opt-out arrangements will remain in place. 

If the opt-out is ultimately retained, it is likely to include additional safeguards, some of which will add to the administrative burden for UK employers.  These include limiting the validity of opt-out agreements for individual workers to one year (under the current UK Working Time Regulations, such agreements can apply indefinitely) and prohibiting workers from entering into opt-out agreements during any probationary period (so employers will no longer be able to ask workers to sign an opt-out on joining).

A final conclusion to the debate is not expected until May this year.  I will keep you updated with any developments.

Kind regards
Jon Derbyshire

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