Employment Law - Employee Working Hours & Entitlement to Breaks

Employee Working Hours

Employee working hours cover the time that the employee is at the disposal of the employer. Travelling to/from work is not classed as 'working hours' unless it forms part of business travel for business activities.

Lunch breaks are also not counted as working hours unless it is a 'working lunch'.

Employees over 18 years old are liable to work no more than a 48 hour week. This is calculated as an average over a 17 week reference period.

Employees that work night shifts must work no longer than 8 hour shifts in any 24 hour period: a night shift would involve an employee to have worked at least three hours between 11pm and 6am.

Employee Entitlement to Breaks

An employee aged 18 years or over is entitled to a 20 minute undisturbed break for every 6 hour shift they work. They are also entitled to 11 hours rest between each work day and are further entitled to one full day off each week.

An employee aged less than 18 years old (from the minimum age of leaving school) is entitled to a 30 minute undisturbed break for every 4.5 hour shift they work. They are also entitled to 12 hours rest between each work day and are further entitled to two full days off each week.

Employees are not liable to have toilet breaks without the consent of their employer. However, for the sake of your employees' health, it is better for them to use the toilet freely.




Relevant Articles
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Employment Law Quicklinks

Taking on a New Employee

Minimum Wage
Employee Working Hours & Break Entitlement
Sacking, Dismissal & Redundancy
Paid Holiday Entitlement
Flexible Working Hours
Employee Time Off for an Emergency
Employee Sickness
Stakeholder Pension Schemes
National Lottery Syndicates
Monitoring Employees at Work
Employee Notice for Paid Holiday
Part Time Employees
Maternity Leave


 

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