Employees connected 24/7: Beware the legal pitfalls

In the late 1960s it was predicted that technology would allow us to work 20 hours a week, with the surplus spent on leisure activities. Sadly this has not proved to be the case.

Technology has instead resulted in a different pattern of behaviour, with today’s smartphones and tablets creating an era of instantaneous and continuous communication. We are all ‘available’ 24/7.

Peter Fleming, in a recent article for BBC News, pointed to studies which reveal that 80 per cent of employers consider it ‘perfectly normal’ to contact their staff outside working hours. In examining the phenomenon of ‘presenteeism’ or non-stop working, he said ‘behaviour that our grandparents would have deemed insane is now rather pedestrian.’

In 2015 the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) surveyed over 1,000 employees and found that more than half say that they will take calls or respond to emails or messages outside working hours. Another tenth identified themselves as passive recipients who keep in touch with work-related communications but don’t reply outside working hours.

Those who said that they were contactable outside normal working hours were asked why and while 38 per cent chose to do it, worryingly more than one in 10 said they felt pressure to be just as contactable as their boss or fellow team members are.

People are waking up to the damages caused by our present-day working culture. Last year, Germany’s labour minister, Ursula von der Leyen, sought to tackle it head on in her department by laying down strict limitations on the use of work-related mobile phones and emails during time off. Managers can only contact employees who are off duty in exceptional cases.

There are also a number of studies which examine the damage of a long hours working culture on a person’s health, family life, engagement and wellbeing. So what are the legal implications for an employer and what can be done to counter the risks?

Potential breach of the Working Time Regulations

The Working Time Regulations 1998 (WTR) implement the European Working Time Directive 2003/88, both of which set minimum periods of hourly, daily and weekly rest, including annual leave entitlement. Article 1 of Directive 2003/88 says: ‘This Directive lays down minimum safety and health requirements for the organisation of working time.’

For health reasons, UK workers are entitled to the following rest periods:

• 11 hours of uninterrupted rest per day
• 24 hours of uninterrupted rest per week
• A rest break of 20 minutes when working more than six hours a day.

Special rules apply to certain groups, such as the Armed Forces, police and those engaged in civil protection. However, in most industries, the standards as set out in the WTRs applies.

The WTRs also limit the average number of working hours, including overtime, to 48 hours per week in a reference period of 17 weeks. Employers should take all reasonable steps to protect health and safety and to ensure that this limit is complied with. An exception is where the worker has expressly opted out of the WTRs. Staff cannot and should not be forced to opt out.

Working time is defined in WTRs as any period during which the employee is working, carrying out his duties, and at the employer’s disposal. It includes time spent responding to calls and emails, at any location.

Continue reading on page two to read about how to protect yourself:

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