European Parliament votes to scrap working time opt-out
The European Parliament has voted to abolish the provision currently contained in the Working Time Directive which allows an opt-out from the 48-hour working week and has proposed a number of other measures to increase the protection provided by the Directive. The amendments, however, still have to be approved by European Council.
In order to secure the UK’s agreement to the Directive on Temporary Agency Work earlier this year, the European Council (EC) agreed to retain the provision allowing individuals to opt-out of the average 48 hour limit on weekly working hours, provided that it was accompanied by a number of conditions in order to guarantee the protection of health and safety of workers. But the European Parliament (EP) took the view that the measures were inadequate for a provision that which fundamentally undermines a worker’s health and safety. The EP therefore voted to abolish the opt-out 36 months after the revised Directive comes into force.
Other amendments voted for by the EP include: (i) creating a right for workers to request changes to working hours; (ii) an obligation on employers to inform workers well in advance of any changes to working time patterns; (iii) that where a worker has more than one contract of employment, working time would include the total time worked under all the contracts; (iv) the entire period of on-call time will be regarded as working time, although inactive parts of on-call time may not count towards working time in accordance with a collective agreement or national law.
Whether the amendments become law will depend on the EC, who will now deliver an opinion on the EP’s amendments and who must then approve the amendments by a qualified majority, or unanimously if it delivers a negative opinion on at least one amendment.
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