Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
a right to work no more than 48 hours per week, unless the member state enables individual opt-outs. It was issued as an update on earlier versions from 22 June 2000 and 23 November 1993. [ 1 ] Since excessive working time is cited as a major cause of stress, depression, and illness, the purpose of the directive is to protect people's health ...
The European Union's working time directive imposes a 48-hour maximum working week that applies to every member state except Malta (which have an opt-out, meaning that employees in Malta may work longer than 48 hours if they wish, but they cannot be forced to do so). [90]
The Working Time Regulations 1998 (SI 1998/1833) is a statutory instrument in UK labour law which implemented the EU Working Time Directive 2003. [1] It was updated in 1999, but these amendments were then withdrawn in 2006 [2] following a legal challenge in the European Court of Justice. [3] It does not extend to Northern Ireland.
Under the Directive, this is 48 hours. Although people in the United Kingdom work the longest hours on average in Europe, and among the longest in the developed world, highest work related stress and absentee rates, successive UK governments have remained sceptical about the maximum working week's merit.
For instance, the first Hours of Work (Industry) Convention, 1919 requires a maximum of a 48-hour week, and has been ratified by 52 out of 185 member states. The UK ultimately refused to ratify the Convention, as did many current EU members states, although the Working Time Directive adopts its principles, subject to the individual opt-out. [21]
Reflecting basic standards in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and ILO Conventions, [13] the Working Time Directive 2003 requires a minimum of 4 weeks (totalling 28 days) paid holidays each year, [14] a minimum of 20-minute paid rest breaks for 6-hour work shifts, limits on night work or time spent on dangerous work, [15] and a maximum ...
Get AOL Mail for FREE! Manage your email like never before with travel, photo & document views. Personalize your inbox with themes & tabs. You've Got Mail!
The evidence for harm to people who are deprived of sleep, or work irregular hours, is robust. Research from Europe and the United States on nonstandard work hours and sleep deprivation found that late-hour workers are subject to higher risks of gastrointestinal disorders, cardiovascular disease, breast cancer, miscarriage, preterm birth, and low birth weight of their newborns.