What’s it all about?
Although most workers in the UK are governed by the main Working Time Directive (WTD), those in the transport sector were not included and are instead covered by two further sets of working time regulations – the Horizontal Amending Directive (HAD) and the Road Transport Directive (RTD).
The HAD was implemented in the UK in August 2003 to remove the exemptions in the main WTD on workers in the transport sector, applying the whole main directive package to non-mobile workers in the transport sector and a limited number of the main directive’s rules to mobile workers.
The RTD, implemented in April 2005 in the UK, applies to all employed mobile workers whose work is subject to normal EU drivers’ hours rules.
How have they been implemented in UK law?
The main WTD was implemented in The Working Time Regulations 1998.
The HAD was incorporated into The Working Time (Amendment) Regulations 2003.
The RTD was implemented in 2005 by the The Road Transport (Working Time) Regulations 2005.
What are the basic HAD rules?
The HAD applies all the usual restrictions of the main WTD to non-mobile workers and provides more limited protection to mobile workers in the road transport sector, ensuring in particular that workers who are mobile workers but are not subject to EU drivers' hours rules (and therefore not covered by the RTD) will be entitled to:
- An average 48-hour working week over a reference period (usually 17 weeks)
- 5.6 weeks’ paid annual holiday
- Health assessments for night workers
- Provision for adequate rest
It also ensures that those subject to the RTD (mobile workers who are subject to EU drivers' hours rules) will be entitled to health assessments if they are night workers and four weeks’ paid annual leave.
Note that under HAD, non-mobile workers are entitled to an uninterrupted period of rest of 11 hours a day while mobile workers who are not subject to EU drivers’ hours rules are entitled simply to ‘adequate rest’. Similarly, non-mobile workers are entitled to a minimum of one day off a week while mobile workers, again, are required to be given ‘adequate rest’.
'Adequate rest' means that workers should have regular rest periods. These should be sufficiently long and continuous to ensure that workers do not injure themselves, fellow workers or others and that they do not damage their health, either in the short term or long term.
What are the basic RTD rules?
The Road Transport Directive applies to mobile workers who are employed in work subject to EU drivers’ hours rules.
The two most important working time limits imposed by the RTD are:
- An average of 48 hours a week over a reference period (usually 17 weeks - although this can be extended up to 26 weeks by collective of workforce agreement)
- An absolute maximum of 60 hours in any fixed week. The fixed week starts at midnight on Sunday and finishes at midnight the following Sunday.
The RTD also includes various breaks, daily and weekly rest requirements.
What counts as ‘working time’ and what are ‘periods of availability’?
Working time includes driving time and time spent on other tasks, such as vehicle loading or unloading. Breaks do not count towards working time. Neither do periods of availability (POAs), ie periods of time during which a driver is available for work but not actually working, as long as the driver knows the duration of the POA in advance and isn’t required to undertake any work during the period.
What about night workers?
Special rules apply to work at nights, which for the purposes of the RTD is taken to mean the period between midnight and 4am for goods vehicle drivers. The main one is that if night work is undertaken, daily working time must not exceed 10 hours, though the night work limit can be exceeded if a relevant agreement exists.
And what about self-employed drivers?
Self-employed drivers were initially excluded from the scope of the RTD until March 2009. There was a consultation paper to discuss whether self-employed workers should be included within the scope of the RTD. It was decided that the rules already offered enough protection for mobile workers and therefore they did not need to be included.
There are some strict rules, however, about who really qualifies as ‘self-employed’ – those who work for just one customer, for example, are unlikely to qualify.
Where can I find out more?
The DfT’s European Union (EU) rules on drivers’ hours and working time: simplified guidance note outlines all the main requirements of the UK regulations and includes advice on calculating average working time over given reference periods.
Points to ponder
Under the HAD, non-mobile workers and mobile workers not subject to EU drivers’ hours rules may opt out of the average 48-hour limit. Under the RTD, there is NO provision for mobile workers to opt out of the average 48-hour limit OR the 60-hour maximum. However, subject to relevant agreement with the workforce, the reference period can be extended to a maximum of 26 weeks.Under the RTD, statutory annual leave, sick leave and maternity/paternity leave may NOT be used to reduce the average working time in any given reference period.
Also under the RTD, if an employee works for two or more employers, both sets of hours must be taken into account in the calculation of average working time.
UK implementation of the RTD was recently reviewed - in particular, the question of whether POAs should continue to count as working time. However, it was determined that the law should remain the same.
Updated by Lucy Wood & Anton Balkitis
www.keepmeontheroad.co.uk
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