European Working Time Directive

[sam.henderson]

Guys,

 

I have been reading about the european Working Time Directive and was wondering If Actors and Technicans that are part of the equity are covered by this employer regulation or not??

 

I thought that maybe because we have our own special set of rules layed down by the equity that maybe this made us exempt from the Directive.

 

Any feedback much appreciated

 

Sam

[Bryson]

Aha...one of my specialist subjects.

 

Yes, we are very much a part of the Working time directive. No we don't have a specific exemption. Yes, there are all sorts of ways round it...but not as many as your employer may believe...

[sam.henderson]

Do equity regulations etc. ever conflict with the EWTD?

 

If so which one do you follow etc.

 

One confliction I can sort of think of is breaks and total working hours per week. Do these conflict.

 

Cheers,

 

Sam

[Bryson]

I've not known them to. But then I infrequently deal with performers as employees.

 

You should, without a doubt, use the rule that gives them the most time off. The WTD is a minimum requirement, I suspect the equity rules go above and beyond that.

[sam.henderson]

Thanks for clearing that up for me Bryson.

 

You should, without a doubt, use the rule that gives them the most time off

Don't worry I will deffinetly be going with the one that gives you the most time off :blink: :o

 

Thanks again,

 

Sam

[Ben P]

But employers on the technical side have the option of asking you to opt out of the working time agrement. This works well for the staff as the contract is based in over time, but it does have the draw back that you have to work lots and lots of hours.

 

The draw back for staff up and down the country is that the rules are going to change so and make it illegal to opt out of it, which means those of us who earn a percentage of our income on overtime (ie after the 48 hours in the week) are going to notice a dramtic change in wages.

 

The annoying thing is that I want to be able to work over 48 hours but the eu won't let me....

[Tom]

The equity rules do not limit the amount of time you may work (as the Working Time Directive does) they just set out how much you should be paid for those hours

 

For example, the WTD states (I believe) that you must have an 11 hour overnight break. the Equity / TMA agreement just states that if you don't have an 11 hour overnight break, you should be paid overtime for the hours it is breached.

 

I've not checked but I would have thought the standard hours of the equity agreement fall within those set out by the WTD.

[RJS]

But employers on the technical side have the option of asking you to opt out of the working time agrement. This works well for the staff as the contract is based in over time, but it does have the draw back that you have to work lots and lots of hours.

 

The draw back for staff up and down the country is that the rules are going to change so and make it illegal to opt out of it, which means those of us who earn a percentage of our income on overtime (ie after the 48 hours in the week) are going to notice a dramtic change in wages.

does anyone know when the regulations are going to change

[Suzette]

I have been told (but not sure if it is true or not) that although Europe has implemented the WTD, the UK government has yet to make it part of the UK law, so employers are not, at the moment, obliged to obey the regs of the WTD.

 

I know that if someone wanted to they could probably go to European court and win on the WTD, but I was wondering if anyone had heard of this stuff about the UK law before....

[IanG]

I have been told (but not sure if it is true or not) that although Europe has implemented the WTD, the UK government has yet to make it part of the UK law, so employers are not, at the moment, obliged to obey the regs of the WTD.

The Working Time Regulations, which implement the WTD in UK law, have been law since 1st October 1998.

 

Link

[Brian]

As others have said the WTD is law now.

WTD and Amendments and more info here, from the DTI.

 

I think what the OP may have heard about is a review being carried out by the EU into the use of 'opt-outs' which allow employees to work longet than the permitted hours. This consultation finishes at the end of this month.

 

The European Commission has opened a consultation on Working Time with a view to revising the Working Time Directive. This is triggered partly by recent ECJ decisions dealing with 'on-call' working time, and partly by a perception that the opt-out is being abused by employers or member states (primarily, according to the consultation document, by UK employers!).

[Brian]

The annoying thing is that I want to be able to work over 48 hours but the eu won't let me....

You can at the moment, make the most of it.

[Ellis]

Does/will the 48 hour limit apply to all employments, or just to individual employments.

 

i.e. A full-time employee does casual work on the side, is that counted in the 48 hours?

[Brian]

A couple of things go towards mitigating this...

 

1. The 48 hour limit is an average over 17 weeks.

 

2. To quote from the DTI...

What should an employer do about a worker with a second job?

 

If a worker is known to have a second job, an employer should ask the worker to consider signing an opt-out agreement if the total time worked is in excess of 48 hours a week. If a worker does not wish to sign an opt-out in this situation, the worker should consider reducing their hours to comply with the 48-hour limit.

 

More generally, employers may wish to make an enquiry of their workforce about any additional employment. However, if a worker does not tell an employer about other employment and the employer has no reason to suspect that the worker has another job, it is extremely unlikely that the employer would be found not to have complied.

[Jemma]

Call me blasphemous, but I would love to be able to work a max of 48 hours a week (with the possible exception of production week). I love my job (SM or variant upon), but - and here's the controversial bit - there is LIFE to be had outside our little black boxes. We would probably be more rounded human beings if we got to see a bit more of it & therefore not burn out at such early stages (how many SMs do you know with 20+ years experience who haven't moved into another area?)

 

I have no problem working long hours when required, but so often come across the long-hours be-there-be-seen-to-be-there culture, where people come in when not necessary, or feel guilty if not at work (even if all they do when they get there is drink coffee and moan about the long hours!)

 

99.9% of us work in this industry for love, rather than money, but even so, there are very few people who on their death-bed wish they'd spent more time at the office, however great that office is.