Maximum consecutive working days.

[Steve Samuels]

Hi All,

I have an employee who will be needing to take some time off after an operation (3 weeks minimum), and he has requested that he use holiday days instead of receiving SSP, which we are happy with.

He typically works Monday to Friday, but with the nature of our business, we regularly attend weekend events/shows to trade. If he is coming along to these events, we would normally try to move his working days around, e.g. instead of Mon-Fri (working) & Sat-Sun (rest), we might do Tue-Wed (Off) Thu-Mon (Working).

He has requested that he just accumulates as much Time Off In Lieu as possible from working events instead of having time off at weekend. Unfortunately, his ideal scenario would mean he is working almost 2 months without a day off.

I am hoping someone can tell me what the most number of consecutive days is he can work without a day off, so we can schedule his time, to ensure he is accumulating sufficient days off, but also taking sufficient number of rest days.

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Steve

 

[Newchodge]

1 day off in 7 or 2 days in 14 are the legal requirment.

 

[DontAsk]

I often worked for far longer periods than that doing voluntary overtime.

This for a large company who I am sure knew what they were doing. HR wise.

 

[Newchodge]

I often worked for far longer periods than that doing voluntary overtime.

This for a large company who I am sure knew what they were doing. HR wise.

I am sure they knew they were breaking the law.

 

[WaveJumper]

I assume employee can not survive on SSP alone let's just hope they don't wear themselves out and then need further time off.

 

[Steve Samuels]

Thank you all.

As a small company we are not in a financial position to offer full pay for a prolonged period of sick leave, as much as we would like to, as SSP is not liveable.

We obviously do not want to overwork our staff, that being said, the weekend events are festivals and are actually very chilled, so not particularly hard work, but an easy days work is not the same as a day off.

I'm just trying to juggle between what we can afford, what our employee can afford, what he is happy with, what is a sensible amount of work, and then whether or not that breaks any laws.

All of your comments are appreciated.

Cheers,
Steve

 

[Newchodge]

Time off is a bit complicated. The legislation is about the right of the employee to time off and 1 day in 7 or 2 in 14 is the entitlement. If an employee chooses not to avail themselves of the entitlement, that is not the fault of the employer.

However

Time off legislation is about the health and safety of an employee. Allowing an employee to work 7 days per week for 2 months is not good from a health and safety point of view. Allowing someone about to undergo surgery to work without a break for 2 months is most unlikely to be sensible from a health and safety point of view.

 

[IanSuth]

Time off is a bit complicated. The legislation is about the right of the employee to time off and 1 day in 7 or 2 in 14 is the entitlement. If an employee chooses not to avail themselves of the entitlement, that is not the fault of the employer.

However

Time off legislation is about the health and safety of an employee. Allowing an employee to work 7 days per week for 2 months is not good from a health and safety point of view. Allowing someone about to undergo surgery to work without a break for 2 months is most unlikely to be sensible from a health and safety point of view.

This totally - Working time regs are an H&S law not a pure employment law for a reason - and part of that reason is to protect employees from themselves

 

[NickGrogan]

1 day off in 7 or 2 days in 14 are the legal requirment.

I often worked for far longer periods than that doing voluntary overtime.

I am sure they knew they were breaking the law.

The legislation is about the right of the employee to time off and 1 day in 7 or 2 in 14 is the entitlement. If an employee chooses not to avail themselves of the entitlement, that is not the fault of the employer.

The final post seems to contradict the first 2 comments that you made, can you clarify?

 

[DontAsk]

Time off is a bit complicated. The legislation is about the right of the employee to time off and 1 day in 7 or 2 in 14 is the entitlement. If an employee chooses not to avail themselves of the entitlement, that is not the fault of the employer.

According to your earlier reply to me, the employer would be breaking the law, unless there is a difference between voluntary overtime and "not availing themselves of the entitlement".

You can't have it both ways!

 

[WaveJumper]

A read here might help our OP:

Understanding the Working Time Regulations - Working time rules - Acas

The limits on working time as set out under The Working Time Regulations 1998.

www.acas.org.uk

 

[Steve Samuels]

@WaveJumper This is useful read, and regarding hours worked per week this helps, but I understand that this has some flexibility based on what myself and my employee agree.

I also completely understand that from a H&S perspective, making sure things are done safely is key. I would not want to put a colleague of mine in a position where they were not working safely. To add some clarity around the nature of the events, my colleague would normally be attending the events that we will have him working at. He would typically attend these events on a voluntary basis, forming part of the event that members of the public come along to see, this is his hobby, and in his previous job, he had to book leave to attend and volunteer at such events.

As we work in an industry that trades at the same events (on of the key reasons he wanted to join the team) he still attends these events, and in addition to what he would have been doing in his own time a few hours of his day are spent on our company stand, instead of with his voluntary display group. From a H&S perspective, there is basically minimal difference between these two scenarios, except that he is technically working, and accumulating leave, rather than spending it to be at these events. His activities, start & finish times, etc. are almost identical.

We value the well-being of our team, we value requests made by our team and try yo be understanding and accommodate requests where possible. I would ideally love to be in a position to offer full pay during prolonged periods of sick leave, unfortunately, we are not able to.

My wife is the MD of this company, and she is currently pregnant, making the whole workload balancing even trickier, especially trying to make sure she will actually be able to take maternity leave. We have come up with ways of making sure that we have a proposed work schedule that everyone is OK with, and my first priority is making sure that it does not push anyone too hard. The next priority is that with a safe and reasonable schedule, is it legal...

So from all of your comments, my understanding is that as long as we can look at any 14 day period, and there have been at least 2 days off, then this is OK? Is that correct?

Out of curiosity, do these rules also apply for company founders? If so, does everyone manage to stick to them?

Cheers,
Steve