The European Parliament has voted to end the opt-out from the 48-hour working week currently contained in the Working Time Directive (No.2003/88), confirming the fears of many UK business organisations.
The European Parliament has also proposed a number of other measures to increase the protection the Directive offers to workers. The amended text, however, still has to be approved by the Council of the European Union.
Earlier this year, in order to secure the UK's agreement to the Directive on Temporary Agency Work (No.2008/104), the Council of the European Union agreed to retain the opt-out provided it was 'accompanied by a number of conditions in order to guarantee the protection of health and safety of workers'. However, these measures failed to convince the European Parliament to retain 'a provision that undermines worker health and safety'. The amended text provides for a transitional period of 36 months after the revised Directive comes into force, during which Member States would still be allowed to use the opt-out. Nevertheless, during the transitional period the opt-out would be more strictly controlled, requiring, for example, renewal every six months.
Other amendments, designed to ensure that the Directive is 'effective in protecting workers' health', include creating a right for workers to request changes to working hours and an obligation on employers to inform workers well in advance of any changes to working time patterns. Where a worker has more than one contract of employment, working time would include the total time worked under all the contracts. The amendments do not, however, address which employer would be responsible for ensuring that a worker does not work over 48 hours. It is also proposed that the entire period of on-call time will be regarded as working time, although inactive parts of on-call time may, in accordance with collective agreement or national law, be calculated so as not to count towards the maximum weekly working time.
The likelihood of the amendments becoming law depends on the attitude of the European Commission and the Council of the European Union during the remainder of the legislative process. Both the Council and the Commission may be less willing to retain the opt-out now that the UK is in a weakened bargaining position, having agreed to the Directive on Temporary Agency Work. The Commission will now deliver an opinion on the European Parliament's amendments. The Council must then approve the amendments by a qualified majority, or unanimously if the Commission delivers a negative opinion on at least one amendment. If the Council fails to approve all the European Parliament's amendments, the conciliation procedure is started with a view to obtaining a joint text.
Further information:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/
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Notes
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