Terms and Conditions of Employment (Maximum Working Time Agreements) Bill

A

BILL

TO

Restrict the use of opt outs to the 48 hour working time limit to emergencies only and to prevent new hires being conditional upon an opt out.

Be it enacted by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

Section 1: Amendment to the Working Time Regulations 1998

(1) In Part II, Section 5 of the aforementioned regulations, in section 2(a) strike “or apply indefinitely” and insert in its place “of up to 90 days”

(2) In Part II, Section 5 of the aforementioned regulations, insert after subsection 2;

(3) An agreement for the purposes of paragraph (1) must be made in response to a clear, serious and present emergency, and disregarded once the period of emergency has passed.

Section 2: Prohibition of conditional hiring

(1) An employer may not make an offer of employment conditional upon the agreement of an opt out from the maximum weekly working time specified in the Working Time Regulations 1998.

Section 3: Commencement, Extent and Short Title

(1) This Act shall come into force one month after Royal Assent.

(2) This Act shall extend to England, Wales and Scotland.

(3) This Act shall be known as the Terms and Conditions of Employment (Maximum Working Time Agreements) Act 2021.

This bill was written by the Secretary of State for Work and Welfare, the Right Honourable Dame SpectacularSalad GCMG OM CT CBE PC MP on behalf of Her Majesty’s Government.

Section 2 of this bill amends Part 2, Section 5 of the Working Time Regulations 1998

Opening Speech:

Madame Speaker,

This legislation is intended to largely remove the opt out provided for employees from the Maximum Weekly Working time. This is a statutory limit of an average of 48 hours over a period of seventeen weeks.

While in theory such an opt out can only be exercised as a matter of employee choice, employers are fully allowed to make signing an agreement to exceed the Maximum Working Time conditional for employment, and may also apply such agreements without limits to time or scope. This encourages abuse of this opt out, and it is unclear why businesses that are not already exempt under the 1998 regulations would have a genuine need for such practices.

As such, this legislation limits any opt out to up to 90 days, and requires that they be in response to a clear and serious emergency, allowing flexibility where necessary for serious situations, while allowing routine workers to enjoy the safety defacto that they are afforded de jure.

AMENDMENT 1 (A01) -

Amend Section 1(1) to read:

In Part II, Section 5 of the aforementioned regulations, in section 2(a) strike “or apply indefinitely” and insert in its place “or insofar as is up to the informed consent of the employee in question”

Amend Section 1(3) to read:

(3) An agreement for the purposes of paragraph (1) must be made in response to a clear, serious and present need - either on the side of the employee or employer, made in consultation and with the consent of both parties , and disregarded once either party revokes that consent.

Amend Section 2 to read:

Section 2: Conditional hiring

Amend Section 2(1) to read:

(1) An employer may not make an offer of employment conditional upon the agreement of an opt out from the maximum weekly working time specified in the Working Time Regulations 1998, without the informed and written consent from the prospective employee to do so - justified with both parties written reasons for wanting such an arrangement to apply to them.

Amend Section 3(3) to read:

(3) This Act shall be known as the Terms and Conditions of Employment (Working Time Agreements) Act 2021.

Explanation:

As the Work and Welfare Spokesperson for Coalition! I must say that I see no clear reason why enforcing a time limit on the agreement in this legislation is necessary - the current legislation requires the employee to "agree in writing" that they are happy to work longer than the 48 hour maximum, and if they are happy to do so and want to do so who are we to tell them otherwise? This is classic nanny-state tactics that we see far too often from the Governing parties. Likewise, requiring there to be an 'emergency' for such an agreement to be put in place is quite frankly nonsensical - I consistently work 70-hour weeks, and I am happy to do so to get the job done - why should we be restricting that personal freedom to choose?

Furthermore, I understand the point that the Rt. Hon member is making with Section 2, they want to end this practice once and for all by prohibiting these types of contracts, but my same point applies to this - people read their contracts before starting employment, and don't have to sign them, but we should give them the personal freedom to choose the kind of work that they want to do. If an employee doesn't want a job where this is conditional, as the author implies, then they simply can decline the job! Enforcing such measures for all occurrences apart from emergencies is very close-minded in my opinion and will seriously affect the productivity of this nation, and the financial wellbeing of many of our constituents.

This amendment was submitted by The Earl of St Ives

Lords may Vote Content, Not Content, or Present on the proposed amendment

Vote on the proposed amendment by the 18th December at 10pm GMT