Opt out of working time limits? (48hr week)

DD265

I've been asked by my employer to sign a form stating that I will opt out of the 48hr working week limit. I didn't sign this when I first joined the company and mysteriously a form has appeared on my desk this week.

I'm contracted to do 42.5 hours a week. I don't do as much overtime as I used to, and I work an extra 4 hours on a weekend about once every 4 weeks. I'm salaried (whereas when I was paid hourly I worked every hour that I could!) and the notice period to opt back in for this is 3 months on this form.

Truth be told I don't want to work all of the hours under the sun, but I'm sure that even if I did opt out I could still say no to unreasonable over time. I've found plenty of information on what these are, but nothing which tells me why I should or shouldn't opt out!

Is it a good/bad idea or does it not really make any difference?

Lovelyjoolz

If you regularly work 46.5 hours, it's worth signing it. It doesn't commit you to working extra hours (unless your contract of employment says so), but it does protect your employer in the event you do throw in a couple fo extra hours that push you over the 48hrs.

This is probably why they are asking you to sign it now. You're regularly approaching 48hrs and they are getting twitchy in case you go over and they are not covered.