Help with employment law

john_trfc

Anyone know anything about employment law, could you help me with a few questions

Firstly my Girlfiend who works as a support worker in supported living housing has been on a retainer shift(on call) today which operates in a 24 hour period from 9am one morning to 9am the next

She has just been called at 22.15 to do a night shift where she is required to stay awake and lasts from when she gets to work about 22.30 till 8am

What are the leaglities of this, surely if required to do a night shift they must notify her earlier in the day in order for her to get some sleep before the shift??

Whilst I'm asking what is the legality of her working from 7.30am to 10pm without a break/rest period.

Also If she finishes a shift at 10pm is it legal for her to start at 7.30am the following morning, i thought there had to be an 11 hour break between shifts??

Quickly glancing through her contract, she has opted out of the 48h working week, don't know how that would effect her situation apart from that its fine for her to work 48h+ weeks

Thanks very much for any help

John

princessdon

Can't talk legalities - but many on call do so and worse.

I guess a lot depends on the contract she has

elsien

john_trfc wrote: »

Whilst I'm asking what is the legality of her working from 7.30am to 10pm without a break/rest period.

Also If she finishes a shift at 10pm is it legal for her to start at 7.30am the following morning, i thought there had to be an 11 hour break between shifts??


John

Not necessarily - there are some businesses where it's not possible to take rest periods or have the 11 hours between shifts. In which case compensatory rest applies - see toward the bottom of the page.
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/WorkingHoursAndTimeOff/DG_10029451

As long as it balances out over time, it's not an issue. But as she's opted out of the working time directive anyway, she's not really got any grounds to complain.

Re the on-call, the whole point is generally to provide cover in case of an emergency. Which by definition can't be planned ahead. So how can they forewarn her to get some sleep if they don't know she's needed till the last minute? I'm thinking of situations where someone doesn't turn up for their shift and the person they are supporting isn't safe to be left on their own, for example. All part of the joys of working in social care.

Although having said that, some companies are better than others, so if it's a real issue for her she may want to look elsewhere.

LittleVoice

elsien wrote: »

But as she's opted out of the working time directive anyway, she's not really got any grounds to complain.

No - she's opted out of the maximum average 48-hour working week.