Ask an expert - Rest Period
Q: Our company offers a 365-day-a-year, 24-hours-a-day service to our customers. From time to time, our engineers will be called out at night to carry out an emergency replacement. My question is that if the employee works a rotating shift pattern (which means he or she often works split shifts) and is called out at 23:00 one evening during the week to work for, say, 2 hours, where would we stand with the 11 consecutive hour rest period requirement?
A: Under the Working Time Regulations (WTR) an employee or worker is entitled to a rest period of not less than 11 consecutive hours in each 24-hour period during which he or she works for his or her employer. However, this provision does not apply to workers who are engaged in activities split up over the day (ie a split shift worker). To vary the way in which the 11-hour rest overnight is taken, you will either need special circumstances (such as the one detailed above), or an agreement.