Introduction
1 Scope, coverage and key concepts
Overview of employers’ obligations
Territorial application
Meaning of ‘worker’
Meaning of ‘working time’
Agreements
2 The 48-hour week
Average weekly hours
Ensuring compliance
Opt-out agreements
Exclusions and derogations
Young workers
Health and safety
3 Rest periods and rest breaks
Preliminary matters
Daily rest
Weekly rest
Rest breaks
Monotonous work
Compensatory rest
4 Annual leave
Right to paid annual leave
Notice requirements
Holiday pay
‘Atypical’ and contingent workers
Sick workers
Family-related leave
Sabbaticals and other absences
Enforcing holiday rights
5 Night Work
Definitions
Length of night work
Health assessments
Transfer to day work
Ensuring compliance
6 Exclusions and derogations
Excluded sectors
Partially excluded sectors
Domestic staff
Unmeasured working time
‘Special case’ exemptions
Shift workers
Mobile workers
Workers in armed forces
Young workers
Collective and workforce agreements
Appendix – exclusions and derogations table
7 Enforcement and remedies
Health and safety enforcement
Complaints to tribunals
Enforcement in civil courts