Can an employer legally impose a shift pattern which enforces reduced weekly rests and daily rests?
For example - Working a night shift pattern starting on a Sunday night finishing on a Friday morning followed by a normal weekly rest in excess of 45 hours. Start again Monday night finishing on a Saturday morning followed by a reduced weekly rest period to start again Sunday night.
In terms of daily rest reduction, if the shift start times vary and you don’t know what your start time will be for the following shift, is it legal to force you to reduce to 9 hours e.g finish at 09.00, told next shift tarts 18.00.
My guess is that these are terms of employment issues as opposed to WTD regulation issues?
Check your contract of employment. When you reduce your daily rest I presume you’re not on a night out but travelling to and from work daily? I personally would stand my ground and refuse to take only 9 hours rest when travelling to and from work as it’s not sufficient rest for me and the overriding priority is safety. Too tired to drive? It’s not safe, is it?
MAT:
Can an employer legally impose a shift pattern which enforces reduced weekly rests and daily rests?
Yes, under the tachograph rules there is nothing to legally stop them doing that if the driver has reduced rest periods available.The company only has to schedule the work so it can comply with the regulations and if a driver has a reduced rest available then they can schedule him to use it.
You can refuse on safety grounds, too tired for example, but if you do that too often they may decide you are not suitable for the job and get rid of you. You can win the odd battle but the company will win the war.
This is one of the most asked questions on here, have a search and you will see dozens of threads on this topic. It is also one of the most popular Driver’s Myths that it is solely up to the driver whether he reduces or not.
MAT:
Can an employer legally impose a shift pattern which enforces reduced weekly rests and daily rests?
For example - Working a night shift pattern starting on a Sunday night finishing on a Friday morning followed by a normal weekly rest in excess of 45 hours. Start again Monday night finishing on a Saturday morning followed by a reduced weekly rest period to start again Sunday night.
In terms of daily rest reduction, if the shift start times vary and you don’t know what your start time will be for the following shift, is it legal to force you to reduce to 9 hours e.g finish at 09.00, told next shift tarts 18.00.
My guess is that these are terms of employment issues as opposed to WTD regulation issues?
i keep reading youll get sacked for not reducing ,but ive never seen anyone sacked for it,know plenty who under no-circumstances will reduce,work o/t etc,if its a big firm they just work round it,get round it,theres nearly always a spare driver who can cover,or a driver wholl come in for a extra shift at the drop of a hat,maybe a small firm it would have a impact,but all the firms ive worked for the job always gets done one way or another