Juggling Jobs

ASK THE EXPERTS SAFETY, LAW AND WORKING TIME DIRECTIVE FORUM (INTE
1

Hello,

I am having a problem trying to get my head around drivers hours. I have just got another job as my main one (with an agency) is only giving me four days a week on average. The new one is on fri and sat nights from 11pm for approx 6 hours.

The problem is I dont know what I should do regarding tacho printouts and weekly rest periods. Should I keep all my printouts and give them to each of my employers respectively each week? My main agency job downloads my tacho each shift anyway. Also does working nights affect my driving time allowance for the rest of the week? Also is the maximum daily shift allowed to be on duty 11 hours?

An example of the problem I have this week i worked from Tue starting at 6.00 am and worked wed and thur. On the thursday shift i finished at 2.30 on Fri morning. My other job then started fri at 11pm and sat at 11pm, lasting approx 6 hours each shift. They asked me to do sunday night too but thats when I couldnt get my head around all the tacho rules and didnt want to mess the other agency up. The question is:
What two consecutive weeks do you count? for instance I had not worked the Monday, so as i understand it that is one rest period for this week. So I could have completed the sunday shift, but then could I have worked on Monday for the main agency (say for an afternoon or evening shift) and take another two day rest period on say wed and thur so that i would be available for the following weekend for the other job? Or as i didnt do the sunday does that mean this week I have had a normal two day rest period or does it have to be consecutive. How am I in general going to get the best (ie most hours) out of the two jobs without breaking the law. Is there anything I have missed or need to know to be able to balance the two jobs and could someone provide examples as to how I may follow a pattern say for the next two or three weeks in terms of shifts assuming that I get 4 days from the agency (its sometimes only three) but the other job maintains the same two days a week.
Thanks

2

First of all you don’t need printouts, unless your card isn’t working or you need to write an explanation for something. You just need to make your card available for downloading to each company you work for.

In any two consecutive weeks.weeks you must have a minimum of one full weekly rest, at least 45 continuous hours, and one reduced, at least 24 continuous hours. Having Monday and Sunday off this week does not mean you have had a full rest period, you will have had 2 reduced. Working nights has no bearing on your driving hours which are 9 per day, extended to 10 twice per week, 56 per week and 90 per fortnight, that’s just actual driving and is the same whether you work days or nights.

Maximum daily duty is based on the amount of rest required, which is 11 continuous hours in 24 and leaves 13 for duty time. Three times between weekly rest periods you can reduce the daily rest to 9 hours, leaving 15 for duty time.

The easiest way to do it would be to work Tuesday to Thursday for the first company and do the Friday and Saturday for the other. That leaves you Sunday and Monday for your weekly rest.

Every second week you could work the above plus either the Sunday or the Monday but then you run into the problem of a reduced weekly rest and paying back the amount of hours you reduced within 4 weeks.

As you are so unsure of the rules I think until you get used to them it would be safest to work something like the following.

Week 1 Tuesday - Saturday.

Week 2 Tuesday - Saturday plus either the Sunday or Monday following the Saturday.

Week 3 Tuesday - Saturday.

Week 3 Tuesday - Saturday plus either the Sunday or Monday following the Saturday.

week 5 Tuesday - Saturday.

Week 6 Tuesday - Saturday.

Week 7 Tuesday - Saturday plus either the Sunday or Monday following the Saturday.

Week 8 Tuesday - Saturday.

Week 9 Tuesday - Saturday plus either the Sunday or Monday following the Saturday.

Week 10 Tuesday - Saturday.

Week 11 Tuesday - Saturday.

Week 12 Tuesday - Saturday plus either the Sunday or Monday following the Saturday.

And keep repeating this pattern. That way you shouldn’t run into problems with paying back the reduced rest periods within the correct time.

Between the end of one weekly rest and the start of the next it should be no more than 144 hours.

There are other ways to do it by juggling shifts, depending on their start and finish times but I have tried, and probably failed, to keep it simple for you.

3

Thanks! Crystal clear now. I was tying myself up in knots but some things arent too clear and hard to work out what is meant! Dont have time for any more detail but will post back soon when I can consider it all and try and work out more how it goes but the reply was very clear and easy to understand thanks again. :smiley: