Rules & Advice Regarding Weekend Work

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Are weekends working days?

The terms of an employee’s employment contract will determine whether they can do weekend work. 

Where a contract states that someone is required to work during a weekend, an employer can ask them to pick up tasks as either a regular commitment or as an occasional request.

It is important to bear in mind that the law states that working time covers whenever an employee does activities, duties and training that is directly tied to their work. However, it does not usually include the following:

• Commutes between an employee’s home and a company’s place of work.

• Rest breaks where there isn’t any work carried out.

• Any training that someone chooses to do that is not related to their work.

How many weekends can you work in a row?

As set out by the Working Time Regulations 1998, employees are not allowed to work over 48 hours weekly on average. These average weekly hours are usually calculated across a 17-week period though. 

What this means for employers is that someone could work more than 48 hours in one week. However, the company will need to ensure that the same employee works less than 48 hours the week after where required, so that the average weekly time does not go above 48 hours across an analysis of 17 weeks of work.

All employees in the UK are entitled to weekly rest too, which means they receive one of the following:

• Each week, an employee should be given an uninterrupted 24 hours without work.

• Each fortnight, an employee should be given an uninterrupted 48 hours without work.

There is also daily rest to be considered here, whereby employees are entitled to receive 11 hours without work between each working day. 

Can apprentices work weekends?

The rules set out in the last section apply to apprentices too, unless someone is under 18 years old. 

Additional rights are provided to people working in this age category, as follows:

• Employees under 18 years old cannot work more than 8 hours a day.

• Employees under 18 years old cannot work more than 40 hours a week.

• Employees under 18 years old must receive a weekly rest period of 48 hours.

Can an employee refuse to work weekends?

While an employer can ask if their employees are able to work outside of their standard contractual hours, they do not need to agree to this if it is not in their contract.

Also be aware that employees could make a claim to an employment tribunal if they feel that their employer has failed to follow the laws surrounding the aforementioned daily rest and weekly rest periods.

Can builders work on weekends?

Those in the UK’s construction industry need to follow rules around reasonable times for building works in residential areas as well, which may further affect when they undertake weekend work.

Here is what to remember when it comes to this topic:

• Noisy work can only be done from 8am to 6pm between Monday and Friday

• Noisy work can only be done from 8am to 1pm on Saturdays.

• Noisy work is completely restricted on Sundays and Bank Holidays.

Exceptions to these restrictions are allowed if builders are carrying out these types of work though:

• A site needs to be secured after damage caused by storms or vandalism.

• Work needs to be done to restore essential services, such as heating, water or electricity.

• A structural issue or hazard that is deemed dangerous needs fixing.

Those running a business should now have a much clearer idea about the rules and restrictions surrounding weekend work. Make sure to browse through our Trade News & Advice hub for many more helpful guides, as well as shop our wide range of building materials to equip your company’s employees with high-quality supplies ideal for domestic and commercial projects alike.