Daylight Saving Time is coming to an end on Sunday 27th October and the clocks will go back an hour at 2am. Although many people will be tucked up in bed at this time, there are those who will be part way through their night shift, or who are scheduled to work on Sunday morning.
The clocks going back affects working hours and pay. Your clients should check their employees’ contracts to see what they say about this. A contract which states the employees’ shift starts at 12am and finishes at 8am will require the employee to work a shift of nine hours, whereas a contract which says the shift lasts for eight hours starting from 12am will allow the employee to leave at 7am as they will have worked eight hours. It is possible to agree with the employee that they will work an extra hour and leave at their normal finishing time.
In relation to pay, a contract that states the worker is entitled to hourly pay for every hour worked means they will be paid extra if they work the extra hour. Generally, salaried workers will receive their normal salary regardless of whether they work extra, although the client’s overtime rules will need to be looked at. The salaried worker still needs to receive minimum wage for this period so, if they are paid National Minimum or Living Wage or just above, they may have to be paid the extra hour to receive their legal minimum entitlement.
Your clients can choose how they treat the extra hour, subject to any contractual entitlements, but should act consistently and fairly. Generally, if they require staff to work the extra hour in October, they could allow employees to go home an hour earlier when the clocks go forward in April. This will cancel out any extra hours worked over the year.
The extra hour has the potential to affect the working time rights of night shift workers also. All night workers must not work, on average, more than 8 hours in any 24-hour period and all adult workers should receive 11 hours’ consecutive rest in any 24-hour period. Where your client requires staff to work the extra hour, they should fully consider these rights to ensure they’re not in breach.
Your clients can also remind workers who are rotad to come in on Sunday about the clocks going back to ensure they are attending work on time.
