Working Time Directive of the European Union
Working Time Directive (WTD) of the European Union is a real protective measure for workers. It was established in 1993, with the aim of improving the employment and living standards of workers within the EEC. It ensures that the safety and health of employees are protected by controlling some working hours to rational minimum hours per week. The directives bestow an EU workers the legal right to rest breaks, paid holidays each year, right to work for a maximum of forty-eight hours per week as well as restriction on excessive night work. Other provisions include minimum rest of 11 hours per day, workers to take a rest of more than six hours when working, and a full day break in every seven day period. Workers should also be given an annual leave, which is entitled for four weeks, regular health check up for night workers, and in every 24 hours, these workers should not work for an average of more than eight hours. Studies have documented that excessive working hours is the primary cause of depression, stress, and illness. The working time directives have a stated purpose to control excessive working hours thus minimizing stress, depression, and disease. If the level of stress and depression are reduced, the overall worker’s safety and health are improved.
Working Time Directive as a Necessary safety and health Measure
Working time directive of the European Union represents a significant safety and health measures which protect worker by first; the directive stipulates that each employee is entitled to an annual leave upon which this employee can relax and have some time with their respective families (Messanger, 2010, p.22). Medical practitioners advocate for rest as a form of therapeutic measure. If employees get this from relaxation every year, their overall health will improve. Secondly, limiting the number of working hours to an average of forty-eight hours per week is a good way to minimize overworks related safety and health hazards. Limiting overworking among the worker will eventually limit stress, fatigue, depression, muscle and mental related strain.
Moreover, the working time directives protect workers working on the night shifts. Typically, people working on night shift works in an environment that the only luminance is artificial light which sometimes affect visual adaptation. The directives limit night shifts to a minimum of 8 hours, to protect the safety and health of these individuals. Also, the directives cite that all individuals on night shifts be subjected to medical checkup prior employment. Such medical checkup is aimed at evaluating how well the employee can quickly adapt environment tonight: factors such as visual adaptation to artificial lights and thermal adaptation are checked.
A minimum of one day to rest per week entitlement also ensures that workers have a day to relax after a week’s work (Goddard et al., 2010). The break is an essential factor in promoting safety and health among the patients. The workers can use the rest day to engage in social activities such as team building, sports, day out with family or even a pleasant walk. Studies have shown that such activities relieve stress and depression, therefore, promoting the worker’s health. Secondly, a break to rest when the work duration is more than six hours is critical to relieving strains and muscles stresses thus promoting worker’s safety and health. The break is particularly important to those individuals engaging in strainers jobs such as driving. The break also alleviates low concentration level attributed to working for a long duration.
Working Time Directives Main Provisions
Working Time Directives cite a right for working for a maximum of forty-eight hours. Under normal circumstances, a worker should work for a maximum of forty-eight hours in a week. The forty-eight hours per week is inclusive of overtime. The average is typically calculated by averaging the working hour over a period of 17 weeks. According to this provision, a worker can work for more than forty-eight hours in a given week, but it should be compensated back in the following or another week so that the regular match to forty-eight hours calculated over four months period.
WTD dictates that each worker should rest for 11 consecutive hours for a period of one day. The provision practically cites that, a worker must rest for a minimum of consecutive 11 hours within a day before they can embark on any work shift (Msaouel et al., 2010). The employee must not assign any duty to an employee if the eleven rest hours have not elapsed.
In addition to a daily rest period of 11 hours, WTD entitles an employee to a 24-hour break each week. Each worker is entitled to a one day rest in each week. The legislation dictates that a worker should not work for more than six days in a week. Moreover, working time directive dictates a worker to be given a rest break when he or she has worked for more than six hours. Even if a worker can work for eight hours in a day, a rest break should be awarded to the worker if he or she has worked for more than six hours.
Working Time Directive also bestows workers with a right to four weeks paid annual holiday. In every year, a worker should be granted a four months annual leave which must be paid. The annual leave helps the worker to have a break from the daily routine and have some time to take on a vacation. The annual leave serves to improve productivity: after a four week rest period workers resumes work with increased motivation.
For the workers working on the night shifts, the working time directive bestows them with a right for not working more than eight hours at a particular time stretch. Night shifts working should not average out for more than 8 hours at a given stretch. An employee working in a night shift should only work for a maximum of 8 hours. For instance, if a worker starts is the shift at 8 pm, he or she should finish up his or her shift either at or early before 4 am. This provision tends to protect workers from employees who dictate a shift should be of 12 hours, maybe from 6 pm to 6 am. The directive also cites than workers on night shifts should be entitled to free health checkup before deployment on night duties. Also, the workers are entitled to periodic free health checkup to ensure their respective health status allows them to work comfortably during the night.
Despite the strict working time provisions, the WTD also delineates some derogation that exempts some part or a whole group of employees from the directives. Most of the exemptions apply to groups such as family workers, managing executives, the self-employed, and the ministers of religion. The exempts are only limited to rest breaks, rest periods, night shift working hours, and maximum working hours. The directive did not exempt this group from provisions that entitle the workers to a free health checkup for night workers as well as paid annual holiday (Breen, & Mealy, 2013, p.585). Also, to this groups, workers in the following sectors are exempted from other provisions excepts those governing annual paid holiday, weekly rest periods, night work restriction, and maximum working hours. Those sectors include ambulance services, fire services, utility workers, prison staff, care workers, health services workers, dock staff, agriculture, specific railway workers and airport workers.
Workers executing their duties in sea and fishing industry are subjected to a specific derogation that cites that, their several weekly working hours be averaged for one year as opposed to an average of 17 weeks (Ray, Sanes & Schmitt, 2013). The WTD directives further dictate that workers in this two industry must not work for the period exceeding 72 hours in any one week.
Moreover, another significant WTD derogation is the one that allows workers to voluntarily exceed forty-eight hours in a week. The workers have a right to refuse from extending the weekly working hours without any detriment to their employment. The derogations also suggested that it is possible to extend weekly hours averaging period to 52 weeks if both the employee and the employer collectively agrees to apply the rule.
How Directives Protect Workers
The working time directives seek to protect worker by ensuring the workers have an ample time to rest and are not overworked (Mestres, Revuelta & Yankah, 2006, p.573). Majorly, the directive protects workers from stress and depression associated with longer working hours, overworking, lack of occasional breaks, and certain medical conditions limiting efficiency when working in night shifts. By ensuring there is a strong legislation about working hours, the directives will protect workers from being exploited by their employees. For instance, the directives entitle a worker to a right for working at a maximum of forty-eight hours per week.
Working Time Directives as an Enhancer of Single Labor Market Integration
The working time directive certainly enhances integration across single European labor market. The directives are applied universally across the European labor market, and this will eventually enhance labor mobility (Durkheim, 2014). If there is smooth labor mobility on the market, a comprehensive integration will be achieved by the European single labor market. Employment services must be enticed and uniformed, to increase single labor market integration. The working time directive is a perfect example that explains employment services and regulations thus will indeed enhance European single labor market integration (Zimmermann & Dür, 2012). For example, the directives cite the maximum working hours as well as the minimum rest period thus the employee will be motivated to join or move from any given corporate to the next.
Furthermore, to achieve full labor markets integration, the labor market must create an open, ideal, and welcoming work environment (Egan, 2014). The working time directives aids in making sure that the working environment is welcoming through entitlement of fundamental right that protect them from being exploited by their employers.
WTD Effects on the Construction of Single European Labor Market
The implementation of the European working time directives cannot threaten the construction of a single European labor market. The directives protect any employee within the European coverage thus limiting the idea of social dumping (Rutgers, 2011, p.354). Even if the employer moves their productions in low-wage areas the working time directive will still protect the workers to the same extent as those in high-wage areas. Secondly, the directives do not have any restrictions on wages brackets; it only entitles the employees with provisions that aid to protect their safety and health as well as limiting workers exploitation. Finally, the directives also protect immigrants thus it will be irrational for companies to immigrants labor if the same directives will still govern them in the same magnitude as the residents.
Conclusion
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