Sunday working and night working

The rules about working on Sunday

The rules about Sunday working depend on what is in the contract for most workers, but special rules apply to shop and betting workers.

Shop and betting workers in England and Wales have the right to refuse to Sunday work, and are protected against dismissal, selection for redundancy or other detrimental treatment, eg refusal of promotion or training. The rules covering Sunday working apply only to employees and not others. Some shop and betting workers are automatically protected from having to work on Sundays. These are:

• shop workers who've been with the same employer since August 25 1994 or earlier
• betting workers who've been with the same employer since January 2 1995 or earlier
• shop and betting workers who cannot be required to work on Sundays under their contract

They can give up this right only by giving a written, signed and dated opt-in notice to their employer and then agreeing what Sunday work they are willing to do.

All other shop and betting workers can opt out of Sunday working if they want, giving three months' written notice without reason.

If you have any shop or betting workers who are, or may be, required to work on Sundays you must give them a written statement explaining their opt-out right. If you fail to do this within two months of their employment start-date, they only need to give one month's opt-out notice. You can find the text you must use for an opt-out statement at the DTI website.

Shop and betting employees who opt in to Sunday working have the right to change their minds and opt out.

The Sunday working rules apply irrespective of age and service-length, but they don't apply to anyone employed to work on Sundays only - see our guide on Sunday trading.

Similar rights were extended to shop and betting employees in Scotland on 6 April 2004. However, in Scotland, the only automatically protected employees are those whose contracts cannot require them to work on Sundays. Those whose contracts require or may require them to work on Sundays will have to opt out and serve a three-month notice period if they are no longer willing to work on Sundays. This is regardless of whether they were employed in shop or betting work before or after 6 April 2004.

Subjects covered in this guide

• Introduction
• The rules about working on Sunday
• The rules about working at night
• Shift working involving Sunday/night work
• Terms and conditions for Sunday and night workers

 

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