PART 2

Working Hours and Pay Reference Period

8. —(1) For the purpose of determining under this Act whether an employee is being paid not less than the minimum hourly rate of pay to which he or she is entitled in accordance with this Act, but subject to section 9 , “working hours”, in relation to an employee in a pay reference period, means—

(a) the hours (including a part of an hour) of work of the employee as determined in accordance with—

(i) his or her contract of employment,

(ii) any collective agreement that relates to the employee,

(iii) any Registered Employment Agreement that relates to the employee,

(iv) any Employment Regulation Order that relates to the employee,

(v) any statement provided by the employee's employer to the employee in accordance with section 3(1) of the Terms of Employment (Information) Act, 1994 ,

(vi) any notification by the employee's employer to the employee under section 17 of the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997 ,

(vii) section 18 of the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997 , or

(viii) any other agreement made between the employee and his or her employer or their representatives that includes a provision in relation to hours of work,

or

(b) the total hours during which the employee carries out or performs the activities of his or her work at the employee's place of employment or is required by his or her employer to be available for work there and is paid as if the employee is carrying out or performing the activities of his or her work,

whichever, in any case, is the greater number of hours of work.

(2) “Working hours” under this section shall include—

(a) overtime,

(b) time spent travelling on official business, and

(c) time spent on training or on a training course or course of study authorised by the employer, within the workplace or elsewhere, during normal working hours,

but shall not include—

(i) time spent on standby or on call at a place other than a place of work or training provided by or on behalf of the employer for whom the employee is on standby or on call,

(ii) time spent absent from work on annual leave, sick leave, protective leave, adoptive leave, parental leave, while laid-off, on strike or on “lock-out”, or time for which the employee is paid in lieu of notice, or

(iii) time spent on travelling between an employee's place of residence and place of work and back.

9. —(1) Where an employee's working hours are assessed as provided in section 8 (1) (b) but are not normally controlled by his or her employer, the following shall apply:

(a) the employee shall keep a written record of his or her working hours during every day he or she is employed during a pay reference period;

(b) the employee shall give the record to his or her employer as soon as reasonably practicable after the end of the pay reference period;

(c) if the employee fails to comply with paragraph (b), the working hours of the employee shall be calculated in accordance with section 8 (1) (a) and the employer shall notify the employee of that circumstance as soon as possible after the expiration of the period, but in any case not later than at the time of receipt by the employee of his or her pay for the working hours concerned.

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to an employee whose average hourly rate of pay for the working hours concerned is likely to be not less than 150 per cent, or such other percentage as may be prescribed, of the national minimum hourly rate of pay.

(3) An employee who provides his or her employer with information in a record of working hours under this section that the employee knows to be false or misleading in a material respect shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,500.

10. —An employer shall select as a pay reference period for the purposes of this Act a period not exceeding one calendar month.