The 48-hour week and work-related stress

It is not possible for a worker to bring a free-standing claim in the employment tribunal for breach of the 48-hour working week. Nevertheless, the fact that an employer routinely requires a worker to exceed this limit can be evidence of a fundamental breach of the duty to take reasonable care of that worker’s health and safety, supporting a claim for constructive dismissal. It can also be evidence in support of a personal injury claim in the civil courts linked to work-related stress.

In the event of a claim, it is important to provide as much hard contemporaneous supporting evidence as possible to show that the long hours claimed were in fact worked. Usually, these hours take the form of unpaid overtime, and often there will be no independent record of these extra hours. Keeping a regular daily journal is a sensible idea. In any event, the issue should be raised regularly with management, via a safety rep if available, and copies of emails and grievance letters should be kept, together with any response.

Safety reps may be in a position to get the issue dealt with at an organisational as opposed to an individual level, and may, for example, be able to use formal complaints as a catalyst to encourage the employer to conduct a stress survey and build an action plan to better manage stress (see Chapter 11: Stress, bullying and violence).

In the following case, the Court of Appeal found that working more than the 48-hour maximum was relevant evidence in a work-related stress claim: