Applying Secondary Legislation

Required reading:

Working Time Regulations 1998 (free)

The context

The aim of this exercise is to familiarise you with secondary legislation. It tests your understanding of how a statutory instrument is structured and how it might be applied. You are unlikely to need a detailed understanding of the Working Time Regulations 1998 in a study on the Legal System of England and Wales. However, using it as a vehicle for exploring forms of delegated legislation can help you to develop your legal skills.

The second part of the exercise is intended for you to be able to identify issues in a hypothetical situation and apply the Working Time Regulation 1998 in providing advice. This is a core skill for any legal study.

The final part is to seek out relevant amendments to the Working Time Regulations.

Also, be aware that the Working Time Regulations have been amended over time and the link above is to the original set of regulations as made.

This may be a challenging endeavour if it is the first time that you have tackled a piece of secondary legislation but the more that you read, the more familiar the drafting language will become!

Questions to consider and activities to complete, with the help of the Working Time Regulations 1998:

Part 1: Comprehension questions:

How long was the gap between the Regulations being made and them coming force ?
From which Act of Parliament did the Government Minister acquire the power to pass the Regulations?
What was the name of the Minister, and the Department which they represent, who made the Regulations?
What is the minimum period of rest in regulation 12 that an adult worker may expect to receive if working 7 hours?
According to regulation 18, which is excluded from aspects of the Working Time Regulations 1998?
By cross-referencing regulation 19 with the relevant parts of the Working Time Regulations 1998, which rights are not applicable to domestic servants in private households?
Using the regulation headings to guide you to the relevant provision, for how long do employers need to keep records of compliance in relation to the regulations?

Part 2: Applying the law to a scenario:

Amandeep, Felix and Jojo all work for Henllys Homes, an estate agent based in South Wales. They have all worked for the company for a year and are now facing some problems in their employment.

Amandeep is becoming exhausted by the very long hours that she is being made to work. Over the last 20 weeks, there have been many occasions where she has worked 60 hour weeks. There were two weeks where she worked 45 hours but every other week has been above 50 hours. She does not feel like she can continue with this level of work.

Felix is 17 and works occasionally for the company when he is not needed at College. He normally works for 5 hour shifts and is not given a break. When he asked his manager about having a break he is initially told that the company ‘in line with the Working Time Regulations’ only gives breaks where the shifts are 6 hours or longer.

Jojo wants to take some holiday to go abroad in the summer. She is denied by her employer because she has already taken 3 weeks of leave and her manager tells her that she isn’t entitled to more.

Advise Amandeep, Felix and Jojo as to their rights under the Working Time Regulations 1998 as originally made.

Part 3: Researching Change

The Working Time Regulations 1998 have been subject to further amendments. Using your research skills, find The Working Time (Amendment) Regulations 2007 on legislation.gov.uk and explore what changes were made to the annual leave entitlement under the original regulations.

Also, find the 365th statutory instrument of 2020. It also relates to the Working Time Regulations 1998. Using the Explanatory Notes to that statutory instrument, explain what changes the 2020 regulations are intended to make to annual leave allowances.

Required Reading

Conext

Questions