The Enterprise Act 2016 received royal assent on 4 May 2016 and contains significant provisions strengthening the rights of Sunday shop workers. This has gone largely unnoticed by many retailers due to the government's initial proposal to devolve powers over Sunday trading hours to local authorities being defeated in the House of Commons.
It is not known when these new provisions will come into force; however, employers should start thinking about the potential impact of these provisions to avoid future operational headaches.
Current Position
Changes
When the new provisions of the Enterprise Act 2016 come into force, employers will need to consider the following:
Practical Tips
Although these changes may appear to favour the workers and provide little power to the employer, there are some practical solutions that an employer can try to ensure adequate staffing levels on Sundays.
Firstly, workers who are only employed to work on Sundays are excluded from being able to opt out of Sunday working. Therefore, an employer may want to consider employing Sunday-only staff, in combination with regular, experienced staff. By doing this, the regular staff would work a more acceptable amount of Sundays, for example, one Sunday a month.
Secondly, there is no obligation on an employer to pay Sunday workers a premium. However, to limit the amount of workers opting out of Sunday working, an employer may wish to pay Sunday workers a premium or provide them with additional benefits to discourage workers from opting out of Sunday working.
Written by Louise Workman and Jessica Tallon.
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