APRS NEWS
September 1998

WORKING TIME DIRECTIVE and FAIRNESS AT WORK

Members will have read previously many - with dismay - about the Working Time Regulations that come into effect, after a rapid passage through Parliament in the summer, on 1 October. Recording studios in particular would do well to catch up on the implications of a maximum 48-hour week, restrictions on night working, the rights of employees [including temporary or agency workers] to 3 weeks paid holiday this year and 4 weeks after 1999, and the requirements for much extended
employee records and health assessments.

A government white paper recently outlined a further new package, termed Fairness at Work, and this is now en route to becoming law.

While, on the surface, the Fairness rules seemed to be aimed principally at large employers, it is becoming apparent that the impact could be devastating for medium and small businesses. The legislation which is likely to be enacted next spring will introduce and consolidate rules on maternity and paternity leave, unfair dismissal rights [especially significant to all who employ freelances and part-timers] and union recognition. Here again, the problem for employers lies not only in the measures themselves, but also in the stifling effect of the associated bureaucratic requirements; small firms can ill afford time for more red tape.

Bodies such as the FPB [Federation of Private Business, which The APRS supports] have lobbied Peter Mandelson to push for the negative impact on smaller businesses to be taken fully into account before the Bill is drafted.