The 11-hour rule is one of the most important rules to know as an employer. But what does it actually mean? And what are the consequences if you don't comply? Get an overview here.
What is the 11-hour rule?
The 11-hour rule is another of the rules stemming from the EU Working Time Directive. The 11-hour rule ensures common European standards for employees' rights regarding rest time.
The 11-hour rule states that an employee's rest period must be at least 11 consecutive hours within a 24-hour period.
This means that an employee who gets off at 02:00 must have at least until 13:00.
What happens if the employer does not comply with the 11-hour rest requirement?
If the 11-hour rule is violated, it is important that the violation is noted - possibly in a supervision book.
This is where you need to make a note:
- Which deviation is involved
- How much time
- How many employees were involved
- When the offence took place
- Why the offence took place
As an employer, you can risk being fined if you don't comply with the 11-hour rule.
Are there any exceptions to the 11-hour requirement?
Yes - there are very few rules where there are no exceptions. The same goes for the 11-hour rule.
You can't be allowed to reduce your rest period to more than eight hours - and you can only do so once a week. However, the law states that the rest period can only be reduced if you do one of the following types of work:
1) shift changes in companies operating in shift work when it is not possible to keep the daily rest period between the end of one shift's work and the beginning of the other shift's work
2) agricultural work up to 30 days in a calendar year
3) companies' annual accounting and balance sheet or sales, but no more than 14 times in a calendar year, and
4) work in warehouses and shops during the last 14 days before Christmas Eve.
In addition, the legislation states that it also applies to when meetings, cultural events and the like are organised in connection with work that is normally carried out during the day, but where contact with other groups of people in particular makes it appropriate for this work to be carried out in the evening. In such cases, the rest period may be reduced a maximum of 20 times in a calendar year.
In addition, the rules on rest periods can be deviated from if natural circumstances, accidents, machine breakdowns or similar unforeseen events occur that disrupt or have disrupted regular operations - however, the deviation can only be made to the extent necessary and must of course be noted.
What should you do as an employer if your rest period needs to be reduced?
Before you decide to reduce the daily rest period, you as an employer should talk to the union representative. Here, the organisation of the work and the extent of the reduction in rest time should be discussed. If there is no union representative in the company, employers should instead discuss it with the employees.
The outcome of the discussion is not binding on the employer, who should, however, take the wishes of the employee/trade union representative into account.
In addition to knowing the 11-hour rule, it's also important that you as an employer know the details of the collective agreement. Collective agreements may contain agreements that change the general rules for rest periods - and it's important that you know whether this applies to your employees.
What about transport time?
One of the things employees spend a lot of time doing is travelling. That's why it's important that you as an employer know whether transport counts as working time or as part of the rest period.
Ordinary transport between the employee's home and permanent workplace counts as part of the employee's rest period.
If the employee is instead hired to drive from home to work, it counts as working time as soon as the employee gets into the service car or company car and drives to work. The same applies on the return journey. In other words, working hours are counted from the time the employee pulls out of their own driveway until they enter it again at the end of the day.
If you have to attend an extraordinary meeting at a different location than your regular workplace, this means that the extra travelling time counts as working time - and is therefore not part of the employee's continuous rest period.
You can read more about rest and working time rules for business travel in our blog post here.
Does the 11-hour rule also apply on business trips?
Business travel is an exceptional situation. The 11-hour daily rest period rule does not apply when travelling abroad on business.
However, the employee must have 11 hours of uninterrupted rest calculated from the time they return home. However, this does not apply if the employee has had an 11-hour rest period in the last 24 hours before resuming work.
How do you ensure your organisation complies with the 11-hour rule?
It can be difficult to keep track of how many hours your employees work - and whether they've actually had 11 hours off. But the 11-hour rule is important to keep track of and comply with. That's why it's a good idea to look into some of the many tools that can help you get a better overview of your employees' working hours.
Some of the tools available are time tracking systems. Here you can digitally track your employees' hours. This makes it easier for you to keep track of whether your employees are working the hours they're supposed to - and getting the breaks they need. This makes it easier for you to ensure that you comply with the provisions of the EU Labour Market Directive.
A time tracking system like Intempus can do much more than facilitate daily time tracking for employees and make it easy to comply with regulations such as the 11-hour rule. It can also integrate with other systems, including quality assurance as well as payroll and accounting systems, so data can easily flow between systems. This can save your organisation hours of administration and errors. If you are curious about the possibilities with Intempus and how a digital solution from us can be customised to the needs of your business, you can try designing your own time tracking solution here:
You are also welcome to give us a call at: +45 26390400
