The Working Time Regulations 1998

Regulation 2

SCHEDULE 1WORKFORCE AGREEMENTS

1.  An agreement is a workforce agreement for the purposes of these Regulations if the following conditions are satisfied—

(a)the agreement is in writing;

(b)it has effect for a specified period not exceeding five years;

(c)it applies either—

(i)to all of the relevant members of the workforce, or

(ii)to all of the relevant members of the workforce who belong to a particular group;

(d)the agreement is signed—

(i)in the case of an agreement of the kind referred to in sub-paragraph (c)(i), by the representatives of the workforce, and in the case of an agreement of the kind referred to in sub-paragraph (c)(ii) by the representatives of the group to which the agreement applies (excluding, in either case, any representative not a relevant member of the workforce on the date on which the agreement was first made available for signature), or

(ii)if the employer employed 20 or fewer workers on the date referred to in sub-paragraph (d)(i), either by the appropriate representatives in accordance with that sub-paragraph or by the majority of the workers employed by him;

(e)before the agreement was made available for signature, the employer provided all the workers to whom it was intended to apply on the date on which it came into effect with copies of the text of the agreement and such guidance as those workers might reasonably require in order to understand it fully.

2.  For the purposes of this Schedule—

“a particular group” is a group of the relevant members of a workforce who undertake a particular function, work at a particular workplace or belong to a particular department or unit within their employer’s business;

“relevant members of the workforce” are all of the workers employed by a particular employer, excluding any worker whose terms and conditions of employment are provided for, wholly or in part, in a collective agreement;

“representatives of the workforce” are workers duly elected to represent the relevant members of the workforce, “representatives of the group” are workers duly elected to represent the members of a particular group, and representatives are “duly elected” if the election at which they were elected satisfied the requirements of paragraph 3 of this Schedule.

3.  The requirements concerning elections referred to in paragraph 2 are that—

(a)the number of representatives to be elected is determined by the employer;

(b)the candidates for election as representatives of the workforce are relevant members of the workforce, and the candidates for election as representatives of a group are members of the group;

(c)no worker who is eligible to be a candidate is unreasonably excluded from standing for election;

(d)all the relevant members of the workforce are entitled to vote for representatives of the workforce, and all the members of a particular group are entitled to vote for representatives of the group;

(e)the workers entitled to vote may vote for as many candidates as there are representatives to be elected;

(f)the election is conducted so as to secure that—

(i)so far as is reasonably practicable, those voting do so in secret, and

(ii)the votes given at the election are fairly and accurately counted.

Regulations 13(4), 15(6) and 43

SCHEDULE 2WORKERS EMPLOYED IN AGRICULTURE

1.  Except where, in the case of a worker partly employed in agriculture, different provision is made by a relevant agreement—

(a)for the purposes of regulation 13, the leave year of a worker employed in agriculture begins on 6th April each year or such other date as may be specified in an agricultural wages order which applies to him; and

(b)the dates on which leave is taken by a worker employed in agriculture shall be determined in accordance with an agricultural wages order which applies to him.

2.  Where, in the case referred to in paragraph 1 above, a relevant agreement makes provision different from sub-paragraph (a) or (b) of that paragraph—

(a)neither section 11 of the Agricultural Wages Act 1948(1) nor section 11 of the Agricultural Wages (Scotland) Act 1949(2) shall apply to that provision; and

(b)an employer giving effect to that provision shall not thereby be taken to have failed to comply with the requirements of an agricultural wages order.

3.  In this Schedule, “an agricultural wages order” means an order under section 3 of the Agricultural Wages Act 1948 or section 3 of the Agricultural Wages (Scotland) Act 1949.