Weekly Average Working Time

[saratoga]

Hiya Folks

Right. My job is that I do not use a tachograph for work, I don’t drive a goods vehicle but I do drive a 7.5t (and below). I work an 36hr/week (average hours) contract. This is classed as “Part Time” which is one day on the weekend and 3 in the week.

Now, I’ve just had a letter from my employer stating the following:

"As you may know the new road transport working time regulations, effective from 4th April 2005, require us as your employer to take account of any work you may be engaged in for other employers when we calculate your weekly average working time.

It is the employee’s responsibility under the new regulation to keep employers informed of any such work.

Whether or not you are engaged in any other work, please fill in the declaration form at the end of this letter as appropriate and return it to us by Friday 16th December 2005".

Now, forgiving the obvious thing that this letter is dated 14th and I’ve had it this evening, they want me to get it to them tomorrow? Unlikely. Off tomorrow see Away harassing Wales

As my hours fall below the 48hr/threshold, do I still need to notify them, and as I’m not affected by the WTD due to us being non-tacho… Why me?

I can either tell them I am not working elsewhere or if I am.

Assuming I had an agency job on Mon & Fri I could put 24 hours in there (2x12) and still do these hours at work as agency=tacho’d and work is non-tacho’d.

Am I making sense??

If I was around tomorrow I’d ring this transport manager for a word, but judging from what I’ve read here in the past re TM’s I doubt it’s worth the effort!!!

Most of our drivers are still getting in a nice steady 60 hrs/week simply because we are NOT goods drivers, and those are the shift times, not driving.

[zorba]

They can still do their 60 hour or more a week “shift time”, the directive only applies to “actual driving and other work” during the shift, its not tacho related, you have to remember to class tacho and WTD as two different rules even though one can compliment the other
As far as i know the directive applies to you because you are a mobile worker or drive a vehicle as part of your job’s.
It does say you should inform your main employer of other work you do outside the company, this is just to keep you legal.
No doubt someone will correct me on the wrong bits and others will add bits , but if you look around the threads you will find one where someone will direct you to the site for the ins and outs of the WTD.

[ralliesport]

Basically if you work more than a certian number of days driving (something like 8 I think) RTR time regs apply to you.

Forget about all the driving not driving loading for your jobs etc… All that matters is POA & work, wether its actually driving with a tacho or just sweeping the yard.

Basically you have to inform your main employer how many hours and what type of work you are doing, and he will add this onto you total hours.

Given the time he has let you notify him, it sounds like someone has only just pointed it out to him, so if anything comes of it, just point out that your main employer didnt tell you about this part of the law and he should get the bollocking.

However how VOSA prove you have worked without tachos, other than going through your wages from the other companies will be difficult. Cash in hand is such a good idea isnt it

[saratoga]

There’s summat funny going on here.

I rang one of my managers to report some missing equipment (well, I know where it is, I’m just not with it, ok ) and was informed that I’m not covered by the WTD nor am I required to fill the form out, but being confused by the form I have to fax it to her anyways.

I think we’re covered under the domestic hours system…

Either way it’ll probably get sorted out sometime next week… Or next year when they find the fax

Thank you for your assitance. I shall keep you abreasted of the situation…

You know I try

[geebee45]

Whether you come under the RTR depends upon whether you are exempt from EC Regs or not. There are two types of EC exemption; a) wherever you are driving in Europe eg, vehicle with permitted weight less than 3 500kg, or b) when you’re on a domestic journey eg a 17 seater minibus (including driver) going from Birmingham to London. You need to make sure that whatever you’re doing is genuinely EC exempt. Many bosses will tell you you’re exempt cos it suits their purposes.
If whatever you do is genuinely exempt EC 3820 then you are also exempt RTR. However, you then come under the older WTD Regs which limit your working week to 48 hours. However, unlike RTR, you can ‘opt out’ of WTD if you wish.
If you do agency work and come under EC Regs then you can work on 11 days in a reference period of less than 26 weeks, or 16 days in a reference period of 26 weeks or more. If you work over those limits then all your work comes back under RTR and you have to inform ALL your employers of ALL the work you do. Don’t forget that Periods of Availability and Breaks do not count towards the 48 hour average or 60 hour weekly maximum. Also, if you drive under EC Regs at any time you are required to have a daily rest period, that day and a weekly rest period for that week