With the festive season in full swing, shoppers are taking to high street in their thousands every day, getting everything they need in time for December 25.

Customer service staff are often overworked during the Christmas period

Customer service staff are often overworked during the Christmas period

The majority of us tend to spend between £500-£700 on gifts at Christmas. That’s before we’ve forked out on food and drink for the day, party wear, and Christmas outings in the run up to the day.

If you work in retail you will know all too well that this time of the year is even more hectic than usual, and with the seasonal panic kicking in as the countdown to Christmas closes in, most customer service staff can’t wait for the festivities to die down so they can have a well-earned rest.

And the same goes for hospitality workers. With the rush of work Christmas dos, family parties and consumers generally spending more money because it’s Christmas, means longer hours in a more stressful working environment for those of us who provide the services.

But even though many customer service workers feel obliged to take on more hours with less breaks, it’s important to know what you’re entitled to legally as a worker. Overworking, or working shifts without a proper break, will eventually wear you down. Christmas is no excuse to be exploited by an employer.

Here are some useful laws to remember when you see your rota for the coming weeks…

  1. Workers have the right to one uninterrupted 20 minute rest break during their working day, if they work more than 6 hours a day. Employers can say when employees take rest breaks during work time, as long as the break is taken in one go (and not at the beginning or the end of the shift), and workers are allowed to spend it away from their desk or workstation.
  2. Workers have the right to 11 hours rest between working days. This means if you finish work at 10pm, you shouldn’t start work again until at least 9am the following day.
  3. Workers have a right to either an uninterrupted 24 hours rest without any work each week, or an uninterrupted 48 hours rest without work each fortnight. This means you should not be working, for example, 14 consecutive days.

For the full list of laws on working, visit https://www.gov.uk/browse/employing-people

by for www.femalefirst.co.uk

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