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Do you ever feel like the working week just gets longer and longer? Well you could be right – a report suggests that people in the UK are now working more hours each week.

The report suggested that one in eight of us now works for more than 48 hours per week.

The Europeans

The European Working Time Directive sets out a number of guidelines and laws for employers to try and protect the health and safety for workers.

For example it states that any employee with a working day of more than six hours is entitled to a rest break, or that workers are allowed at least four weeks of paid annual leave per year.

Senator Paul Routier

Jersey directive?

However, as Jersey is not a member of the EU it doesn’t follow the directive and in fact the island has no legislation in place to dictate the number of hours people can work.

Ģ������Ƶ Jersey asked the Minister for Social Security, Senator Paul Routier, why there were no regulations in place to control the number of hours people work and whether it might cause problems for islanders.

He told us that there are requirements written into the island’s employment law which says that people should have at one full day off within any seven day period.

Are you a happy employee?

'No evidence' of problems

Despite the fact that there are no laws governing the amount of time people can work for the other six days Senator Routier says that he is not aware of any evidence that workers in Jersey have damaged their health or safety because or working long hours.

However, he does admit that this “doesn’t mean it isn’t an issue that needs to be looked at”.

Contracts

When workers sign a contract of employment it will state the number of hours they are required to work, Senator Routier said that if both parties adhere to those contracted hours then employers and employees will be satisfied.

The senator advises any employee who feels that they are expected to work excessive hours which breaks their contract to contact Jersey Advisory & Conciliation Service (JACS) who offer free advice.