Time Off for Union & Public Duties
Employers have certain obligations relating to employees taking time off for trade union or public duties and activities..
Where the employee is an official of an independent trade union recognized by the employer he or she is entitled to reasonable time off with pay to carry out official duties related to or connected with matters falling within Section 178(2) of The Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992. The employer is also obliged to allow any such employee a reasonable amount of time off to undergo training related to such duties. Further guidance is available in the ACAS code of practice on time off for union representatives.
An employee who is a member of a recognized independent trade union has a right to reasonable time off to engage in any activities of the trade union. In any such case the employee is not entitled to payment by the employer.
Employers must give time off to employees who have been summoned for jury service and cannot insist on any change in the dates of that service. However, it might be possible by mutual agreement with the employee to put forward a more convenient time in the “Reply to Jury Summons” form before the employee sends it back to the Court. Employers are not obliged to pay employees on jury service unless there is a provision to the contrary in the employment contract.
Other public duties for which employees have a right to reasonable time off relate to positions of:
Magistrate
Local councilor
School governor
Member of a policy authority
Member of any statutory tribunal (e.g. employment tribunal)
Member of the managing or governing body of an educational establishment
Member of a school council or board in Scotland
Member of the General Teaching Councils for England and Wales
Member of the Environment Agency or the Scottish Environment Protection Agency
Member of the prison independent monitoring boards in England and Wales or
Member of the prison visiting committees in Scotland
Member of Scottish Water or a Water Customer Consultation Panel
Most employees have the right to reasonable time off work to perform such duties but this right does not apply to:
Members of the police force or armed services
Civil servants whose public duties are connected to political activities
Those employed at sea (e.g. on gas or oil rigs, fishing or merchant ships)
What is “reasonable” time off will depend on a number of factors:
* nature of the duties
* time needed to carry them out
* impact on the employers business
* time already had for similar duties
Unless provision is made in their employment contract, employees have no right to be paid by their employer for time off for public duties.
Employers can refuse an employee’s request for time off if they fairly consider it to be unreasonable. Where they make this decision the employee should be referred to the company’s grievance procedure if wanting to take the matter further.
All PBS information sheets are designed to provide the detail you need to implement best business and employment practices. They are not a detailed commentary on the current law and where advice is needed in a specific case you should contact PBS for expert consultation.
time off for duties