S.L. 452.87 Art. 7Maximum average weekly working time.

(1) Saving as otherwise provided in these regulations, the average working time for each seven-day period of a worker, including overtime, shall not exceed forty-eight hours: Provided that:

(a) the average weekly working time shall be calculated from the total number of hours worked in a reference period as specified in subregulation (3);

(b) the periods of paid annual leave, granted in accordance with regulation 8, the periods of sick leave as specified in any relevant legislation issued in terms of the Act or as may be specified in a relevant collective agreement and any other leave to which a worker shall be entitled pursuant to any relevant legislative provision issued in terms of the Act shall not be included in the calculation of the average.

(2) Subregulation (1) of this regulation shall not apply:

(a) until 31st July, 2004 in the following manufacturing sub-sectors: - food and beverages, - textiles, - clothing and footwear, - transport equipment, - electrical and electronic machinery, appliances and supplies, - furniture;

(b) until 31st December, 2004 in respect of collective agreements existing on 12th December, 2001 in the above mentioned sub-sectors where these agreements contain clauses relevant to this regulation with validity beyond July 2004.

(3) Subject to any relevant provisions in any applicable collective agreement in accordance with regulation 3(4), the reference periods which apply in the case of a worker are -

(a) in the case of the manufacturing sector and the tourism sector, including travel and catering establishments, a period of fifty-two weeks;

(b) where a relevant collective agreement provides for the application of this regulation in relation to successive periods of seventeen weeks, each such period;

(c) in any other case, any period of seventeen weeks in the course of the worker’s employment.

(4) Where a worker has been in employment for his employer for less than seventeen weeks, the applicable reference period shall be the period that has elapsed since starting work for the employer.

(5) It shall be the duty of the employer to ensure that the limit specified in subregulation (1) shall be complied with, in the interests of the health and safety of the workers.

(6) Any provisions in any other legislation issued under the Act which relate the minimum weekly wage of a whole-time employee to a weekly working time of more than forty-eight hours, shall, henceforth, be considered to relate such minimum weekly wage to a maximum average weekly working time of forty-eight hours.