{"id":26955,"date":"2018-07-23T15:47:59","date_gmt":"2018-07-23T14:47:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/?p=26955"},"modified":"2018-07-23T16:08:03","modified_gmt":"2018-07-23T15:08:03","slug":"uk-heatwave-what-does-the-law-say-on-employee-rights-during-hot-weather","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/2018\/07\/23\/uk-heatwave-what-does-the-law-say-on-employee-rights-during-hot-weather\/","title":{"rendered":"UK HEATWAVE: WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY ON EMPLOYEE RIGHTS DURING HOT WEATHER?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>THE hottest day of the decade could be on its way to the UK \u2013 with the mercury set to climb to highs of 34 degrees on Wednesday (25 July), according to the Met Office.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-26956\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Laura-Kearsley-1-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Laura-Kearsley-1-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Laura-Kearsley-1-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Laura-Kearsley-1-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Laura-Kearsley-1-696x1044.jpg 696w, https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Laura-Kearsley-1-1068x1602.jpg 1068w, https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Laura-Kearsley-1-280x420.jpg 280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/>But the sun\u2019s rays can make the working environment almost unbearable.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nelsonslaw.co.uk\/people\/laura-kearsley\/\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Laura Kearsley<\/span><\/a>, partner and solicitor in the employment team at East Midlands-based Nelsons Solicitors, explains what the law says on employee rights during hot weather.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Can I leave my workplace if it becomes too hot?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Not unless you feel unwell and you need to take sick leave. The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 places a legal obligation on employers to provide a \u201creasonable\u201d working temperature in the office. Your employer has a duty to determine what reasonable comfort will be in the particular circumstances.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Are there any other regulations that protect workers during hot weather?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In addition, the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires employers to make a suitable assessment of the risks to the health and safety of their employees.<\/p>\n<p>The temperature of the workplace is one of the potential hazards that employers should consider when doing risk assessments.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Does my boss have to legally provide air conditioning in the office?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>No, they do not. Where working temperatures are uncomfortable, employers should consider:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Using fans or air conditioning if available<\/li>\n<li>Providing cool water in the workplace and encouraging workers to drink it to prevent dehydration<\/li>\n<li>Modifying the dress code requirements if appropriate<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>However, sensible employers will use mobile air conditioning units and fans to keep workers cool. If you have other suggestions for how your employer could make working in the warm weather more comfortable, you should pass these on.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Is it acceptable for me to wear shorts and flip flops in the office during warm weather? What will happen if I defy my employer?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Your employer may change dress code requirements in warmer weather if this is appropriate. However, they are still entitled to insist on certain standards of appearance \u2013 particularly for customer-facing roles and for shoes and clothing to be sensible for health and safety reasons.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Are there any other regulations that protect workers during hot weather?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The general duties for employers to treat employees with trust and confidence apply throughout the employment relationship.\u00a0 At times of hot weather and uncomfortable working conditions, employers will need to be considerate to employees \u2013 after all, if staff are too hot, they won\u2019t be at their most productive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>THE hottest day of the decade could be on its way to the UK \u2013 with the mercury set to climb to highs of 34 degrees on Wednesday (25 July), according to the Met Office. But the sun\u2019s rays can make the working environment almost unbearable. Laura Kearsley, partner and solicitor in the employment team [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26957,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53,38,3,112,246],"tags":[1282,1171,1281],"class_list":["post-26955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest","category-national-news","category-news","category-top-stories","category-weather","tag-employee-rights","tag-heatwave","tag-uk-heatwave"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}