§ Mr. Roseasked the Secretary of State for Employment whether he will now seek to provide to make it obligatory by statute for conditions to be stated concerning liability to undertake overtime or give up rest days and the disregarding of rules laid down by employers in the case of all contracts of service.
§ Mr. Chichester-Clark:The Contracts of Employment Act, 1963, as amended, already requires employers to give their employees, within 13 weeks of starting work, a written statement of their terms 55W of employment. This must include particulars of any terms or conditions relating to hours of work, including any concerning normal working hours, and terms and conditions relating to overtime working and liability to give up rest days must, therefore, be stated. Such terms are often incorporated in a collective agreement and the Act enables employers to refer an employee in the written statement to the collective agreement for details of the terms.
Although not itself a contract, the written statement provides evidence of the contractual terms agreed between the employer and employee.