General Principle
Network Vehicle Hire is dedicated to the safety & wellbeing of its Employee’s, subcontractors, customers and members of the public as well as the safety and wellbeing of any employees, contractors or third parties associated with any customers of Network Vehicle Hire or any other individual or business’ who may engage with Network Vehicle Hire in any context therefore we require all persons and business whom wish to work, provide services or engage with Network Vehicle Hire to at all times act responsibly, observe best practice and be aware of their individual responsibilities under both UK law & this policy.
Network Vehicle Hire aims to further support its employees in achieving a satisfactory work/life balance by where possible providing flexibility in leave and working arrangements which in addition to meeting statutory requirement , seeks to effectively balance individual circumstances with current business needs of Network Vehicle Hire
Working Hours
All Network Vehicle Hire Ltd employees have a minimum working week of 40 hours over seven days, from Sunday to Saturday, excluding lunch breaks, and subject to working time regulations (detailed below), are required to work such additional hours as may be reasonable and necessary for the effective and efficient performance of their responsibilities.
Working Time Regulations
The Working Time Regulations (WTR) limit the hours an employee may work to an average of 48 hours per week over a rolling 17 week period. Network Vehicle Hire recognises that occasionally work pressures may result in an employee voluntarily working more than 48 hours in any given week. However, employees and managers are expected to manage the employee’s workload and to ensure that the limit of 48 hours per week is not consistently exceeded.
Overtime working
Overtime working occurs when any employee (whether full time, part time or seasonal) is required to work in excess of their normal contracted hours.
Line managers will seek to ensure that the need to work overtime is kept to a minimum by planning workloads according to the resources available, and by supporting individuals to manage their own workloads and time effectively.
For employees who work on an annualised hours' contract, there must be agreement between the employee and line manager before any additional hours are worked, to determine whether these form part of the employee's annualised hours, or constitute ‘overtime'.
Most staff are eligible for recompense if they are required to work overtime. Recompensing eligible staff for working overtime will either be through the use of TOIL or paid overtime.
Leave/Holiday
All full-time employees are entitled to 30 working days’ paid annual leave for a complete year in employment, and should make every effort to use their full entitlement in each annual leave year. Annual leave will be calculated on a pro rata basis for: employees who work part-time (based on the hours and/or number of days they work); and fixed-term employees (based on the length of their contract).
All leave for employees who work part time or full time compressed hours will be calculated, recorded and booked in hours.
The leave year runs as per the calendar year (Jan - Dec) and employees may take up to 2 consecutive weeks’ annual leave at any time in the leave year, subject to operational requirements and management approval.
Employees must have all annual leave approved by their line manager before they take the leave and should give as much notice as possible. Each annual leave request will be considered carefully on its merit but the line manager must consider operational requirements before approving a request.
Employees are advised not to not make holiday arrangements until they have had their leave requests approved.
When an employee leaves Network Vehicle Hire employment, they are expected to take any outstanding annual leave before their departure. If this is not possible due to operational requirements, any excess days owed to them may be paid in lieu, with the agreement of their line manager. If the employee has taken too many days’ annual leave in relation to their accrued entitlement at the time of departure, Network Vehicle Hire will deduct pay for the number of days taken in excess.
Special Leave
The provision of special leave with pay is intended to enable employees to take time off work for personal commitments that are not covered by maternity, parental or other family leave.
The employee may supplement special leave with annual leave, subject to management authorization. For information regarding time off for dependents (unpaid leave) see the Family Leave Policy.
Special leave applications will be considered in the same way as other leave requests, with due regard to operational requirements and business needs.
The forms of special leave detailed in this procedure are:
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care and compassionate leave;
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court attendance (including jury service);
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public service leave;
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investiture/honours and attendance at royal garden parties.
Care and compassionate leave
Bereavement Up to 5 days special leave with pay may be allowed on the death of a close relative, spouse or partner. The application should be made to the line manager, who will consider the length of compassionate leave to be approved, taking account of factors such as: the relationship of the deceased to the employee; whether the employee has a practical role to play (for example organising the funeral or settling affairs); how far the employee has to travel for the funeral.
Care purposes Special leave with pay should only normally be awarded for care purposes where: a near relative is gravely ill; or an employee is advised to stay with a child or close relative when they are admitted to hospital.
Special leave with pay should not be granted to cover instances where members of an employee’s household, particularly young children, suffer from common ailments. Employees are expected to use annual leave to cover such contingencies.
Jury service and other court attendance
Special leave with pay will be authorised for an employee who has been summoned for jury service. However, in exceptional cases, Network Vehicle Hire may ask an employee to defer their jury service due to essential operational requirements. Employees who are required to attend court in an official capacity (such as appearing as a witness) will be regarded as being on official duty and will receive their usual pay and any travelling and subsistence allowances.
Employees who are required to attend court in any other private capacity will usually be required to take annual leave or special leave without pay to cover their absence.
In all matters of court attendance, employees: must inform their line manager as soon as they have received a notification of court attendance; must keep in contact with their line manager to update them on the duration of their absence; may claim travel and subsistence allowance if on official duty. If such allowances are received from the court or if they claim loss of earnings, they must reimburse Network Vehicle Hire for the amount received from the court.
Public service leave
Network Vehicle Hire wishes to support employees who carry out public service duties and may grant a reasonable special leave for duties such as magisterial duties (as Justice of the Peace), governor of an educational institution, members of a statutory tribunal, police authority or board of prison visitors.
Each application will be considered on a case-by-case basis to determine whether the leave can be authorised and whether it should be paid or unpaid. Factors taken into account in such decisions will include: the length of special leave requested; time the employee has already had off, including special leave, annual leave and sickness absence; operational requirements and business needs.
Investiture, honours and attendance at royal garden parties
Employees will be granted paid special leave to attend an Investiture to receive an award or to attend a royal garden party. Employees must notify their line manager as soon as they become aware of the award or invitation.
Pay policy
All payments to employees shall be made as per the terms agreed within the employee contract in place between the employee and Network Vehicle Hire Ltd at the time at which the services were rendered.
Breaches of policy
Any failure by the employee, individual, business or personnel to adhere to the GB domestic drivers hours rules or maintain sufficient records to allow Network Vehicle Hire Ltd to verify that the individual has observed his or her responsibilities under these rules may be considered a material breach of any contract or employment, subcontractor agreement or contract for services on the basis that such actions would constitute a serious breach of health & safety policy.
