Rest for a period of 11 consecutive hours within a 24-hour period ensures that employees have an adequate amount of time for both sleep and personal free time.

All employees, regardless of their shift pattern, require this rest.

contracts

any collective bargaining agreements that are in place

working hours records.

employees understand the rest time that they are entitled to.

The amount, length and frequency of rest breaks that employees are entitled to can be specified by:

Rest breaks:

Management should consider climate conditions when they plan breaks and rest times. In very hot temperatures, employees will need:

This requirement refers to rest time when an employee can be asked to work, only if:

There can be situations where an employee is on standby, which is when:

Examples of when employees may be on standby includes any time spent at the UoC where they could be at the direction of the company to perform a work-related task. For example:

There can also be situations when an employee is on-call, which is when:

Examples of when employees may be on-call can include:

contracts

any collective bargaining agreements that are in place.

employees understand the pattern of rest breaks that they are entitled to;

rest breaks are adequate for the needs of the employees in their context.

For overtime hours 125% of the basic wage is paid to employees.

Overtime work often involves sacrifices from employees, such as time away from family and personal life, and this additional effort needs to be rewarded.

Where collective bargaining agreements or applicable law include a premium rate that is below 125%, the ASC minimum of 125% applies.

The premium rate should be:

contracts

working hours records

payslips.

employees understand that overtime hours are paid at a premium rate;

employees understand the difference between regular hours and overtime hours;

if the bar of ‘exceptional circumstances’ is being used to determine overtime requirements.

Overtime is any additional hours spent working beyond normal working hours

This requirement does not allow these overtime hours to exceed more than 12 per week.

contracts

working hours records.

employees understand how much overtime they are allowed to work.

Overtime should not occur regularly but under exceptional circumstances, for example, overtime can be requested:

If the UoC continues to need the same jobs done in overtime repeatedly, this is an indication that the UoC may need to:

Any overtime is voluntary, meaning it can only take place if the employee:

Health and safety hazards related to excessive overtime can be avoided by implementing a clear overtime policy that:

Appropriate safeguards in place to protect employees’ health and safety can include:

health and safety risk assessment

contracts

working hours records.

employees understand that overtime hours are voluntary;

management understand the risks in working long hours and are well prepared to mitigate those risks;

regular activities are carried out in regular working hours and that overtime is used for exceptional circumstances.

 The normal workday is a maximum of 8 hours, excluding breaks, and the normal work week is a maximum of 48 hours.

Where collective bargaining agreements, industry standards or national law require a shorter day or week, this applies.

The ILO defines shift work as: ‘a method of organisation of working time in which workers succeed one another at the workplace so that the establishment can operate longer than the hours of work of individual workers at different daily and night hours’.

Where collective bargaining and national law allows, the UoC can employ people to work in shifts:

Appropriate safeguards in place to protect employees’ health and safety can include:

employee contracts

payslips

working hours records

health and safety risk assessment.

any different shift patterns have been entered into voluntarily by employees;

the UoC understands the risk inherent in long working hours and fatigue and appropriate mitigations are being implemented.

The UoC’s working hours recording system:

working hours records, which include:

employees are aware that their working hours are being recorded;

employees are able to access their working hours records;

employees are able to confirm the accuracy of the working hours records;

pay slips, employee contracts and working hours records are all aligned.

National legal requirements on working hours, premium rates, rest times, shift patterns and annual leave can vary according to the country where the UoC is located.

National legal requirements should always form the minimum requirement for the UoC.

Collective bargaining:

Annual leave:

ILO Convention No. 132 (Holidays with Pay Convention, 1970) specifies that annual leave is:

ILO Convention No. 146 (Seafarers’ Annual Leave with Pay Convention, 1976) can apply in aquaculture when vessels used by the site and subcontractors travel between sites in open water. This convention specifies:

Annual leave days are not the same as public holidays, which are:

any written collective bargaining agreements that are in place

information about national legal requirements regarding premium rates, working hours, shift patterns, rest breaks and annual leave.

employees understand that they have the right to engage in collective bargaining about their terms and conditions;

employees have been provided the opportunity to engage in collective bargaining

any collective bargaining agreements in place meet national legal requirements or the ASC Farm Standard, whichever is stricter, at a minimum.

<https://ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—ed_protect/—protrav/—travail/documents/publication/wcms_491374.pdf>

Many countries have legal requirements for the provision of maternity protection for women employees. These typically include:

written confirmation (either in contracts or a company policy or information document) that maternity provisions have been included that meet the requirements of local legislation

evidence of maternity leave being paid, where national law requires.

employees’ understanding of maternity or paternity leave rights;

employees who have taken maternity/paternity benefits have rejoined work at the same or similar position without a reduction in wages;

the UoC does not discriminate in hiring between genders so that they can avoid being obligated to pay maternity (or paternity) benefits to employees, see ASC Farm Standard Criterion 3.4 (Discrimination).

International Labour Organization (ILO) V. Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (No. 183)

Wage payment can be documented in several ways, often through a payslip including all wage information. This can be given to the employee:

If loan interest rates are charged by the UoC, they should be:

For each payment cycle, the UoC should provide a written pay record (such as a payslip) to each employee detailing the following:

The pay record should:

employee contracts

payslips

any loan agreements in place

working hours records

documented wage information, including advances or any withholdings.

records of wage payments;

accuracy of wage payments;

employees’ access to wage information through employee interviews.