The history of European working time laws 1784-2015
Some of the key events that have shaped the development of working time measures in Europe:
Date | Event |
1784 | Ten-hour day proposed at Manchester Quarter Sessions (England) |
1802 | First Factory Act (Health and Morals of Apprentices) |
1815 | Foundation in England of the ‘Ten Hours Movement’. |
1818 | Robert Owen presented a petition to the five leading European powers meeting at the congress of Aix-la-Chapelle. The document asked for the establishment of working hours restrictions throughout Europe in order to stop unfair competition. His submission was rejected as ‘lunatic’. |
1819, 1825 | British Factory Acts (not enforced) |
1831, 1833 | British Factory Act : Under 21s not allowed to work at night in cotton mills. Under 18s not allowed to work longer than 12 hours (9 hours on Saturday). Robert Owen begins to experiment with a co-operative system based on labour working time tokens. |
1843 | Ten-hour Day Act (normal working day) |
1840 | First strike for an eight-hour day – Wellington, New Zealand. |
1841 | French law limiting the hours worked by children in mines (not applied in practice). |
1842 | The first child labour law introduced in the USA. This regulated working hours in Massachusetts. |
1844 | British Factory Act: maximum working day of 12 hours for adults and 6.5 hours for children. |
1847 | Ten Hour Act |
1850 | British Factory Act: Limits for women and children introduced. Employment permissible between 6.00 am and 6.00 pm (later in winter) on weekdays and until 2.00 pm on Saturdays. |
1868 | US congress passed a law limiting daily working time to eight hours for federal employees. |
1874 | British Factory Act: Reduction of half an hour each day for textile workers. |
1890 | Berlin conference on working time. Resolutions on child labour, women and children in mining, and night work. |
1897 | ‘Eight-hour day’ strike by engineers |
1899 | Eight-hour day for all government workers – Puerto Rico. |
1900 | Foundation of the International Association for Labour. |
1905 | Berne Convention on night work for women |
1911 | Swiss federal code of obligations sets certain entitlements and safeguards for holidays and other time off work. |
1913 | Berne Convention (draft) on night work for children |
1916 | Eight Hours Act – New South Wales, Australia. |
1917 | New revolutionary government in Russia orders universal eight-hour day. |
1919 | Spain introduces national eight-hour day law. |
1919 | ILO established as part of Paris Peace Conference. First meeting in Washington USA. Convention 1 agreed a maximum 8 hour day and maximum weekly hours of 48. ILO eventually became part of The UN. |
1921 | ILO Convention 14: weekly rest breaks in industry |
1930 | ILO Convention 30: hours of work in commerce and offices |
1935 | ILO Convention 47: 40-hour week |
1936 | French laws introduced by labour minister Jean-Baptiste Lebas provided two-weeks paid vacation each year and a 40-hour week. |
1938 | US Fair Labor Standards Act introduces a standard workweek of 40 hours and pay at time and a half for overtime hours. The Act does not apply to all employees. |
1948 | ILO Convention 89: night work for women (revised Convention 4) |
1949 | Public holidays in Italy first listed in Law 260/1949. |
1970 | ILO Convention 132: holidays with pay (revised) |
1975 | EC Council Recommendation on the 40-hour maximum working week and 4 weeks paid holiday. (75/457/EEC) |
1976 | Finland introduces seamens’ working hours Act |
1979 | ILO Convention 153: hours of work and rest periods in road transport |
1985 | Common EC statutory limits for heavy goods vehicle and public service vehicle drivers |
1993 (Nov 23rd) | EC Directive on working time (93/104/EC). 48-hour week limitation (averaged), but with voluntary opt out by employees in some member states. |
1994 (Jun 22nd) | EC Directive on the protection of young people at work (94/33/EC). 40-hour week limitation on 16/17 year old adolescents who are not in full time education. |
1996 | ILO Convention 180: seafarers’ hours of work and the manning of ships. |
1996 (Jun 3rd) | EC Directive on parental leave requirements |
1997 | EC Directive on part-time work |
1998 | Revised EC Regulation on working and rest time (transport) |
1999 | EC Directive on seafarers’ hours of work |
2000 | EC Directive on working time in civil aviation |
2000 | Loi Aubry becomes mandatory in France. This sets a maximum normal working week of 35 hours in all companies employing over 20 people. The Aubry II that was passed in 2000 extended the 35-hour week to employees in small companies and to some managers (cadres). |
2000 | SIMAP ruling by the European Court of Justice. All hours spent in residence and on call must count as working time. |
2001 | BECTU ruling by the European Court of Justice. This confirmed as unlawful any qualifying period before a new employee could build up entitlements for statutory paid annual leave. |
2002 | EC directive on mobile road transport activities |
2002 | Extension of EC working time restrictions (offshore workers and doctors in training) |
2003 | New consolidated Working Time Directive (2003/88/EC). |
2003 | Jaeger ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ). If an employee is required to be present at the workplace, or otherwise at the disposal of their employer for a period between two shifts then the rest period must be classified as working time. |
2007 | French National assembly passes bill that promotes overtime working. |
2015 | European Court of Justice (ECJ) Decision concerning the working time of mobile workers with no fixed workplace. |
May 2019 Federacion de Servicios de Comisiones Obreras v Deutsche Bank SAE – on the recording of working time (ECJ Preliminary ruling)