TUC: Staff working extra hours should seek advice

HR departments may wish to offer support and advice to employees feeling they are having to work unpaid hours, following comments made by the Trade Union Congress (TUC).

Paul Sellers, a policy adviser at the TUC, said such employees needed to know their rights.

"Your rights include the right to a short break in the day. If you work more than six hours you are entitled to a break of at least 20 minutes, that’s a European law under the Working Time Directive," he explained.

However, he added that as holiday rights recently increased in April, many managers may not have yet caught up.

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Recent research by Just-Eat.co.uk revealed that UK workers are giving employers £1.5 billion in unpaid hours a week.

Workers from Sheffield work the most unpaid hours in the country, giving on average 6.4 extra hours’ labour per week. 12 per cent of the survey respondents across the country said they thought they worked over seven hours unpaid every week.