EMPLOYERS are being warned of two major changes being proposed to working time laws.

The Government is planning the amendments to the Working Time Regulations, which take effect later this year, in a bid to cut red tape.

"The first change will affect managers and supervisors who have fixed contractual hours but work additional hours on a voluntary basis," said Rayner Jones, of Forbes Solicitors in Blackburn.

"These additional hours will not count towards the maximum 48 hour week.

"The second change is that employers need only maintain a simple list of workers who have opted out of the maximum 48 hours week rather than detailed records."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.