Employees will be allowed to demand a four-day week in a new law planned for the autumn.
Under a system of ‘compressed hours’, workers could be able to work their contracted hours in four days rather than five.
The new rules are set to be included in a package of additional rights for workers brought in by Labour this autumn, The Telegraph has reported.
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner is championing the law which is being developed in close consultation with businesses and trade unions.
Currently workers have a legal right to request flexible working from their employers but companies are under no obligation to agree.
Employees could be entitled to a four-day week in a plan believed to be spearheaded by Deputy Prime Minister Angela Raynor (pictured)
However, the new package of workers’ rights will shift the balance of power with businesses forced to offer flexible working unless it is ‘not reasonably feasible’.
The increased flexibility will mean workers will have a greater legal weight behind them if they ask to complete their week’s work in four days, rather than five.
This could see employees only in the office from Monday to Thursday and taking Fridays off.
Conservatives, however, have criticised the plans, saying they would leave businesses ‘petrified’.
Kevin Hollinrake, the Tory shadow business secretary, described the legislation as ‘French-style union laws’.
He said: ‘Labour must listen to businesses who are petrified about day one employment rights and bringing in the four-day week through the back door.
‘It will be businesses and consumers who pay and growth that suffers if they don’t listen.’
In response to Mr Hollinrake’s comments, the government said it had ‘no plans’ to force businesses to accept employees’ four-day working week requests.
A Whitehall spokesperson said according to the Evening Standard: ‘We have no plans to impose a four-day working week on employers or employees. Any changes to employment legislation will be consulted on, working in partnership with business.
Currently workers have a legal right to request flexible working from their employers but companies are under no obligation to agree (stock photo)
‘Our Make Work Pay plan is designed around increasing productivity and creating the right conditions for businesses to support sustained economic growth. Many employers already provide good, family-friendly conditions for their workers because they know that doing so improves morale and retention.
‘We are working in close partnership with business and civil society to find the balance between improving workers’ rights while supporting the brilliant businesses that pay people’s wages.’
The workers rights package due this autumn has been referred to as Labour’s Plan to Make Work Pay.
It has been the subject of years of internal debate within the party but Labour has promised to submit draft legislation to Parliament by mid-October.
Other plans under consideration as part of it include giving employees the ‘right to switch off’.
The government are looking to push out a code of practice which sets out normal working hours and clarifies when an employee can expect to be contacted by their employer.
The policy, believed to be spearheaded by new deputy prime minister Angela Raynor, includes the right for worker’s to refuse to take on extra work on weekends or to carry out work-related tasks while on annual leave.
Pushy bosses who repeatedly breach this agreement could be taken to an employment tribunal and drained of thousands of pounds as compensation.
