The Sunday Working (Scotland) Act 2003 (c. 18) is an Act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

. The aim of the Act was to close an anomaly in employment law in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, whereby shopworkers in

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...

had the legal right to refuse to work on a Sunday, when shopworkers in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

did not enjoy this right. The anomaly arose from the different legislation in force in Scotland and the rest of the UK regarding Sunday trading. In Scotland, there was never any legislation preventing Sunday trading, and shops could choose their own opening hours. However, Sunday trading was illegal in England and Wales under the

Shops Act 1950 The Shops Act 1950 was an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which was repealed on 1 December 1994 by the Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994. The introductory text describes it as "An Act to consolidate the Shops Acts, 1912 to 1938, an ...

. In practice, Scottish shops did not usually open on a Sunday as a matter of custom. Towards the end of the 20th century, demand for Sunday trading increased, and many Scottish shops began to open on a Sunday. An Act of Parliament, the

Sunday Trading Act 1994 The Sunday Trading Act 1994 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom governing the right of shops in England and Wales to trade on a Sunday. Buying and selling on Sunday had previously been illegal, with exceptions, under the Shops Act ...

was passed to allow shops to trade on a Sunday in England and Wales, subject to certain conditions. The 1994 Act also gave shopworkers in England and Wales the right to refuse to work on a Sunday (unless their contract was for work solely on a Sunday). However, as the Act did not extend to Scotland, the same rights were not enjoyed by Scottish shopworkers. Despite the differences most retailers did not force Sunday working on staff in Scotland and, generally, they were treated the same as staff in the rest of the UK, particularly the Scottish staff of UK wide chains. However, in 2001, the retail chain,

Argos Argos most often refers to: * Argos, Peloponnese, a city in Argolis, Greece ** Ancient Argos, the ancient city * Argos (retailer), a catalogue retailer operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland Argos or ARGOS may also refer to: Businesses * ...

sparked fury in Scotland when they sacked several Scottish employees for refusing to work on a Sunday. Although they later backed down, several Scottish MPs raised questions on the different legal rights between the different parts of the UK, and demanded that the right to refuse to work on a Sunday be enjoyed by workers in Scotland also. Thus, a

Private Member's Bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in whi ...

was laid before Parliament by

Malcolm Savidge Malcolm Kemp Savidge (born 9 May 1946 in Surrey, England) is a politician in the United Kingdom. He was Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) for Aberdeen North, in Scotland, from the 1997 general election until he stood down at the 2005 ge ...

, MP for Aberdeen North.

Section 1 - Sunday working: shop and betting workers in Scotland

This section amends the

Employment Rights Act 1996 The Employment Rights Act 1996 (c. 18) is a United Kingdom Act of Parliament passed by the Conservative government to codify existing law on individual rights in UK labour law. History Previous statutes, dating from the Contracts of Employment ...

. It came into force on 6 April 2004.

Sections 3 and 4

Sections 3 and 4 came into force on 10 July 2003.The

Interpretation Act 1978 The Interpretation Act 1978 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act makes provision for the interpretation of Acts of Parliament, Measures of the General Synod of the Church of England, Measures of the Church Assembly, subord ...

, section 4(b)

References

External links

BBC News- Argos Sunday working climbdown

UK legislation

* {{UK legislation United Kingdom labour law Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning Scotland Retailing in Scotland United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 2003 2003 in Scotland Working time Sunday 2003 in labor relations