Shops Act 1950 (repealed 1.12.1994)

22 Sunday employment. E+W

(1) No person shall be employed on Sunday about the business of a shop which is open for the serving of customers on that day unless the following requirements are complied with—

(a) in the case of a person so employed for more than four hours on any Sunday, that person shall—

(i) receive in respect of his employment on that Sunday a whole holiday on a day other than that of his statutory half-holiday, if any, and that whole holiday shall be on a weekday of the week beginning with that Sunday unless he has, in respect of his employment on that Sunday, already received such a holiday on a weekday of the previous week;

(ii) not be employed about the business of a shop on more than two other Sundays in the same month;

(b) in the case of a person not so employed for more than four hours on a Sunday in any month, that person shall receive in respect of his employment on any Sunday in the month a half-holiday in addition to his statutory half-holiday, if any, and that additional half-holiday shall be on a weekday of the week beginning with that Sunday unless he has, in respect of his employment on that Sunday, already received such a half-holiday on a weekday of the previous week:

Provided that this subsection shall not apply—

(i)

to any person employed wholly or mainly in connection with the sale of intoxicating liquor; or

(ii)

to any shop assistant employed in any premises for the sale of refreshments to whom the provisions of paragraphs (a), (b), (c) and (d) of subsection (3) of the last foregoing section apply by virtue of an election made under that section by the occupier of the premises; or

(iii)

to any person employed wholly or mainly as a milk roundsman; or

(iv)

to any person wholly employed in the transaction of post office business; or

(v)

to any registered pharmacist within the meaning of the M1 Pharmacy and Poisons Act 1933, employed in connection with the sale or supply of medicines or medical or surgical appliances in any premises required to be kept open on Sunday for the serving of customers in pursuance of a contract between the occupier of the premises and [F1 a Family Practitioner Committee]—

(a)

if he is not employed for more than two hours on that Sunday, and has not been employed on the previous Sunday, and

(b)

if on a weekday (other than the day of the statutory half-holiday) of the previous week or of the week commencing with the Sunday on which he is so employed, either he has not been, or will not be, employed before half-past ten o’clock in the morning, or has not been, or will not be, employed after six o’clock in the afternoon.

(2) For the purposes of this section—

(a) a person who works about the business of a shop for the occupier thereof shall be deemed to be employed notwithstanding that he receives no reward for his labour;

(b) in relation to any person employed about the business of a shop the following expressions have the meanings hereby respectively assigned to them, that is to say,

• “whole holiday” means a day on which that person is not employed about the business of that shop;

• “statutory half-holiday” means a day on which under section seventeen of this Act he is not employed about the business of that shop after half-past one o’clock in the afternoon;

• “half-holiday” means a day on which he is either not employed before, or not employed after, half-past one o’clock in the afternoon of that day about the business of that shop.

(3) The occupier of any shop which [F2 is lawfully] open for the serving of customers on Sunday shall keep in the prescribed form and in the prescribed manner a record of the names of and the hours worked by all the persons employed about the business of the shop on Sunday who are entitled to any holidays prescribed by this section, and of the respective days of the week upon which those persons receive those holidays.

(4) Nothing in this section shall authorise the employment of any person at any time when it would under any other provision of this Act or under [F3 section 9 of the Cinemas Act 1985], be unlawful for him to be so employed.

(5) Nothing in this section shall apply to the carrying on on Sunday of the business of a retail dealer in butchers’ meat.

(6) In the case of any contravention of this section, the occupier of the shop shall be liable to a fine not exceeding—

(a) in the case of a first offence, [F4 £25];

(b) in the case of a second or subsequent offence, [F4 £50].

In considering for the purposes of this subsection whether an offence is or is not a first offence, any offence under subsection (1) of section fifty-nine of this Act shall be treated as if it were an offence under this subsection.

(7) This section shall not extend to Scotland.

Textual Amendments

F1 Words substituted by virtue of Health Services Act 1980 (c. 53, SIF 113:2), ss. 1, 2, Sch. 1 para. 7 and S.I. 1985/39, art. 2

F2 Words in s. 22(3) substituted (26.8.1994) by 1994 c. 20, s. 4, Sch. 4 para. 23; S.I. 1994/1841, art. 2

F3 Words substituted by Cinemas Act 1985 (c. 13, SIF 45A), s. 24(1), Sch. 2 para. 4

F4 Words substituted by virtue of Criminal Law Act 1977 (c. 45), s. 31(5)-(7)(9)

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 S. 22(1) proviso (iv) explained by Post Office Act 1969 (c. 48), Sch. 4 para. 51

C2 Criminal Justice Act 1982 (c. 48, SIF 39:1), ss. 35 (in relation to liability on first and subsequent convictions), 38 (increase of fines) and 46 (substitution of references to levels on the standard scale) apply (E.W.)

Marginal Citations

M1 1933 c. 25.