A clause banning you from working elsewhere while on a zero-hours contract has no legal force — and there's no minimum length of service required before you can challenge being punished for ignoring it.
The Legislative Ban: Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015
A zero-hours contract is an arrangement where the employer has no obligation to guarantee any minimum number of working hours. Because this structure leaves workers vulnerable to income suppression if they're also barred from seeking other work, Parliament enacted Section 27A of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (introduced via the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015), declaring all exclusivity terms in zero-hours arrangements legally void.
The general rule (ERA 1996 s.27A): any contractual clause in a zero-hours contract that prohibits you from seeking work or working for another employer is null and void in law — unenforceable, regardless of what the contract says or whether you signed it.
Expansion to low-income workers (2022): under The Exclusivity Terms in Small Work Contracts Regulations 2022, exclusivity bans are also unenforceable for workers earning at or below the Lower Earnings Limit (LEL) — extending the same protection beyond zero-hours contracts specifically to other low-income working arrangements.
Protections Against Detriment and Dismissal
To make sure workers can actually exercise this right without fear, UK labor law provides direct recourse to an Employment Tribunal:
- Automatically unfair dismissal (ERA 1996 s.104A): dismissing someone because they accepted secondary employment under another contract is automatically unfair. Critically, no qualifying two-year period of continuous service is required to bring this specific claim — unlike most unfair dismissal claims, which do require two years' service. This means even a very new employee is protected here.
- Protection from detriment (ERA 1996 s.47E): if you're subjected to reduced hours, shift cancellation, or disciplinary action because you took secondary employment, you can bring a claim against your employer for financial loss and injury to feelings — separate from, and in addition to, an unfair dismissal claim if you were also fired.
What This Means for You
If your zero-hours contract contains a clause forbidding you from working for anyone else, you can disregard it — it has no legal force. If your employer has already reduced your hours, cancelled shifts, or disciplined you specifically because you took a second job, that's a distinct legal claim you can bring regardless of how long you've worked there. Document exactly what happened and when, since the timing relative to your other employment starting is often the key evidence in these cases.
Log every relevant conversation about shift changes or disciplinary action as it happens, since a contemporaneous record is far stronger evidence than a reconstruction after the fact.
Related Kibbo Tools
- Employment Communication Log (Template) →
- Before Signing an Employment Contract Checklist →
- Employment Complaints (Directory) →
Sources
- GOV.UK — Zero-hours contracts guidance, exclusivity term prohibitions. gov.uk
- Legislation.gov.uk — Employment Rights Act 1996, Section 27A. legislation.gov.uk