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Is there any way a company can buy exemption from the Working Time Directive or offer employees bonuses to waive their rights to be covered by the legislation?

The WTD is designed to protect workers from being exploited by employers and to ensure they are safe to drive or use machinery so companies cannot bypass those regulations, even if the employees are willing to work longer hours. But there are exceptions to the Working Time Regulations if your workers:

• work a long way  from where they live
• have to travel to different places for work

There are also exceptions to cover:

• security or surveillance work
• jobs that require round-the-clock staffing
• some employees working in rail transport
• exceptionally busy periods
• emergencies

In all these cases you should average workers' hours over 26 weeks, rather than 17 weeks, to find their average working week. They are entitled to accumulate their rest periods and take them at a later date. This is called compensatory rest. In addition, your workers may be covered by other working time legislation if your business covers air, road or sea transport.

Mobile workers are not permitted to opt out of the average weekly working limit. However, they may agree - by collective or workforce agreement - to extend the reference period from 17 to 26 weeks and the amount of night work that can be worked. If you are employing young people,  there are no exemptions in these industries from the regulations for workers aged under 18.