Average weekly hours are currently worked out over a 17-week reference period (or in certain circumstances a longer period - see question four). Provided that employees are not asked to work more than an average of 48 hours a week over that period, or a total of 816 hours over the whole period, you will comply with the regulations. So you can accommodate the extra hours worked when you have rush jobs, by monitoring and managing working hours overall.
The reference period is likely to be extended to one year, as a result of the European Commission's updating exercise (see question one).
