A zero-hour contract (or zero-hours contract) is a recent type of contract under which an employer does not guarantee the employee a fixed number of hours per week. Rather, the employee is expected to be on-call and receive compensation only for hours worked.
Sutherland and Canwell have defined zero hour contract as an arrangements between an employer and an employee who has agreed to be available for work as and when required, therefore no particular number of hours of times of work are specified. Zero hour contracts may suit some people who want occasional earnings, but they do run the risk of being misused, for instance when employees are asked to stop work during quiet periods but remain on the premises in case they are needed.
In the United States, under the National Minimum Wage Regulations (1998), workers operating under a zero hour contract on stand-by time, on-call time and downtime must be paid the national minimum wage, provided they are work for. Similarly, this amount of time on premises is likely to count as working time under the Working Time Regulations (1998, 1999, and 2002) provided the worker is required to be on-call at the place of work.