1899: 62 & 63 Victoria c.21: An Act to provide for Seats being supplied for the use of Shop Assistants.

[9th August 1899.]

BE it enacted by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

[Seats to be provided in shops, &c.]

1. In all rooms of a shop, or other premises where goods are actually retailed to the public, and where female assistants are employed for the retailing of goods to the public, the employer carrying on business in such premises shall provide seats behind the counter, or in such other position as may be suitable for the purpose, and such seats shall be in the proportion of not less than one seat to every three female assistants employed in each room.

[Penalty.]

2. Any person failing to comply with the provisions of this Act shall be liable, on summary conviction, for a first offence to a fine not exceeding three pounds, and for a second or subsequent offence to a fine not less than one pound and not exceeding five pounds.

[Commencement of Act.]

3. This Act shall come into force on the first day of January one thousand nine hundred.

[Construction and short title.]

4. This Act shall be read and construed as one with the Shop Hours Acts, 1892 to 1895, and may be cited separately as the Seats for Shop Assistants Act, 1899.

Source: Public General Statutes, 1899.

Further reading: Wikipedia.