The employee security guard appealed against a finding that his employer had allowed rest breaks as allowed under the Regulations. He worked a continuous shift during which he was allowed to use a rest area, but he remained on call.
Held: The appeal failed. The break given to the appellant would not satisfy the regulation 12 definition of a rest break because it was subject to possible interruption, and ‘paragraph (b) merely requires that there should be objective reasons why an equivalent period of compensatory rest cannot be provided. Cases where the employer can provide neither a Gallagher rest break nor a compensatory alternative will perforce be exceptional. The reference to exceptional circumstances, as the Tribunal observed, confirms the fact that the derogation is narrow and should be restrictively applied. But we do not accept that the provision sets two hurdles of exceptional circumstances and objective reasons; the presence of the latter establishes the former.’
May P, Thomas, Elias LJJ
[2011] EWCA Civ 1061, [2011] IRLR 915
Bailii
Working Time Regulations 1998 24, Council Directive 93/04EC
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – Hughes v The Corps of Commissionaires Management Ltd EAT 22-Nov-2010
EAT WORKING TIME REGULATIONS
Working Time Regulations. Rest breaks. Security guard (special case under regulation 21(b)). Whether receiving ‘an equivalent period of compensatory rest’ (regulation 24(a)). . .
Cited – Landeshauptstadt Kiel v Norbert Jaeger ECJ 9-Sep-2003
Concepts of working time and rest period – On Call
ECJ Reference for a preliminary ruling: Landesarbeitsgericht Schleswig-Holstein – Germany. Social policy – Protection of the safety and health of workers – Directive 93/104/EC – Concepts of working time and rest . .
Cited – Sindicato de Medicos de Asistancia Publica (SIMAP) v Colsilieria de Sanidad y Consumo de la Generalidad Valenciana ECJ 3-Oct-2000
Doctors working in primary health care teams are subject to the Working Time Directive. They are not to be assimilated as public service workers alongside emergency services. All time on call was working time and overtime if present at a health . .
Cited – Gallagher and others v Alpha Catering Services Ltd CA 8-Nov-2004
The Claimants were employed to deliver food to aircraft at airports, loading and unloading food from the aircraft. Between loadings, they were on down time – not physically working, but required to remain in radio contact with their employers, and . .
Cited – Adeneler and Others v Ellinikos Organismos Galaktos ECJ 4-Jul-2006
A Directive was belatedly transposed into national law and after the date by which it ought to have been implemented. The question arose whether the obligation to interpret national law in accordance with the Directive existed from the date the . .
Cited – Jones v Governing Body of Burdett Coutts School CA 2-Apr-1998
The Employment Appeal Tribunal must give reasons for its decision, if it chooses to allow the amendment of appeal the papers in order to hear a point of law which had been conceded in the industrial tribunal. Citing Liverpool Corporation v Wilson, . .
Cited by:
Cited – Associated British Ports v Bridgeman EAT 4-Apr-2012
EAT Working Time Regulations 1998 – Regulation 21
This is a test case which involves the hours that pilots can be expected to work on the River Humber. The Employment Tribunal found that Associated British . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Employment
Updated: 11 November 2021; Ref: scu.443755