Employment Law Blog
Opinions and insights from Roythornes' employment team.
Search site
Contact our offices
Make an enquiry
Employment Law Blog
Opinions and insights from Roythornes' employment team.
A recent decision by the Employment Appeal Tribunal has widened the scope of what activities will be classed as ‘working time’ in relation to the Working Time Directive, particularly in relation to those employees who participate in trade union meetings or who undertake a health and safety role.
Under the Working Time Regulations, a worker is entitled to a rest period of 11 consecutive hours in each 24 hour period he works for this employer. The case, Edwards V Encirc Ltd involved two employees – one was a trade union representative and the other a health and safety representative. Because they attended meetings which ran on in to the afternoon, they sometimes did not have time to take an 11 hour break before their next night shift started. The employer tried to state that their time in union or health and safety meetings was not counted as far as the Regulations were concerned.
The EAT however disagreed and said that the meeting time is included as it satisfied the three test elements of the definition of ‘Working Time’ i.e the worker must be (i) working (ii) at the employer's disposal and (iii) carrying out his activities or duties. They decided this was the case, taking the wider approach in that the meetings were of benefit to the employer as the employer was fully aware they were taking place.
In terms of how this impacts on employers, they should be particularly aware of employees who have trade union or health and safety responsibilities and how their meetings could affect their rights under the Working Time Regulations. This is particularly important for employers who operate a shift working system, where the time between an afternoon meeting finishing and the start of the night shift may not be enough to satisfy the regulations
Clicking the Accept All button means you are accepting analytics and third-party cookies (check the full list). We use cookies to optimise site functionality and give you the best possible experience. To control which cookies are set, click Settings.
Our use of cookies.
You can learn more detailed information in our Privacy Policy
Some cookies are essential, whilst others help us improve your experience by providing insights into how the site is being used. The technology to maintain this privacy management relies on cookie identifiers. Removing or resetting your browser cookies will reset these preferences.
Essential Cookies
These cookies enable core website functionality, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.
Google Analytics cookies help us to understand your experience of the website and do not store any personal data. Click here for a full list of Google Analytics cookies used on this site.
Third-Party cookies are set by our partners and help us to improve your experience of the website. Click here for a full list of third-party plugins used on this site.
Comments