Sleeping Workers
by Philip
The Government has recently been up before the European Court of Justice in a case brought by Unison. The point at issue was whether the DTI Guidelines which stated Employers must make sure that workers can take their rest periods , but are not required to make sure that they do take their rest.. was in contravention of the Working Time Directive. The ECJ, you will be surprised to hear, ruled it was.
The Advocate General’s Opinion, no doubt arrived at after a siesta serious consideration of the legal principles, was that Employers need to actively schedule rest breaks, rather than only giving breaks to those who request them.The DTI’s website now reads Employers must make sure that workers can take their rest periods.
So put your feet up right now!
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You cant help but have visions of school bells rining in the office to encourage employees to ‘go out and play’. As an employer, the difficulty with this is to realise when employees feel they are entitled to the time and ’save up’ their breaks in order to leave early.
Nicola Mason said at November 1st, 2006 at 4:12 pm
That is a good analogy Nicola - perhaps the employer is just becoming an extension of the nanny state!
Sarah Graburn said at November 1st, 2006 at 5:34 pm