Working Time Directive Totally Explained

Everything about The Working Time Directive totally explained

The Working Time Directive of the European Union (Council Directive 93/104/EC of 23 November 1993 concerning certain aspects of the organization of working time, Official Journal L 307, 13/12/1993 pages 0018–0024; amended by Directive 2000/34/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 June 2000) is a collection of regulations concerning hours of work, designed to protect the health and safety of workers. Key features are the limiting of the maximum length of a working week to 48 hours in 7 days, and a minimum rest period of 11 hours in each 24 hours. Like all European Union directives, this is an instrument which requires member states to enact its provisions in national legislation. Although the directive applies to all member states, in the United Kingdom it's possible to "opt out" of the 48 hour working week in order to work longer hours. In contrast, France has passed more strict legislation, limiting the maximum working week to 35 hours, although the new French president Nicholas Sarkozy has promised to abolish this legislation.

Case law affecting the Directive

The Working Time Directive has also been clarified and interpreted through a number of rulings in the European Court of Justice. The most notable of these have been the "SiMAP" and "Jaeger" judgements (Sindicato de Médicos de Asistencia Pública v. Conselleria de Sanidad y Consumo de la Generalidad Valenciana, 2000 and Landeshaupstadt Kiel v Norbert Jaeger, 2003). The SiMAP judgement defined all time when the worker was required to be present on site as actual working hours, for the purposes of work and rest calculations. The Jaeger judgement confirmed that this was the case even if the worker was allowed to sleep when their services were not required.
These judgements have had a profound effect upon workers who have traditionally been required to be resident on site when on call, particularly junior doctors and care home workers. Many of these employees are now required to work rotating shifts instead of on call.

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