The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that the Government broke the Working Time Directive through guidance to employers issued by the DTI.
In the guidance it was stated that although employers must not prevent workers taking rest breaks, they were not obligated to ensure workers took the minimum daily and weekly rest periods allowed to them.
A complaint by Amicus about the guidance led to infringement proceedings by the European Commission.
The Commission believed that the DTI guidance mitigated against the exercise of WTD rights by workers.
This view was supported by the Advocate General and now the ECJ has stated that by informing employers that they are not obliged to ensure workers exercise their right to rest breaks, the Aricle 3 & 5 rights were thereby rendered meaningless.
The ECJ in its judgement found that the UK had failed in its obligations under Articles 3 and 5 the Working Time Directive.
© Workrep 10 / 09 / 2006