BMJ  2008;336:1333 (14 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.39609.504016.DB

News

Inactive time spent on call could be excluded from 48 hour week

Rory Watson

1 Brussels

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Pan-European legislation to introduce a maximum 48 hour working week moved a step closer this week after EU employment ministers reached a political agreement in Luxembourg.

The agreement would enable the United Kingdom to retain its opt-out, allowing employees to work more than the legal maximum. But this will only operate under some conditions to prevent employers abusing the flexibility.

More controversially for the medical profession and key emergency personnel, the ministers agreed to split on-call time at an individual’s place of employment into two categories. "Active" time at work would count towards the maximum working week, and "inactive" time, which would cover periods spent resting or sleeping, would be excluded from the total hours worked.

The political decision runs counter to two key judgments from the European Court of Justice, which had ruled that all on-call time spent at the employer’s premises should be treated as working time. The . . . [Full text of this article]


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