Working time regulations

The employment appeal tribunal has heard another case where an employer fell foul of the Working Time Regulations 1999. In this case, it applied to a boarding school which did not realise that the principles apply to its employees.

A worker has to have a break of 24 hours every seven days or 48 hours a fortnight and must have a break after six hours' working. If a person is on call that time counts towards the six hours and the seven days.

The tribunal reiterated that: "The extent to which a worker is likely to be called out is not decisive of the question whether she is working." The judge recognised that this did produce the rather odd result that a worker might be woken after eight hours' sleep to be told that she must now take a rest period, but that was the law.

School which have resident staff need to ensure that they are compliant with these regulations.