Rest breaks and rest periods

New and updated

• Working hours policy

  Type:

  Policies and documents

  Updated to include information on Federación de Servicios de Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) v Deutsche Bank SAE, in which the ECJ held that EU law means that Spanish legislation should require employers to set up a system to record workers' actual daily working time.

• Rest breaks and rest periods

  Type:

  Employment law manual

  Updated to include information on Grange v Abellio London Ltd, in which the EAT considered whether or not an award can be made for personal injury for failure to provide rest breaks.

• Working time: Compensatory rest period need not be one continuous break of 20 minutes

  Date:

  13 March 2019

  Type:

  Law reports

  In Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd v Crawford, the Court of Appeal held that, under reg.24 of the Working Time Regulations 1998 (SI 1998/1833), a compensatory rest period need not consist of an uninterrupted 20 minutes provided that it has the same value in terms of contributing to the worker's wellbeing.

• Working time: Rest breaks need not be continuous

  Date:

  6 March 2019

  Type:

  News

  The Court of Appeal has ruled that there is no reason why a rest break should be uninterrupted in certain industries, overruling a previous decision in the Employment Appeal Tribunal.

• Working time: No compensation for injury to feelings for rest break failures

  Date:

  21 March 2018

  Type:

  Law reports

  In Santos Gomes v Higher Level Care Ltd, the Court of Appeal held that compensation for injury to feelings is not available in a claim under the Working Time Regulations 1998 (SI 1998/1833) for a failure to provide 20-minute rest breaks..

• Where a worker is entitled to a 20-minute rest break under the Working Time Regulations 1998 can this be taken as two 10-minute breaks?

  Type:

  FAQs

• Working time: Compensatory rest period must be one continuous break of 20 minutes

  Date:

  16 January 2018

  Type:

  Law reports

  In Crawford v Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held that, as far as possible, compensatory rest must comprise a continuous 20-minute rest break, not an aggregate 20 minutes of shorter breaks.

• Working time: ECJ rules on timing of weekly rest periods

  Date:

  24 November 2017

  Type:

  Law reports

  In this Portuguese case, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has held that the weekly rest period of 24 hours may be granted on any day during each seven-day period, and not necessarily the day following six consecutive working days.

• Working time for executive directors who are employees contract clause

  Type:

  Policies and documents

  A model contract clause setting out an executive director's position in relation to the working time rules on paid annual leave, working hours, rest breaks and night working.

• Working time: Rest breaks can be refused without having been requested

  Date:

  13 April 2017

  Type:

  Law reports

  In Grange v Abellio London Ltd [2017] IRLR 108 EAT, the EAT held that a worker does not have to have made an explicit request to take a rest break under reg.12(1) of the Working Time Regulations 1998 for the employer to have refused a rest break for the purposes of reg.30(1)(a). It is sufficient that working arrangements operate in such a way as to prevent the break from being taken.