Working time

The European Court of Justice is being asked to rule on what is meant by the exclusion of workers in the transport sector from the protection of the working time directive. In this case clerical workers are arguing that they have the right to benefit from the minimum holidays provided under the directive and the UK regulations. The employers argue that all those who work in the transport sector are excluded.

The Court of Appeal has ruled that public service workers can only enforce an EU directive directly where it has not been incorporated into UK law and where its provisions are sufficiently precise. The court said that the provisions of the EU Working Time directive, giving workers the right to a minimum of four weeks' annual leave, did not fall into that category. It held that the directive was not sufficiently precise about the situations when the right would apply which meant that the UK courts could not incorporate it into individual contracts.