Offshore oil workers

In 2006, the Working Time (Amendment) (No2) Regulations 2006 brought offshore working explicitly under the regulations, and meant that offshore workers were entitled to paid holiday.

In Russell v Transocean International Resources Limited [2011] UKSC 57, the Supreme Court held that where workers work a two week shift offshore, followed by a two week onshore field break, employers are entitled to require workers to take their statutory annual leave during the onshore field break.

The maritime union RMT’s Jake Molloy recently told Labour Research magazine: “The legal system has missed the point completely. The law lords used a mathematical equation to decide the case. But that was never the intention of the directive which is about addressing excessive annual hours of work that are linked to safety problems including fatigue and stress. What they should have considered is that offshore workers work a minimum 2,184 hour year – over 500 more than the average worker and that for six months a year they are away from their homes.”