{"id":4602,"date":"2018-05-17T10:00:46","date_gmt":"2018-05-17T10:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/?p=4602"},"modified":"2024-11-19T19:43:28","modified_gmt":"2024-11-19T19:43:28","slug":"firefighter-ruling-sparks-new-heat-for-employers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/firefighter-ruling-sparks-new-heat-for-employers\/","title":{"rendered":"Firefighter ruling sparks new heat for employers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In February, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled<\/a> that volunteer firefighter Rudy Matzak was a \u2018worker\u2019 and that within the meaning of the Working Time Directive<\/a>, his time on standby was \u2018working\u2019 time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under that Directive, \u2018working time\u2019 refers to \u201cany period during which the worker is working, at the employer\u2019s disposal and carrying out his activity or duties, in accordance with national laws and\/or practice\u201d<\/em>. It applies to all sectors, including both public and private, and \u2018rest period\u2019 refers to any period not classed as working time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When he was on call, Mr Matzak had to be at home and able to fulfil the requirement of an eight-minute response time to reach the fire station. The Court said that this obligation to remain \u201cphysically present at the place determined by the employer and the \u2026 constraints resulting from the need to reach his place of work within eight minutes\u201d<\/em> meant that he was limited in how he could pursue his personal and social life. This contrasted with a worker who may be asked simply to be contactable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The knock-on effect for employers of standby time being deemed to be working time is that it must be taken into account when complying with rest periods, working hours and the National Minimum Wage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The judgment follows hard on the heels of last year\u2019s hearing by the Employment Appeal Tribunal of three cases:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Focus Care Agency Ltd v Roberts<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Frudd v The Partington Group Ltd<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Royal Mencap Society v Tomlinson-Blak<\/a>e<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    The Employment Appeal Tribunal said that businesses must conduct a \u2018multifactorial evaluation\u2019 as there is no clear, hard and fast way to distinguish between on-call workers who are considered to be \u2018at work\u2019 and those who are not. The factors highlighted as likely to be a \u2018working\u2019 situation included whether an employee was on site to comply with a regulatory or contractual obligation, whether they would be disciplined for failing to remain on standby if they had to keep a listening ear and respond and the extent to which they had to initiate action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Employment lawyer, Karen Cole, said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n

    \u201cWhether or not a worker on standby is \u2018working\u2019 will depend on the circumstances of each case, but the fact that the issue is complicated with grey areas does not mean that businesses can ignore it. Back-pay for up to six years could be due and that could mean substantial sums for businesses to find.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For any situation that seems unclear, it\u2019s worth seeking independent advice. An easily made change to the way that on-call systems are operated might clarify things and take an employee out of a potential \u2018working\u2019 situation.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    The National Minimum Wage Regulations will apply when the on-call claim is found to be \u2018working\u2019 time. The Regulations apply to any eligible workers, whether or not they are paid by the hour. Calculations must be made according to the payment basis to check if the equivalent hourly rate is at the right amount.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    2018\u2019s National Living Wage and the National Minimum Wage<\/a> are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Year<\/th>April 2018<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
    25 and over<\/td>\u00a37.83<\/td><\/tr>
    21 to 24<\/td>\u00a37.38<\/td><\/tr>
    18 to 20<\/td>\u00a35.90<\/td><\/tr>
    Under 18<\/td>\u00a34.20<\/td><\/tr>
    Apprentice<\/td>\u00a33.70<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    For more information on \u2018working\u2019, speak to Karen Cole<\/a> today.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Note: This article is not legal advice; it provides information of general interest about current legal issues.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The standby arrangements for Belgium\u2019s volunteer firefighters are set to cause new headaches across the European Union for employers with workers who are paid flat rates for time on-call or when sleeping in the workplace<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-4602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-story","tag-employment"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWorking time - firefighter ruling sparks new heat | RIAA Barker Gillette UK<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The standby arrangements for Belgium\u2019s volunteer firefighters are set to cause new headaches across the EU..\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/firefighter-ruling-sparks-new-heat-for-employers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Firefighter ruling sparks new heat for employers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The standby arrangements for Belgium\u2019s volunteer firefighters are set to cause new headaches across the EU..\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/firefighter-ruling-sparks-new-heat-for-employers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"RIAA Barker Gillette\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RIAABGUK\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-05-17T10:00:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-11-19T19:43:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\/uk\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/05\/RBG.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Penny Dewar\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@riaa_bg_uk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@riaa_bg_uk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Penny Dewar\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/firefighter-ruling-sparks-new-heat-for-employers\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/firefighter-ruling-sparks-new-heat-for-employers\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Penny Dewar\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d0e3d73d743e31ec07d49b93ad348a6c\"},\"headline\":\"Firefighter ruling sparks new heat for employers\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-05-17T10:00:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-11-19T19:43:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/firefighter-ruling-sparks-new-heat-for-employers\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":534,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Employment\"],\"articleSection\":[\"News Story\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/firefighter-ruling-sparks-new-heat-for-employers\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/firefighter-ruling-sparks-new-heat-for-employers\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.riaabarkergillette.com\\\/uk\\\/firefighter-ruling-sparks-new-heat-for-employers\\\/\",\"name\":\"Working time - 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