 | A request that this article title be changed to C-484/04 is under discussion. Please do not move this article until the discussion is closed. |
| Commission v United Kingdom | |
|---|---|
| Court | European Court of Justice |
| Citation(s) | (2006) C-484/04, [2006] IRLR 888 |
| Keywords | |
| Working Time Directive | |
Commission v United Kingdom (2006) C-484/04 is a European labour law and UK labour law case concerning the Working Time Directive, which is relevant for the Working Time Regulations 1998.
The UK Department of Trade and Industry (now the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills) stated in guideline to employers on the Working Time Regulations 1998 that ‘Employers must make sure that workers can take their rest, but are not required to make sure that they do take their rest.’ Also, Statutory Instrument 1999/3372 had amended regulation 20 to exempt workers whose work was but partly unmeasured, so working time and night work control applied only to unmeasured or predetermined time.
The European Court of Justice held that the UK government's guidance advocated a breach of the Directive, article 4. There is a duty to guarantee that the right to rest is in fact observed. It also declared the 1999 amendment to be contrary to art 17, though the UK government had already backtracked with SI 2006/99 regulation 2.
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MacCartney v Oversley House Management [2006] IRLR 514 is a UK labour law case regarding the National Minimum Wage Act 1998.
Robinson-Steele v RD Retail Services Ltd (2006) C-131/04 is a European labour law and UK labour law case concerning the Working Time Directive, which is relevant for the Working Time Regulations 1998.
Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs v Stringer and Schultz-Hoff v Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund [2009] UKHL 31 is a European labour law and UK labour law case concerning the Working Time Directive, which is relevant for the Working Time Regulations 1998.
Barber v RJB Mining (UK) Ltd [1999] ICR 679 is a UK labour law case concerning the Working Time Directive and the Working Time Regulations 1998.
Alemo-Herron v Parkwood Leisure Ltd (2013) C-426/11 is an EU law and UK labour law case concerning whether an employer may agree to incorporate a collective agreement into an individual contract, and if that agreement has a provision for automatic updating of some terms, whether that transfers under the Transfer of Undertakings Regulations 2006. The UK Supreme Court referred to the European Court of Justice the question whether national courts could give a more favourable interpretation to legislation than had been given by German courts.
An employment contract in English law is a specific kind of contract whereby one person performs work under the direction of another. The two main features of a contract is that work is exchanged for a wage, and that one party stands in a relationship of relative dependence, or inequality of bargaining power. On this basis, statute, and to some extent the common law, requires that compulsory rights are enforceable against the employer.
Working time in the United Kingdom is regulated in UK labour law in respect of holidays, daily breaks, night work and the maximum working day under the Working Time Regulations 1998. While the traditional mechanisms for ensuring a "fair day's wage for a fair day's work" is by collective agreement, since 1962 the UK created minimum statutory rights for every individual at work. The WTR 1998 follow the requirements of the Working Time Directive, which allowed an "opt out" from the maximum working week, set at 48 hours. Other reforms have included the 28 holiday minimum per year, 20 minute breaks for each six hours worked, and a maximum average of 8 hours work in a 24-hour period for night-workers.
Child care in the United Kingdom is supported by a combination of rights at work, public sector provision and private companies. Child care is usually undertaken by the parents, and more often the mother who takes leave from employment. Early childhood education in a crèche or nursery is not freely available from the public sector, while fee-paying pre-schools are.
