Take a break - you have to!

European ruling 'out of touch with the real world' said the UK's Forum of Private Business as employers are told they must force their staff to take breaks between shifts.

The Forum of Private Business (FPB) has called a ruling by the European Court of Justice 'out of touch with the real world' after it decided that the Government was breaking the law by not forcing employers to give their staff rest breaks between shifts.

The FPB, which represents around 25,000 small and medium-sized businesses across the UK, thinks that whilst staff should be given the opportunity to take regular breaks, that the responsibility of the employer shouldn't stretch to enforcing them.

The FPB's chief executive, Nick Goulding, said the ruling is a result of needless nitpicking by beaurocrats: "The court ruling says that the (UK government's) Department of Trade and Industry's (DTI) guidelines encourage a 'non-compliance' by employers, simply because they state that employers must make sure staff 'can' take their breaks".

"The ruling implies that employers must enforce breaks irrelevant of whether it is in the interest of the worker or the business, something that just is not practical." Employers are obliged to apply regulations, allowing at least 11h between ending work one day and beginning the next, plus a weekend break of at least one day plus 11h.

At the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, the judges said the laws are not being applied properly.

"It is not possible for small business owners to stand watch over all their staff all the time, checking that they are not putting in extra hours that contravene these regulations.

Just how far down the line of disciplinary procedures should bosses go when they catch staff working too hard?" Goulding asked.

"We do not want to see employees overworked or having their safety compromised, but in the real world agreements between bosses and their staff are what will govern when breaks occur.

The most productive of working environments are always going to have an element of flexibility, the duty of the employer should be to ensure that breaks are available for staff in accordance with the Working Time Directive and that staff should feel able to take them," he added.

The European Commission successfully argued that the DTI guidelines do not force bosses to make sure employees take the breaks and encouraged a 'practice of non-compliance'.

The ruling said that: "The (DTI) guidelines are liable to render the right of workers to daily and weekly rest periods meaningless because they do not oblige employers to ensure that workers actually take the minimum rest period, contrary to the aims of the Working Time Directive.".

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