The Court of Appeal has recently ruled that an employer which required a security guard to remain on call during his break had not breached the Working Time Regulations 1998 (WTR).

In the case of Hughes v The Corps of Commissionaires Management Ltd, the security guard was required to remain on call during rest breaks, meaning that it could not be guaranteed that his break would be uninterrupted.

The guard was provided with a place to take a break and if it was interrupted, the employer allowed him to start the break again. The security guard took his employer to a tribunal claiming that the fact he was not guaranteed an uninterrupted break contravened the WTR.

Under the Working Time Regulations 1998, where a worker works for more than six hours they are entitled to an uninterrupted rest break of at least 20 minutes which may be taken away from their workstation. However, workers falling within a number of "special cases" are excluded from this entitlement. Special case workers include those carrying out "security and surveillance activities requiring a permanent presence". Such workers are instead entitled, wherever possible, to an equivalent period of compensatory rest.

The Court of Appeal found that security guard was a “special case worker” and the compensatory rest the employer offered was adequate in that the security guard could choose when he took the breaks and could restart a break that was interrupted.

Back to Employment Law Articles