British working time guidelines infringe EU law: court

Britain's guidelines on working hours infringe European Union law which gives employees the right to minimum daily and weekly rest periods, Europe's highest court ruled Thursday.

"The 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 periods," the European Court of Justice said in a statement.

EU member countries must ensure that workers are entitled to 11 consecutive hours of rest in each 24-hour period, and to an uninterrupted 24-hour rest period in each seven-day period.

Britain's working time guidelines stipulate that "employers must make sure that workers can take their rest but are not required to make sure they do take their rest".

The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, challenged Britain's guidelines before the Luxembourg-based court because it said they encouraged non-compliance with the Union's legislation.

"The court ruling (means) that the guidelines are clearly liable to render the rights enshrined in the directive meaningless," said the commission's spokeswoman for employment and social affairs, Katharina Von Schnurbein.

"The court ruling therefore confirms the position of the commission that daily rest for workers is a right and cannot be renounced. Employers must ensure that workers have rest periods," she said.

"It is a matter of safety and is not something that can be traded on," she said, adding that "the UK will have to change the guidelines."