COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION Interpretative Communication on Directive…

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION Interpretative Communication on Directive 2003/88/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time

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COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION

Interpretative Communication on Directive 2003/88/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time

A. Meeting the challenges of changing work organisation

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B. A renewed engagement to support legal clarity and certainty

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—

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C. An overview of the main provisions

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II. LEGAL BASIS AND PURPOSE OF THE DIRECTIVE

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III. SCOPE OF THE DIRECTIVE

A. Personal scope

1. Application of the Directive’s provisions to ‘workers’

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2. Application of the Directive in case of concurrent contracts

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B. Material scope – sectors concerned

1. Principle: the Directive applies to all sectors

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2. Derogation: exclusion of certain public service activities

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3. Derogation: the case of activities of members of the armed forces

5. Other sectors and workers subject to specific legislation

— Cross-border railway

C. Scope of the provisions

1. What is (or not) covered?

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2. Minimum provisions

A. ‘Working time’ and ‘rest periods’

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1. Definition of ‘working time’ and ‘rest periods’

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— The worker is working

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— The worker is at the employer’s disposal

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— The worker must be carrying out his activity or duties

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2. Recording of working time

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3. Application of the Directive’s definition to specific periods of time

a) ‘On-call’ and ‘standby time’

c) Time spent by workers without a fixed place of work travelling between their first and last customers and their homes

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d) Vocational training required by the employer

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e) Other periods of time

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— Journeys in between appointments during the working day

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— Irregular journeys of workers to a different workplace

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— Journeys to and from the workplace

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B. Night time and night worker

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C. Shift work and shift worker

V. MINIMUM REST PERIODS

1. Duration of the break

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2. Timing of the break

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3. Conditions of the break

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4. Transposition obligations on Member States

1. A minimum period of 35 uninterrupted hours of weekly rest

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2. A period of rest for each 7-day period (‘weekly rest’)

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3. Weekly rest over a reference period of 14 days

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4. A shortened period of weekly rest in certain cases

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VI. MAXIMUM WEEKLY WORKING TIME

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Table

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A. Maximum weekly working time

1. What time must be counted towards the maximum weekly working time

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2. A maximum established at 48 hours

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3. An unconditional maximum

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B. A maximum which can be averaged

1. How long is the reference period?

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2. What is not included in the reference period

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3. What can be included in the reference period

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C. A provision with direct effect

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VII. PAID ANNUAL LEAVE

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A. The right to paid annual leave of every worker

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1. Minimum paid annual leave of 4 weeks

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2. Minimum leave for all workers, subject to no conditions

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— Entitlement to and granting of leave in the early period of employment

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— Scheduling of leave

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— Obligations of the employer concerning the taking of leave

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— Carry-over and possible loss of leave

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3. Payment during annual leave

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4. Direct effect of the right to paid annual leave

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B. Entitlement to an allowance in lieu of paid annual leave

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1. The entitlement to an allowance in lieu

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2. The amount of the allowance

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3. Additional leave entitlement

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C. Interaction between paid annual leave and other types of leave

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1. Maternity leave

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2. Parental leave and other types of leave protected by EU law

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3. Sick leave

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a) Entitlement in case of sick leave

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b) Exercise of the right in the event of sick leave

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c) Carry-over in case of sick leave

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d) Allowance in lieu in the event of sick leave until the employment relationship ends

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4. Other types of leave at national level

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VIII. NIGHT WORK, SHIFT WORK AND PATTERNS OF WORK

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A. The length of night work

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1. The average limit on night work

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a) The limit on ‘working time’

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b) The average over a ‘reference period’

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2. Maximum limit on night work involving special hazards or heavy physical or mental strain

a) Absolute limit

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b) Work involving special hazards

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B. Health assessments and transfer of night workers to day work

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1. The right of night workers to health assessments

a) Health assessment before assignment

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b) Health assessment at regular intervals

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c) The health assessments must be free

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d) Medical confidentiality

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e) The possibility to carry out the assessments as part of the national health system

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2. The transfer of night workers to daytime work for health reasons

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C. Guarantees for night time working

Table

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D. Notification of regular use of night workers

Table

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E. Safety and health protection

A. The derogation for ‘autonomous workers’

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1. The scope of the ‘autonomous workers’ derogation

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2. The consequences of the ‘autonomous workers’ derogation

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B. Derogations requiring equivalent compensatory rest or appropriate protection

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1. The derogation for ‘certain activities’ under Article 17(3)

Table

a) The sectors and activities concerned

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b) Provisions from which derogations are permitted

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—

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2. The derogation for shift and split work

Table

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3. The derogation for all sectors by collective agreement

Table

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a) When the derogation can be used

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b) What the derogation permits

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—

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4. The requirement of equivalent compensatory rest or, exceptionally, appropriate protection

Table

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a) Requirement to provide equivalent compensatory rest

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b) The ‘appropriate protection’ exception

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5. Derogations from the reference periods

C. The ‘opt-out’ from maximum weekly working time

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1. Requirement to transpose this provision

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2. The conditions attached

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a) The agreement of the worker

d) Availability of such records to the authorities

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e) Availability of information on opted-out workers

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3. Consequences of the ‘opt-out’

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D. Specific derogation for mobile workers and offshore work

E. Specific derogation for workers on board seagoing fishing vessels