Status: 03/02/2023 12:18 p.m
Employees are entitled to eleven hours of rest per day – this also applies before or after days off. The European Court of Justice also clarified that the daily rest is not part of the weekly rest, but are two autonomous rights.
Workers in the European Union are also entitled to a daily rest period of at least eleven consecutive hours before or after days off. This was decided by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg. Furthermore, he noted that the daily and weekly rest periods are two autonomous rights.
It was about a case from Hungary. There, a train driver complained because he did not get a break of eleven hours before or after days off or vacation days.
According to the European Working Time Directive, employees have the right to a period of eleven hours of rest within a 24-hour period and also to at least 24 hours of uninterrupted free time within a week.
The railway company argued that its employees were even better off since it allowed at least 42 hours of uninterrupted rest per week.
Daily and weekly rest time – two goals
The Hungarian court stayed the proceedings and asked the ECJ to interpret European law. He now explained that the daily and weekly rest periods pursued two different goals.
The daily rest period allows the worker to withdraw from their work environment for a certain number of hours, which must not only be continuous but must also immediately follow a working period. The weekly rest period allows the worker to rest per seven-day period. Consequently, employees must be guaranteed the effective exercise of both rights.
The daily rest period is not part of the weekly rest period but is added to it. This also applies if the weekly rest period – as in Hungary – is longer than the minimum required by EU law. In this specific case, the Hungarian court must now decide.
“Important message for health protection”
The judgment is an “important message for the health protection of employees in times when the right to withdraw from work and daily time for recreation are no longer presented as up-to-date,” explained Johanna Wenckebach, scientific director of the Hugo Sinzheimer Institute for Labor and social law of the Hans Böckler Foundation.
(Az. C-477/21)