: Mrs W Canning Mrs A Shanahan Mr Barry Allison v Represented by: In person Angus Council — 2017

The claimant, a solicitor employed by Angus Council, was on an out-of-hours child protection rota and said the respondent breached Regulation 10(1) of the Working Time Regulations 1998 when he was called out at 11:58pm on Friday 8 July 2016. The parties agreed the tribunal had to decide only whether, on the facts of 7 to 9 July 2016, the respondent had refused to permit him to exercise the right to a daily rest period. No evidence was led; the case was decided on an agreed statement of facts and submissions.

The tribunal rejected the claimant's argument that the 11-hour daily rest period had to begin when his working day ended at 5pm, or that he had to know in advance when the rest period started. It distinguished authorities dealing with Regulation 12 rest breaks, said the daily rest provision was different in purpose and wording, and held that Regulation 10(1) did not fix a single starting point for the relevant 24-hour period. The tribunal accepted the respondent's approach that the issue could be assessed flexibly by looking back at any relevant 24-hour period in which the claimant worked.

On that basis, the tribunal found that there was a relevant 24-hour period in which the claimant both worked and had at least 11 consecutive hours' rest, so the respondent had not refused to permit the right to daily rest. It also noted that there was no collective or workforce agreement modifying Regulation 10, no issue of contracting out, and no application of the exceptions in Regulations 20 to 24. The claim was dismissed. The tribunal added that it was not deciding whether the rota was compliant in general terms, although it observed that the approach adopted would not meet the position if there were repeated call-outs at six-hour intervals.