Today’s Supreme Court’s ruling that employees who do not follow standard 9-till-5 working patterns must take their holiday entitlement during periods of downtime will have “dramatic” implications for employers, according to legal experts.
In the case of Russell v Transocean, a number of workers, who were all employed by the oil and gas industry and contracted to work for two weeks onshore and two weeks offshore, argued that, under the Working Time Directive, they should be allowed to take annual leave out of the former rather than the latter – a period that is otherwise known as a ‘field break’.
The workers’ claim had originally been upheld by an employment tribunal, but the employment appeals tribunal found against them. Although the Court of Session agreed with the EAT, the workers appealed to the Supreme Court and asked to be referred to the European Court of Justice.
But the Supreme Court has now refused the workers’ request and dismissed their appeal, stating that the term ‘rest period’ simply means any period that is not working time, irrespective of where employees are and what they are doing.
As a result, as ‘field breaks’ fall within this category, employers are entitled to insist that workers take their paid annual leave during periods when they are onshore.
Tim Wragg, a senior associate at law firm Eversheds, said: “This decision will obviously come as a relief to employers in the oil and gas industry. A ruling by the Supreme Court that annual leave can only consist of time which would otherwise be working time would have had staggering consequences in this sector.”
Bosses had indicated that any change to existing practices could have restricted employees to working only eight days a month offshore. This would have meant that large sections of the North Sea operations may have had to close, he added.
But the effects of an adverse ruling would have had no less “dramatic” consequences for other industries, Wragg indicated. For example, it was common practice for the education sector to employ staff to work on a term-time-only basis.
“The Supreme Court’s decision will be welcomed by employers of all such atypical workers as it means that, as far as holiday entitlement is concerned, it will be ‘business as usual’,” Wragg said.
