The request of a gendarme who requested the transposition to the national gendarmerie of a European directive setting a ceiling of 48 hours of weekly work was rejected Friday by the Council of State.
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The Council of State at the crossroads ”
A French gendarmerie non-commissioned officer had asked the Council of State to annul the refusal of the Minister of the Interior to transpose to the departmental gendarmerie the European working time directive dating from 2003, which sets a working time limit 48 hours per week. However, the Council of State noted that the organization of working time in the gendarmerie "
did not disregard the provisions
" of this directive.
The judges "
ruled that, taking into account the specific requirements inherent in the military state and the missions incumbent on the national gendarmerie, the rules in force relating to rest times and the unique organization of the departmental gendarmerie guaranteed compliance with the 'target of 48 hours per week of working time set by the directive
,' according to the press release from the Council of State.
They considered in particular that "
in view of these specificities and the accommodation of the gendarmes in barracks
", there was "
no need to include on-call penalties in this count of working time
".
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In the decision consulted by AFP, it is recalled "
that neither the national regulations nor the directive of November 4, 2003 prevent this weekly duration from being exceeded for the exercise of the activities of the gendarmerie
".