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Workers in the European Union have the right to a daily rest period of at least eleven consecutive hours before or after a day off.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that daily and weekly rest periods are two separate rights.
It was a case from Hungary (file number: C-477/21).
Rest time also applies before or after vacation
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.
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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.
In the at least eleven hours without work, the person concerned can withdraw from his or her work environment.
The weekly rest period allows each week to rest.
Daily and weekly rest periods must be observed equally
As a consequence, a supermarket cashier, after a shift on Saturday until 10 p.m., should not be able to return to work until 9 a.m. on Monday after 35 hours at the earliest.
Because according to EU law, the daily rest period of eleven hours follows after the late shift, in this case until 9 a.m. on Sunday.
This is followed by the weekly rest period of 24 hours.
If the cashier was reinstated on Monday from 7 a.m., the German Sunday rest would have been observed, but the employer would not have complied with the 24-hour rest required by EU law.
He would then have to do this again separately within the seven-day period.
According to the judges at the ECJ, 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 requirement stipulated by EU law.
In this specific case, the Hungarian court must now decide.
flg/AFP/JurAgentur
