UK offshore employers group appeals WTD ruling by Scottish Tribunal

IADC, as part of the joint industry employers group that has supported recent litigation on the application of the EU Working Time Directive in the UKCS, confirms that an appeal has been filed in respect of the findings of the Scottish Employment Tribunal in late February.

The appeal emphasizes that the Tribunal’s decision was based on the premise that if time is not work or annual leave, it has to be a rest period, as “annual leave” and “rest period” are mutually exclusive under UK implementing regulations. The Directive, however, is the primary authority and defines work and rest as two mutually exclusive concepts of time. Therefore, annual leave must be rest. If that is applied to the present circumstances, annual leave can be taken from field break – it does not have to come from time that otherwise is working time.

The appeal also contends that the Tribunal did not correctly apply the authorities that bore on the issue of when leave could or had to be taken. The correct interpretation is that all time off the installation, other than periods of training or other work, is “annual leave.” That more than satisfies the regulations, which imposed minima.

The appeal further asserts that the Tribunal decision was in error when implying that the regulations must have some effect on existing rotas – as if they provided more than sufficient leave, they did not have any practical effect. The Tribunal therefore misapplied regulation 17, which provides that employees cannot have both the regulation rights and contractual rights cumulatively.

For more information, please contact Brian Petty at 1/202-293-0670 (brian.petty@iadc.org).