European Working Time Directive (EWTD)

Exhausted Junior Doctors at Risk of Road Traffic Accidents

According to a new survey by the Royal College of Physicians, junior doctors are at increased risk of road traffic accidents when driving to and from work.
The annual survey of Specialist Medical Registrars reported that 16% of doctors had a road traffic accident when commuting to and from work in 2004-5. According to the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), junior doctors in England can often be exhausted from working seven night shifts in a row. Despite efforts to reduce the long hours (...)

**UPDATED** Revision of the European Working Time Directive

** The article has been updated with the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council conclusions of December 2007.**
Definition of "on call" work
In some countries, there appears to be an increasing use of ‘on-call’ work or duty arrangements. Generally speaking, this is work done on an ‘as-needed basis’, whereby workers must be available at certain times to be called into work when required by their employer. It thus involves unpredictable or (...)

ECJ to rule on UK’s implementation of the European Working Time Directive

The European Commission has brought before the European Court of Justice (ECJ) a case against the UK for failure to correctly implement the European Working Time Directive.
The UK implemented the Directive into national law via the Working Time Regulations 1998 and 1999 (Regulations). However, the Commission claims that UK has not fulfilled its obligations under Community law on 2 grounds.
Application of the Derogation in Article 17(1)
Article 17(1) of the Directive allows Member States to (...)

The ECJ considers on-call duty as working time

The European Court of Justice has again confirmed its opinion that on-call duty is to be classified as working time, under the Working Time Directive.
This ruling refers to a French case where social and health services are particularly targeted. Under a French decree, certain periods of night on-call duty, including periods of inactivity are calculated on a flat-rate basis, which could amount to or exceed 60 hours of work a week.
Although the Court does not consider that the EU working (...)

European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions’ priorities 2006

The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions has recently issued its work programme for 2006.
This workplan is part of the four-year work programme for 2005-2008, entitled ¨Changing Europe: Better work, bettre life¨. Within this framework, four issues have been prioritised: employment, work-life balance, industrial relations and partnership, and social cohesion
Access to good quality jobs for all workers will be the central theme for 2006.
As regard to (...)

Health Council discusses AIDS, nutritional claims and zoonotic diseases

Health ministers met on 6 December in Brussels, under the chairmanship of Hans Hoogervorst, the Dutch Minister for Health, Welfare and Sport.
The agenda included the debate on European strategy against HIV/AIDS, initial exchange of views on paediatric medicines, a review of progress on the draft Regulation on nutrition and health claims made on foods, and the adoption of Council conclusions on zoonotic diseases.
Fight against HIV/AIDS
In line with the Commission working paper and the (...)

New ECJ judgement: emergency workers cannot exceed 48 hour working week

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled on 5 October 2004 that the maximum weekly working time, including duty time, cannot exceed 48 hours for rescue workings in an emergency medical rescue service. A derogation from that principle is valid only if consent is given, expressly and freely, by the worker individually.
The judgement in two joined cases C-397/01 to C-403/01: Bernhard Pfeiffer and Others v Deutsches Rotes Kreuz, Kreisverband Waldshut e.
Facts The German Red Cross, which (...)

EP Employment Committee votes on Working Time

The European Parliament’s Employment and Social Affairs Committe has adopted a report on the Working Time Directive and narrrowly voted to abolish the right to opt-outs.
The 1993 directive laying down a maximum 48 hour working week is coming up for review. The European Commission has embarked in recent weeks on a wide-ranging consultation exercise with the parties concerned.
The Committee adopted the own-initiative report by MEP Alejandro CERCAS ALONSO (PES, E) published in French which (...)

All time spent by a doctor on call in a hospital constitutes working time

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled in the ’Jaegar’ case on 9th September 2003 that the time a doctor spends at the hospital - on call but resting - counts as working time.
The case, Landeshauptstadt Kiel v Norbert Jaeger, established the principle that a Community directive precludes national legislation which categorises on-call duty as rest time save for periods of actual activity.
That interpretation is not altered by the fact that the employer makes available to the doctor a (...)

Excessive hours affects other OECD countries more than the EU

A publication by the International Labour Office (ILO) entitled “Working Time and Workers’ Preferences in Industrialised Countries: Finding the Balance” has shown that European workers are far less likely to work in excess of 50 hours a week than their counterparts in other industrialised countries.
During the late 1990’s people working in excess of 50 hours a week in the US and Australia increased from 15% to 20% of the workforce. In Japan the figure was 28.1%.
By (...)

Fears that reducing junior doctors working hours will compromise patient care

Continuity of care for patients, the quality of training for doctors and the efficiency of hospitals could be compromised when junior doctors hours have to be reduced further next year to meet the requirements of the European Working Time Directive (EWTD), according to the Royal College of Physicians’s Lead on EWTD Professor Roy Pounder.
From August 2009, implementation of the European Working Time Directive (EWTD), will prevent junior doctors from working more that 48 hours per week. The (...)

*UPDATED* EU campaign to address work safety of young people

*UPDATED with the ’Safe Start Charter’. The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (OSHA) plans to address work safety of young people in 2006, through an EU-wide campaign.
Stating that the risk of work accidents is at least 50% higher among those aged 18-24, due to a lack of risk awareness, adequate training and supervision, the "Right Start" campaign aims to:
Promote risk awareness;
Promote the preparation of young people for the safety aspects of working life;
Promote safer (...)

No EU agreement on driving and rest times

The Commission tabled in August 2003 a proposal for a Directive on minimum conditions for the implementation of Directive 2002/15/EC, (which came into force in March 2005) and Council Regulations (EEC) Nos 3820/85 and 3821/85 concerning working time and social legislation relating to road transport activities. This Directive only covers commercial traffic.
The European Parliament’s Transport Committee modified the proposal on 15 March 2005. MEPs disagreed with the Council’s common position (...)

European Parliament adopts a report on workplace health and safety

On 24 February 2005, the European Parliament adopted an own-initiative report on "Promoting Health and Safety at the Workplace" by Jiri Mastalka (CZ, GUE/NGL).
The report is a reply to the Commission’s Communication on how the Framework Directive of 1989 and five individual Directives on occupational health and safety have been transposed into national law and applied (see related EPHA’s article).
Parliament’s resolution notes that Community legislation has made an important (...)

Chronic Illness and Job Retention

On 19 November 2004, the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions organised a workshop in Brussels to present the findings of their report "Employment and disability - return to work strategies".
The study, which analyses data and policies of seven EU Member States and the EU, shows how OECD countries spend at least twice as much on disability-related programmes as on unemployment programmes.
14% of the working age population (EU15) report a long-standing (...)