Minimum Rest Breaks And The Working Time Regulations

Is an employer entitled to meet the 20 minute rest break requirement for workers under the Working Time Regulations by aggregating breaks of a shorter duration? No, said the EAT in Crawford v Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd.

Regulation 12 of the Working Time Regulations 1998 provides for a rest break of not less than 20 minutes if a worker's daily working time is more than 6 hours. Regulation 21(f) provides that a worker in Railway Transport does not enjoy the protection of Regulation 12. Instead, under Regulation 24(a), the worker is entitled to an equivalent period of compensatory rest.

Mr Crawford worked as a relief cover signalman at various signal boxes in the South East. All (save one) boxes were single manned. Although Mr Crawford was not always busy, he was required continuously to monitor and to be on call to do things when trains were going through.

He could in practice, if he wished, take short 5 minute breaks from his workstation which would amount together to well in excess of 20 minutes over the shift as a whole. But on day shifts it was not possible to have a continuous 20 minute break. The employer argued it could aggregate these shorter periods in order to meet the 20 minute break requirement. Indeed, it argued, this was more beneficial...