An important decision for all employers of workers who don’t follow a standard working pattern.
The employees worked on offshore oil and gas installations, spending two weeks offshore and then two weeks onshore. Each period of time onshore was known as a ‘field break”. The employer insisted that employees took their annual leave during these field breaks. But the Claimants argued against this. They said that annual leave is a release from an obligation to work and should therefore be taken out of offshore time.
So, should annual leave should be taken out of working time (in this case, time spent offshore) or from non-working time (field breaks)?
The Supreme Court found against the employees. It said that a rest period (rest periods include daily rest, weekly rest and annual leave) means any period that isn’t working time. It doesn’t matter where the employee is and what he’s doing during his rest periods, as long as he’s not working. So field breaks fell into this category and, as a result, the employer could require workers to take their annual leave during their time onshore.
