JOURNALIST WINS VICTORY OVER 24-HOUR CALL-OUT

Journalist John Bald has won an important victory against his former employer, the Capital Press Agency, which dismissed him shortly after he objected to contract changes which would have meant being on call 24 hours a day.

Bald believed that these new working arrangements would contravene the working time regulations, which place a limit on the number of hours an employee can be made to work without their agreement. As a result of his objection, Bald says he was "sidelined and victimised at work". Within weeks he was made redundant.

With the support of journalists' union the NUJ, Bald challenged the redundancy at an employment tribunal. He was able to show that there had been no genuine reason for his redundancy and that he had lost his job simply because he had complained about the new work arrangements. The tribunal held that his dismissal was unfair and awarded him compensation of pst9,500.

Bald was used to working long hours as a journalist. However he felt that an important principle was at stake and that no employee should be put on call for 24 hours a day "without any consultation".

This ruling confirms that the tribunals are interpreting on-call arrangements as being part of a person's working hours. They are following a recent ruling by the European Court of Justice which said that on-call working could be included in calculating working time.