Working time

* Emergency workers are covered by the Working Time Directive.

The facts

This case raised the question of whether Red Cross rescue workers were dealing with unforeseen events and so were outside the scope of the European Working Time Directive.

The ruling

The European Court of Justice held that emergency workers are not dealing with events that are unforeseeable, so they are covered by the directive. Furthermore, an employer cannot opt-out workers through terms incorporated in a collective agreement. Each individual worker must freely agree to any opt-out with full knowledge of the facts.

Pfeiffer v Deutsches Rotes Kreuz [2005] IRLR 137