Craig and another v Transocean International Resources Ltd; Transocean International Resources Ltd and others v Russell and others EATS/0029/08 & EATS/0030/08

working time | annual leave | onshore field breaks

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has held that offshore oil rig workers were not entitled to annual leave in addition to their onshore breaks.

A group of oil rig workers worked offshore for two weeks and then had two weeks onshore. While offshore, they did 12-hour shifts, followed by 12-hour breaks. While onshore (periods known as "field breaks"), they did not normally have to do any work, although they did occasionally have to undertake some duties such as attending training courses. They brought claims before an employment tribunal arguing that their employers had denied them their minimum statutory holiday entitlement under reg.13 of the Working Time Regulations 1998 (SI 1998/1833). The tribunal found that the Working Time Regulations 1998 entitled the workers to have annual leave at a time when they would otherwise have been working offshore.

The EAT disagreed. It found that the periods during which the workers were onshore could be said to be annual leave. The Working Time Regulations 1998 were drafted to ensure that workers obtained their entitlements to weekly rest, compensatory rest and annual leave. While annual leave is not defined in the Working Time Regulations 1998, giving the language its ordinary meaning, it is an entitlement to be absent from work for a period in each year, not at the employers’ disposal during that period, and free from all employment duties during it. It is clear that, during field breaks during which workers are not undertaking duties such as attending training courses, they are not required to be physically present at a place determined by their employer. There is also no suggestion that they are actually carrying out their normal working activity or, as in the case of an on-call worker, under a duty to hold themselves ready to work. More generally, it can not be said that the field break is not a real rest from work.

Case transcript of Craig and another v Transocean International Resources Ltd; Transocean International Resources Ltd and others v Russell and others (Microsoft Word format, 179K) (on the EAT website)

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