Employees whose contractual working hours were 39 hours per week but who, in practice, were required to work six hours' overtime made available to them to the extent of 45 hours per week were not guaranteed that overtime, so holds the EAT in Spence and others v City of Sunderland Council.
In R v Attorney General for Northern Ireland ex parte Burns [1999] IRLR 315 NIHCQB, Northern Ireland High Court, Queen's Bench Division held that that the failure of the Government to transpose the Working Time Directive in time was an actionable breach of Community law.
In making the Working Time Regulations, Parliament intended that all contracts of employment must be read so as to provide that an employee should work no more than an average of 48 hours per week during any 17-week reference period, holds the High Court in Barber and others v RJB Mining (UK) Ltd.