A tribunal has ruled that on-call hours should be recognised as working time for a group of employees supporting police covert surveillance.
A hearing earlier this year heard that staff working at Humberside Forces Covert Authorities Bureau (CAB) were required to work within a highly restrictive on-call rota that meant they had to be available between 6pm and 6am on weekdays, and for 24 hours a day at the weekend.
The tribunal, of which details have only just been published, heard that officers were paid a minimal allowance for being on standby duty, and only remunerated their usual hourly rates when called out to work.
On-call hours
A CAB is a specialist team within a force that manages the records and administration for teams undertaking covert operations such as surveillance. The officers in this case worked as single points of contact if a police officer made a request to access data from telecommunications, social media or internet accounts.
The group of 10 officers that brought the case to tribunal were Unison members and represented by Thompsons Solicitors, who argued that having to be on call for such periods was in breach of their right to a daily rest break.
They said the on-call requirement contravened the Working Time Regulations 1998, and that the employees should have been compensated for the entire time they were on call, particularly given the constraints imposed on their personal, family and social lives.
The tribunal needed to establish whether the whole period on standby amounted to working time, or whether working time only included the periods when the members were actively called to work.
In judgment, Judge Jones said that “the type of work by its very nature was likely to create a level of alertness during the standby periods which inhibited the opportunity to switch off and relax, or fully engage in other activities”.
He then concluded that standby duty should be counted as working time.
Abi Agbaje-Williams, an employment lawyer at Thompsons, said: “This judgment affirms the rightful recognition of on-call hours as working time, underlining the significant restrictions which being on-call imposed on these Unison members and rewarding the readiness they maintained during these periods.
“It validates the substantial impact on their personal time and justifies their decision to bring this claim. This ruling will help enforce workers’ employment rights regarding on-call duties.”
A further tribunal hearing will now hear the substantive claim of Humberside Police Force’s failure to provide adequate rest breaks. A date for this is pending.
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